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Which 5850 is generally considered the quietest?

Frame352

Frame352

Frame352

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23 Jun 2007
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Yeah, sorry, another one of these ******* spec me threads...

Anyway, I'm looking for a quiet 5850 to replace my 8800GT (which has done me proud, it must be said). I'm not overly pushed on overclocking potential (it's a bonus, but not an essential prerequisite), but I do want something that is pretty much as quiet as possible (the rest of my system being fairly hush hush).

So what are my options? Vapor-X? Asus TOP? A stock card with an aftermarket cooler (like the new Zalman maybe)?

All suggestions/feedback welcome and appreciated :)
 
Vapor X are a quiet card and very popular. But the Zalman option would be the best choice however you would void your warranty.
 
Fatboy said:
Vapor X are a quiet card and very popular. But the Zalman option would be the best choice however you would void your warranty.
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The warranty voiding is definitely a consideration... Any idea when the Zalmans are due in Fatboy?

mart280 said:
I have this 5850 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-004-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411 and imo it is very quiet, it is sitting in an Antec 1200 with all the fans on low and I cant hear it, never seen it go above 62 under load either, you cant alter the voltages but I have a 875/1250 stable overclock which I am very happy with.
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Actually hadn't seen that one. Will look for some reviews now, cheers!

Nickg said:
check out the asus cu....quite cheap custom cooler and voltage adjustable!
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Will look into that one as well. Cheers mate.
 
The cheapest 5850 + a Zalman will be around the cost of the cheapest Asus Direct CU 5850 at the moment. As I have a reference 5850 with a prolimatech after market cooler(truly fantastic 40C lower under load while overclocked further with higher voltage than stock cooler) and a Asus directCU 5850.

I can say, when the fan spins up the Asus is WAY louder than the prolimatech which literally keeps it sub 45c load with silent fans I can't hear at all. The asus is pretty quiet in most situations but it is the upper card in my crossfire pair so will get toastier than a single card, honestly on its own its very quiet. The Asus right now is your only certain voltage adjustment card, and frankly you will not get a great overclock without voltage adjustment, though it depends.

My reference 5850 with the prolimatch would do 1050Mhz easily, which is over a 40% core overclock, with a good 20% memory overclock(which almost any card can do) its about 35% faster than a stock 5850, its awesome and makes a noticeable difference in frame rates.

The Zalman is just about on par with the Prolimatech to be honest, and WAY better cooling than anything any 5850 comes with as standard.

You also have the option with the Zalman/Prolimatech coolers of compatibility with future cards, so remove it, sell the old card and stick the cooler on your next card, hopefully.

Honestly I'd get the Asus Direct CU for now, and if you find its still not quiet enough for you then consider another cooler. As it has voltage adjustment, and people know it does, it should be more in demand when/if you sell it as people will prefer one that overclocks better if they want to buy one, or a second for crossfire, its also quieter and cooler than most which again will make it more valuable second hand.
 
Frame352 said:
The warranty voiding is definitely a consideration... Any idea when the Zalmans are due in Fatboy?


Actually hadn't seen that one. Will look for some reviews now, cheers!


Will look into that one as well. Cheers mate.
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Honestly, unless you have clearly knocked off a capacitor, crushed something, mounted something incorrectly, somethings burned because of incorrect contact then you'll have no trouble with warranties. If the memory goes, its 99% likely it went because it was faulty and companies know that. Whack on the stock cooler and 99% of companies won't even check it, or care. In most situations its very easy to mount a new cooler and lower temps will reduce the number of cards that fail.

Thing is, you'll void the warranty if you drop the cooler on the card as you mount it, but you can void the warranty by dropping the card and breaking it, treat it well and no one has any interest in denying you a warranty. If OCUK screwed you on a technicality, they'd lose a customer, if for instance Asus refused to RMA it, they'd lose a customer.
 
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Thanks for your input dm.

The Asus DirectCU actually sounds like a good starting point then. And if it's a little too noisy for my tastes, I can add a cooler later as you suggest. Hmm, decisions, decisions.
 
Fatboy, are you allowed to voice an opinion as to why you guys big up a graphics cooling solution, when installing it may bork your card and will void your warranty?

Do you guys think it is safe?

I have seen one review of the zalman and the reviewer took a resistor off the card. Would have put a standard user in a pretty bad situation.
 
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el Kuarlos said:
Fatboy, are you allowed to voice an opinion as to why you guys big up a graphics cooling solution, when installing it may bork your card and will void your warranty?

Do you guys think it is safe?

I have seen one review of the zalman and the reviewer took a resistor off the card. Would have put a standard user in a pretty bad situation.
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AS I said, without replacing the gpu cooler, theres a dozen ways to kill your card through user error of which non are officially covered by warranty.

The thing is, its your choice, you aren't obliged to use the card as they want, its your card, its your choice to choose to put cooling on and your choice to ignore the warranty should you like to.

You've voided a warranty overclocking beyond the specs allowed, or overclocking your i7 to 4.5Ghz, doesn't stop us.

A standard user would be in a pretty bad situation if while trying to tighten a screw into the expansion slot to hold the card in place, their screw driver slipped and stabbed right through the card, user error is user error.

If you're confident enough to install your own hardware, do so but theres a risk involved and you can't pretend its not there, if you feel confident enough to put on your own cooler, do so, theres a risk, be aware of it if you don't want to take the risk, don't.

Not sure where Fatboy has to never recommend doing something that voids the warranty, he said the cooler would be great and warned of the risk.
 
I have the ASUS DirectCU and it is silent, so highly recommended. In my research the Powercolour PCS+ were also rated silent but I seem to remember they might be based on the longer 5870 PCB which might not fit all cases. I also got the impression from reviews that the vapor-x cards were not as quiet as the above.
 
boosfuk said:
I have the ASUS DirectCU and it is silent, so highly recommended. In my research the Powercolour PCS+ were also rated silent but I seem to remember they might be based on the longer 5870 PCB which might not fit all cases. I also got the impression from reviews that the vapor-x cards were not as quiet as the above.
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Thanks, think I've decided on the DirectCU :)
 
I think that would be a good choice. ASUS probably have a much better RMA service than Powercolor, which is a bit of a nightmare for the UK once you pass the one year warranty.
 
One last consideration before I hit the buy button, if boosfuk or dm could answer for me; being a non-reference board, is the 5850 DirectCU a different size to the reference ATI card? Or if you happen to know the length off the top of your head, even better!

(Google gives me a couple of different answers)
 
Frame352 said:
One last consideration before I hit the buy button, if boosfuk or dm could answer for me; being a non-reference board, is the 5850 DirectCU a different size to the reference ATI card? Or if you happen to know the length off the top of your head, even better!

(Google gives me a couple of different answers)
Click to expand...

PCB is 10", a fraction over when you include the bracket. Can't remember if the reference boards are 9.5 or 10".
 
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