Flashable and quiet hd6950?

killianzz · 5 Mar 2011 at 21:44

Does such a thing exist? All I can find are ones with leafblower fans/wind turbines.

jigger · 5 Mar 2011 at 22:07

A stock reference card is pritty good, but you can get a dual fan PowerColor HD6950.

killianzz · 6 Mar 2011 at 17:58

jigger said:
A stock reference card is pritty good, but you can get a dual fan PowerColor HD6950.

The reference cards sound quite loud though. Ive heard bad things about powercolor, apparently their RMA policy is non-existant.

C64 · 6 Mar 2011 at 18:39

Avoid xfx like the plague too it's a shame gigabyte haven't made any 2gb cards with non leaf blower coolers as they have 3 years warranty and milton keynes based rma.

i'd get a gigabyte or msi and get a third party cooler.

Nelly · 6 Mar 2011 at 18:45

I'm abit baffled as mine is quiet, 24% fanspeed on desktop/windows, in games maybe upto 34% which is audible slightly above my case fans, but if you play with sound on or have headphones on you would never even notice it.

C64 · 6 Mar 2011 at 18:46

Depends what you are used to ? personally I find those leaf blower coolers unbearably loud.

Sayso · 6 Mar 2011 at 18:50

C64 said:
Depends what you are used to ? personally I find those leaf blower coolers unbearably loud.

Same here, found the 6950 stock cooler to be noisy, especially as i had to have the fan above 40% to stop the card melting.

Firegod · 6 Mar 2011 at 19:23

Nelly said:
I'm abit baffled as mine is quiet, 24% fanspeed on desktop/windows, in games maybe upto 34% which is audible slightly above my case fans, but if you play with sound on or have headphones on you would never even notice it.

Same here. Sitting at 24% and the temps reported are 39ºC on the card. I find it's much quieter than my previous 4870 card with the stock cooler. Baffled how people find it loud. :confused:

Takes anything over 40% really for me to notice it. I've just bumped it up to 40% (I have music playing at a normal level, not too loud) and I still can't hear the fan. Anyway, back to 24% it goes.

Cleeecooo · 6 Mar 2011 at 19:37

Get the powercolour one. The retauler that sells you the card MUST deal with the warranty and MUST provide a replacement within a REASONABLE amount of time. It's the law. Thus sgoukdnt take longer than 28days

Cream Cheese · 6 Mar 2011 at 20:08

I bought the OcUK one and it came with the 2 fan cooler. It's pretty damn quiet.

C64 · 6 Mar 2011 at 21:39

Firegod said:
Same here. Sitting at 24% and the temps reported are 39ºC on the card. I find it's much quieter than my previous 4870 card with the stock cooler. Baffled how people find it loud.

Takes anything over 40% really for me to notice it. I've just bumped it up to 40% (I have music playing at a normal level, not too loud) and I still can't hear the fan. Anyway, back to 24% it goes.

was the stock cooler on the 4870 a leaf blower though ? A lot of us have been using virtually silent gpu cooling like a single 120mm fan since the 8800 days is the trouble.

killianzz · 6 Mar 2011 at 22:22

Cream Cheese said:
I bought the OcUK one and it came with the 2 fan cooler. It's pretty damn quiet.

I looked at the picture and assumed it was actually a leafblower. Can anyone else confirm that the ocuk 6950 comes with a 2 fan cooler? If so, that would be ideal, as it is also flashable. I wouldn't mind about it being a little loud normally, but I've chosen every component in my new rig with noise being a big factor. Would be a shame to ruin it with a graphics card which is louder than everything in idle. To be honest, I am sure I could live with a custom fan profile set at 24% at idle. Although when I xfire, I just hope my case has good enough airflow for that to be possible.

Apparently theres only one OCUK 6950 left in stock, and no ETA for another shipment. Can anyone confirm that they are twin fan and if anyone knows what brand it actually is that would be great.

Nelly · 6 Mar 2011 at 22:28

The reference 6950 @ 24% idle is quiet, slightly audible when gaming.

How about this one? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-113-MS

Not sure if shaders can be unlocked on the MSI 6950 Twin FrozR II 2048MB, maybe someone else knows . . . .

killianzz · 6 Mar 2011 at 22:30

Nelly said:
The reference 6940 @ 24% idle is quiet, slightly audible when gaming.

How about this one? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-113-MS

Not sure if shaders can be unlocked on the MSI 6950 Twin FrozR II 2048MB, maybe someone else knows . . . .

They cant

First one I looked at, read up on it a while ago and found out theres no bios switch. But yep, that would be ideal and probably worth the extra £30/£40. Ah well, can't always have it my way lol.

Nelly · 6 Mar 2011 at 22:57

Not sure then, only thing I can think of is splashing the cash on the ASUS HD 6970 DirectCU 2, although I cannot see anywhere with any in stock.

I doubt you can crossfire with the size of the cooler, also it will probally cost an arm and a leg too.

killianzz · 6 Mar 2011 at 23:20

Nelly said:
Not sure then, only thing I can think of is splashing the cash on the ASUS HD 6970 DirectCU 2, although I cannot see anywhere with any in stock.

I doubt you can crossfire with the size of the cooler, also it will probally cost an arm and a leg too.

Wow that DirectCU 2 looks like a monster. It really is quite thick though, your rite, crossfire could be a problem. I'll do some research. I was thinking of SLI 570s but as my PSU is a TX750w I wouldn't be able to overclock them at all, which would seem a little disappointing. Should have got the 850w in all honestly. Nevermind, 6950/70s draw a lot less power. Xfire and an overclock shouldn't be an issue

Can't rule out a 560 yet though.

jigger · 7 Mar 2011 at 00:00

killianzz said:
They cant First one I looked at, read up on it a while ago and found out theres no bios switch. But yep, that would be ideal and probably worth the extra £30/£40. Ah well, can't always have it my way lol.

They can, its just you need to use a modified BIOS.

Seeing you now want SLI'd 570's why not wait a few days and get a HD6990 ?

Surveyor · 7 Mar 2011 at 00:14

Cards with none stock coolers may not be reference cards and may not be flashable.

If you look at the cards on OCUK some say they're "Revision 1 flashable to 6970".

But this one, with a fancy cooler, doesn't say that:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-113-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

I would say that if you want a card which can be flashed to a 6970 you need a Revision 1 reference design card so none of them will be quieter than any other.

C64 · 7 Mar 2011 at 00:19

I'd just get the cheapest with a decent warranty ie not xfx or asus and put up with the noise until I could get an aftermarket cooler on there or pay the extra for a twin fanned jobby.

Surveyor · 7 Mar 2011 at 00:22

C64 said:
I'd just get the cheapest with a decent warranty ie not xfx or asus and put up with the noise until I could get an aftermarket cooler on there or pay the extra for a twin fanned jobby.

The "twin fanned jobby" does not seem to be unlockable, which is what the OP requested.