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Noise levels of the GTX 480 and the 5870

I had a 5870 for a few weeks and even running crysis on high i couldnt even hear it, and i have a pretty quiet pc.

Given the power..even the reference cooler is pretty quiet.
 
Going by reviews the 480 is a lot louder when gaming than a 5870. Here is my PC on my desk, when gaming the noctua fans on the cooler are louder than the 5870 so it's not loud at all.

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yes i can vouch for this as i used to own a 5870.

The 480 is lot louder when gaming as you will need to increase the fan to 60-70% for gaming average for most users.

If you want a high end card but also want a quiet card then the 5870 is for you.

The 480 will be quite loud if your case is close to you,however it all depends how many case fans you have and what speeds they are on as this will soften the 480s fan at load
 
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So far Iv managed to hold off upgrading my 3870x2, for three reasons:

1. The tesselation performance of the 5870 can be improved...

2. I was hoping for a price reduction by now...

3. Was wating for the 6000 series...


I recently had the oppurtunity to pick up a brand new 5870 for £270 but thought, Iv watied this long for thr 6000 series, knowing my luck as soon as I get a 5870 the 6000 series will be announced.

Am I just wating for something, that will only offer marginal performance increase?

Will I be happy with the performance from the 5870?
 
yes its a huge upgrade for you ,buy one now you will not be disappointed!!

As for 6 series nobody really knows the release date ill be surprised if they are even released before xmas.

If you wait for next gen things to be released you wil never end up buying anything as the technology is always being improved and better products being released
 
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opethdisciple said:
So far Iv managed to hold off upgrading my 3870x2, for three reasons:

1. The tesselation performance of the 5870 can be improved...

2. I was hoping for a price reduction by now...

3. Was wating for the 6000 series...


I recently had the oppurtunity to pick up a brand new 5870 for £270 but thought, Iv watied this long for thr 6000 series, knowing my luck as soon as I get a 5870 the 6000 series will be announced.

Am I just wating for something, that will only offer marginal performance increase?

Will I be happy with the performance from the 5870?
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You have the right idea. Kepp waiting.
 
There is no sign of the 6000 series yet and with Nvidia completely pricing themselves out of the average gamer market no reason why ATI should release anything new for quite sometime, especially as the performance of their offerings are too similar to warrant the extra price for nvidia's cards.

I cant say i agree with the 5870 being quiet tho. I have the stock Sapphire 5870 in case under my desk and i can hear it's fan at full load if game is in quiet area. I would say go for one of the non-reference cooled cards. Plus u will not be disappointed by the performance, i'm certainly not and i play on 5040x1050! But it does depend what ur upgrading from, i was on 8800GTS previously.
 
Technically both cards are just as loud however as the 480 runs hotter the fan has to spin faster thus increasing the amount of noise produced. So in real world terms the 480 is loud. Quite unbearably loud when overclocked and when paired with another one!

Waterblocks are a must tbh.
 
NathWraith said:
Technically both cards are just as loud however as the 480 runs hotter the fan has to spin faster thus increasing the amount of noise produced. So in real world terms the 480 is loud. Quite unbearably loud when overclocked and when paired with another one!

Waterblocks are a must tbh.
Click to expand...


Possibly interested in buying one of these (GTX 470). Could you spec me a suitable WC solution?
 
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EK waterblock for 470
bayres/pump combo

good double radiator [maybe a blackice GT 240]

and tubing/fittings of your choice
 
Depends on your setup - I don't notice the fan noise with my 480's unless I'm listening for them although my case has good ventilation.
 
sk3lph said:
Depends on your setup - I don't notice the fan noise with my 480's unless I'm listening for them although my case has good ventilation.
Click to expand...

or you maybe need a hearing test. Seriously though i think noise is always down to what is percieved as loud. The fact remains though that the gtx480 is one of the loudest cards ever brought out.

The point is though that loud for some is quiet for others.
 
re:

Depends on your setup - I don't notice the fan noise with my 480's unless I'm listening for them although my case has good ventilation.
Click to expand...

Totally agree... If you do have good air cooling there is no issue mainly because your card stays at lower temps which means the high fan speeds do not kick in.
On idle my card reaches 45c max even during this hot weather which means I dont hear the fan / card at all.
During gaming ie: playing BFBC2 my temps increase to around 85c and I still hardly notice any noise.
I think if your card reaches the 95c+ that`s when it gets very loud as the fans top speed kicks in to cool the card.
But from my experience my set up is fairly well air cooled and I never get any noise issues ;)

Going by reviews the 480 is a lot louder when gaming than a 5870.
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I think if you actually owned a GTX480 with the case system you have you would think differently.

Cheers
mrix
 
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