Stock 7970 noise...4 altenative solutions...

[yannis76]

I want to reduce my 7970 noise under load and I have the following choices:

1) 60€ Accelero 7970 but I dont like the installation procedure (have bad experience from the past)
2) change to an Asus DCII 7970 for 70€
3) change to an Asus GTX680 for 130€
4) change to an Asus GTX670 DCII for 50€

My main target is to reduce the noise under load, since I think that performance is about equal. I play at 1920x1080p

thx

 

[Tealc]

The installation of the aftermarket cooler is a bit of a fiddle but I'd imagine that would give the best, and cheapest results. You'd also stand a good chance of being able to use the cooler again on a future card, or sell it with the card for a price premium over stock.

I found the procedure for installing my aftermarket cooler quite straightforward, took about an hour and nothing has fallen off, even after all this time. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18259344

 

[old gamer]

Or you can get a nice set of headphones, i just bought the corsair vengeance 1500's, now i cant hear a thing from my pc and on a plus note i cant even hear the mrs moaning about me playing games again

 

[shawsy109]

Or you can get a nice set of headphones, i just bought the corsair vengeance 1500's, now i cant hear a thing from my pc and on a plus note i cant even hear the mrs moaning about me playing games again

This is what i did. But i bought 2 accleros about 3 weeks back and fitted them, really easy to do, and im by no means a pc guru. Noise and temps are so good since fitting them.

 

[psychodil]

Have you tried replacing the TIM on the cooler? Also could you reduce the voltage a little with afterburner or trixx?

 

[yannis76]

What is the TIM? Just to inform you, temps now while surfing are at 41oC...
I am leaning towards the GTX670 upgrade path but see no one of you to suggest it to me..

 

[psychodil]

The TIM is the thermal interface material (I think), the thermal goop between your gpu and the heat sink. 41 degrees does sound a little warm for idle temps so I would try changing the TIM first

 

[yannis76]

Ok,

I have narrowed down my options to the following two:

1) sell me 7970 for around 350€ and get a new GTX670 DCII Top for 449€ (+99€)
2) exchange my 7970 for a 7970 DCII Top for 50€.

What do u think? I want to reduce the load noise and the temperatures.

 

[BodgeITandRun]

I might end up buying an accelero too. Even though my ref one isn't noisy as such, it's louder than my non ref one which annoys me a little.