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Which rev.1 6950? (Noise Levels)
- Thread starter Baplad
- Start date
Looking to Purchase a 6950 in the next few days/next week,
Just wondering which rev.1 has the lowest noise levels?
Any help is appreciated
Apparently the Sapphire 6950 2GB has and it's the one I bought
It also depends on your idea of 'quiet'.
I am using MSI Afterburner for OC and fan control. I have a Noctua NH-D14 (both fans on) and two Sharkoons Silent Eagle 1000. Loudest fans are the Sharkoons at idle.
GPU fan noise to my ears.
24% fans inaudible. 29°C - 39°C (IDLE)
30% fans practically inaudible. 40°C - 45°C (Warming Up/Movies)
35% fans just audible alongside Sharkoons. 45°C - 50°C
40% fans audible hum above Sharkoons. 50°C - 60°C (Gaming start)
45% fans audible hum above Sharkoons. 60°C - 65°C
50% fans are a moderate-loud hum above Sharkoons 65°C - 70°C (Long term gaming)
60% fans are a loud hum above Sharkoons 70°C - 73°C (Peak benchmark temps)
80% fans are very loud/almost roaring (unused)
90% fans are roaring (unused)
100% fans are almost deafening (unused)
My Sapphire 6950 fans don't go above 60%. From 70°C+, it drops down to the 40s °C in under a minute.
I know people who don't set their fans above 50%.
The Sapphire is pretty damn quiet for a high end graphics card. Even when overclocked.
Noise is of course subjective. I went for the Asus for no particular reason. Noise under load wasn't bad, in fact it was less than my previous Vapor-x 4890, but noise under idle was just unnaceptable against the relative quiet of my idle rig where the fastest fan is about 700rpm.
I'd always intended fitting an aftermarket cooler eventually but after living with the idle noise for a fortnight I changed the cooler and it's now perfect.
Your mileage may vary of course and you may find it perfectly acceptable.
I would have thought one reference will be the same as the next, or at least mechanically anyway. Different vendors may have slightly different fan profiles.
I'd always intended fitting an aftermarket cooler eventually but after living with the idle noise for a fortnight I changed the cooler and it's now perfect.
Your mileage may vary of course and you may find it perfectly acceptable.
I would have thought one reference will be the same as the next, or at least mechanically anyway. Different vendors may have slightly different fan profiles.
Apparently the Sapphire 6950 2GB has and it's the one I bought
It also depends on your idea of 'quiet'.
I am using MSI Afterburner for OC and fan control. I have a Noctua NH-D14 (both fans on) and two Sharkoons Silent Eagle 1000. Loudest fans are the Sharkoons at idle.
snip
My Sapphire 6950 fans don't go above 60%. From 70°C+, it drops down to the 40s °C in under a minute.
I know people who don't set their fans above 50%.
The Sapphire is pretty damn quiet for a high end graphics card. Even when overclocked.
Thanks for the detailed post on noise levels, this was the card I was looking to get as its on offer this week.
Cheers for the info!
I hate fan noise period, so I always change stock coolers to better aftermarket ones. It may be loud to me, but may be very acceptable to someone else.
First one was a HIS, slightly louder than my quietest fan on idle, loud when gaming.
Second one MSI, can't hear it in idle as above, and nowhere near as loud when gaming, although it's used as card 2 in an xfire setup(HIS cooler was replaced with ac etreme 5870 cooler from my old 5870) but afaik, the second card runs cooler than the top.
First one was a HIS, slightly louder than my quietest fan on idle, loud when gaming.
Second one MSI, can't hear it in idle as above, and nowhere near as loud when gaming, although it's used as card 2 in an xfire setup(HIS cooler was replaced with ac etreme 5870 cooler from my old 5870) but afaik, the second card runs cooler than the top.
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^
Arctic Cooling extreme(3 slots)but you need to buy ram/heatsinks separately or Arctic Cooling extreme 5870 and a 1 extra small heatsink and mod(cut) the vrm heatsink supplied, and the Thermalright Shaman(4, in some mb's 5 slots) possibly Zalman VF3000A, but I'm not 100% sure.
Tealc's Shaman fitted to a 6950 thread:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18259344
Arctic Cooling extreme(3 slots)but you need to buy ram/heatsinks separately or Arctic Cooling extreme 5870 and a 1 extra small heatsink and mod(cut) the vrm heatsink supplied, and the Thermalright Shaman(4, in some mb's 5 slots) possibly Zalman VF3000A, but I'm not 100% sure.
Tealc's Shaman fitted to a 6950 thread:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18259344
Matches what I have with my unlocked Asus although I'd say idle at 24% is audible - my PC is pretty much silent when idle. I have the 6950's idle fan speed set to 20% which makes it silent.
Do you have the 2gb or 1gb his 6950, does the 2gb one have a bios switch?
Soldato
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I have a 6950 2gb with the stock cooler.
The bios flash didn't make the fan noise any noticeably louder (I would assume it was a marginal increase). However upping the voltage to that of the 6970 does add fan noise.
It certainly isn't bad at all, far from it in fact. Just be aware than cranking up the voltage will up the noise. Adding a custom fan profile will solve that though as the stock fan profiles will be hugely on the safe side.
I am running my card at a touch under the 6970 voltage with all the shaders unlocked and core at 900mhz. The fan is a little noisier than stock when gaming - but then you have your speakers or headset on. It is silent when not gaming.
A fair few gpu's ago I had an x1800xt......and trust me.......modern gpu coolers don't sound like a vacuum cleaner like they used to!]
As for which one to buy? Buy a regular one that is the cheapest. I wouldn't worry too much about warranty length as electronics (in my experience) are usually DOA than die over time.
The bios flash didn't make the fan noise any noticeably louder (I would assume it was a marginal increase). However upping the voltage to that of the 6970 does add fan noise.
It certainly isn't bad at all, far from it in fact. Just be aware than cranking up the voltage will up the noise. Adding a custom fan profile will solve that though as the stock fan profiles will be hugely on the safe side.
I am running my card at a touch under the 6970 voltage with all the shaders unlocked and core at 900mhz. The fan is a little noisier than stock when gaming - but then you have your speakers or headset on. It is silent when not gaming.
A fair few gpu's ago I had an x1800xt......and trust me.......modern gpu coolers don't sound like a vacuum cleaner like they used to!]
As for which one to buy? Buy a regular one that is the cheapest. I wouldn't worry too much about warranty length as electronics (in my experience) are usually DOA than die over time.
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The failure profile on electronics is usually within the first couple of weeks or after some years. It's rare for stuff to break after a year or something, that's why extended warranties are such a scam / money earner.
As to the reference 6950's, I find it quite loud - coming from a 4890 Vapor-X. Will most likely put on an aftermarket cooler at some point.
I asked because i bought the 1gb 6950 his and it didn't have a bios switch.
I went ahead and tried to flash it assuming the card had a switch but being a idiot i didn't check.Flash went bad and i had to reset comp! After that i couldn't boot into windows without getting bsod! had to boot into safe mode then disable drivers and then boot into windows again using on board graphics then was able to re flash to old bios.
Tempted to try flash it again but i don't think i want to chance it.
I haven't had any problems with my 1gb playing any games on max settings but i can understand if anyone would prefer to get 2gb to have a future proof card.I only got the 1gb because it was about 56/60 pound cheaper then the other 2gb ones.