• 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.

A Quieter yet faster option.

Black_adder

Black_adder

Black_adder

Associate
Joined
21 Jan 2008
Posts
52
Ok, so at the moment I'm running the old 3870-X2, and im growing fed up of the noise. I love it to bits in terms of performance , it runs the newest games perfectly fine at decent settings. But Its getting old, and i can hear it through walls when its under load =/
Plus, its always nice to upgrade.
SO! Any recommendations on a nice card in the under £250 region? preferably quiet and cool.

Unless there's a decent water/air cooling option for current setup, if its not worth an upgrade yet. I was looking at the Zalman RESERATOR1 V2 (mmm silence), but it looks like it wouldnt' do well with a CPU and GPU in the loop...?

Currently:
Asus Maxinmus Formula
Q6600
4gig Ram
4x SATA HD's
700w PSU (looking for a good Modular PSU, if anyone has a suggestion)

I'd Love to upgrade everything, but alas, 1 component requires others first :(
 
I recently upgraded from a 3870x2... I bought a 5870. and its obviously a huge improvement.

Also rather astonishingly the 5870 is way cooler and a lot quiter, I can not hear it over my case fans. Where as the 3870x2 was a vacuum cleaner!

If you budget conscious, then a 5850 or a 470 are great choices. The 470 more powerfull, but louder and hotter.

I cannot tell you how loud becuase I have never owned one, but if the 5850 is as quiet and coole as the 5870, then I can vouch for that card.

If I had the choice, 470.... but it may not meet your criteria for quiet.
 
If you can wait out the racket for a month or so - the new AMD HD 6000 series are coming out presently (November).

Obviously we don't know how quiet these are, but I'd wager that the sapphire vapour-X versions of the top-end single GPU 6000 series will be rather quiet and very powerful.
 
Last edited:
RavenXXX2 said:
^^ http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/160?vs=162

470 is about on par with a 5870 at stock, overclocked it will easily be faster than even an overclocked 5870, all fact, now I suggest you shut up.

Recommending a 5870 when the new cards are out soon is sure good advise lol.



Yeah it's not in stock here.;)
Click to expand...

yet recomending a 470 GTX is good advice? when ATI are about to blow it out of the water??

And Actually a 5870 can overclock to 1100/1350 with a few minor tweaks and a 470 cant touch it.
Oh and the fact it mas more things going for it.. such as lower power useage and it runs cooler.
 
lol yeah where are these 5870 1100 core users at then lol, I can't believe some of the bull some people come out with.

And yeah we're talking about the 470 amp, you know the card that runs quieter and cooler than a reference 5870.
 
Last edited:
As others have said, if you can, wait. You've had your current card for ages so you may as well wait a few more weeks. Even if you do then buy a 470 or other Nvidia card, you'll know how this compares to the 6xxx series.
 
For the nVidia route, you need to do your own research to find the quieter options. For the ATI route, you either do that or you blindly net yourself a Sapphire Vapour-X or Toxic which just about always provide a cool and silent experience.

Right now, Raven's suggestion seems the best option. But if you have something that works and the upgrade is mostly a luxury one, then it would make little sense not to wait for the ATI 6000 series.
 
You're looking at about £290 for a 470 and a water block you install yourself. see what the 6*** cards are like then make a decision.
 
I use a 5970, nice graphics card but very noisy when gaming, thank goodness for headphones as they tend to block out some of the noise, especially in the late evenings.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom