• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

GALAX 970 OC Silent "Infinity Black Edition" Question

Tropicocity

Tropicocity

Tropicocity

Associate
Joined
23 Mar 2013
Posts
245
Hi all, question directed mainly at staff and owners

I was loving absolutely everything I read about this card, until it got to the part about the idle fans. MSI and ASUS have their card running completely fanless up to a certain point, which bodes well for me as I would like to not have noise coming from it if I'm watching stuff or just generally browsing the web/facebook etc.

The Galax card has one out of two fans still spinning whilst idle, and I've read that it can't go below around 1100rpm/30% - is this true? If so, how noisy is it in that state, and would you recommend it at the premium over an MSI which features fanless operation?

Keep in mind I am unlikely to overclock it at all, and noise is my biggest factor behind base level performance, with temps coming second. :)
 
Tropicocity said:
If so, how noisy is it in that state
Click to expand...

It's practically silent.

and would you recommend it at the premium over an MSI which features fanless operation?
Click to expand...

Yes, unless an extra year warranty is important to you, then go for the MSI. Personally, I never have a gfx card for longer than 2 yrs so it's not an issue for me.
 
I have the Galax gtx970 OCEX black edition, and its totally silent. The only time I've heard any fan noise is when I put my ear to the front of the case when benching, otherwise, nothing.
 
amigafan2003 said:
It's practically silent.



Yes, unless an extra year warranty is important to you, then go for the MSI. Personally, I never have a gfx card for longer than 2 yrs so it's not an issue for me.
Click to expand...


Sorry to jump in, but why would you recommend it disregarding the warranty situation?

Like the OP, I'm torn between the MSI and Galax, although noise isn't an issue for me. I can see the Galax clocks slightly higher, but the MSI comes out as King in all group 970 review tests I've seen but the Galax never features in them.

There are some reasonable deals around on the MSI (to use with OCUK pricematch service) that puts the MSI a bit cheaper. I do like the OCUK reviuews of the galax but it's not available elsewhere which could make it more difficult should SLI become an option a year or so down the line.

(the future ease of SLI 970 options is why I think it's a better purchase that the 290x lightning)
 
Andy__C said:
Sorry to jump in, but why would you recommend it disregarding the warranty situation?

Like the OP, I'm torn between the MSI and Galax, although noise isn't an issue for me. I can see the Galax clocks slightly higher, but the MSI comes out as King in all group 970 review tests I've seen but the Galax never features in them.

There are some reasonable deals around on the MSI (to use with OCUK pricematch service) that puts the MSI a bit cheaper. I do like the OCUK reviuews of the galax but it's not available elsewhere which could make it more difficult should SLI become an option a year or so down the line.

(the future ease of SLI 970 options is why I think it's a better purchase that the 290x lightning)
Click to expand...

This one is a decent one with the galax in it - ya the msi isnt in there.

I read a review that had the cards on youtube (all of them by the same reviewer where you could listen to the fans ... ) and ya IMO the MSI really wasnt too bad - perhaps the best.

sorry dont remember the review
 
Small bump to gather a few more opinions on this. Can't imagine the current ~£12 price reduction plus the free delivery on the Galax 970 will be around for much longer so I'd like to order soon if there's no specific reason why the MSI card would be better (again focusing entirely on the fanless vs half-fanless part of it as idle silence is an ideal thing for me)
 
Tropicocity said:
Small bump to gather a few more opinions on this. Can't imagine the current ~£12 price reduction plus the free delivery on the Galax 970 will be around for much longer so I'd like to order soon if there's no specific reason why the MSI card would be better (again focusing entirely on the fanless vs half-fanless part of it as idle silence is an ideal thing for me)
Click to expand...

Fan noise will be very similar on both to be honest, nothing in it.

However a major difference will be performance, the Infinity card has much higher boost clock which is also very conservative, most of these Infinity cards are boosting to around 1400MHz out of the box, making them very quick. The only other card I know of which such high boost speeds out the box is the Gigabyte G1 which is louder for sure.
 
I cant here it when I play, but this is with frames capped at about 64 (1080p). With the frames unlocked I can here whine. When I run heaven I don't hear any whine.
 
It's the best graphics card I've ever owned. Silent, cool, sexy. Though I can't say about the RPM/30% I know it does still spin one fan when idle but it isn't audible to me. :)
 
Thanks for all the replies everybody :) To all those saying you get coil whine when you uncap the FPS..that shouldn't be the case should it, it's guaranteed to be free from whine!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom