Hey fluidz I notice in your sig you have a MSI reference 7970. I was thinking of getting a couple of the OC versions and just wondered if you find the cooler to be loud?
Also, can anyone recommend some Active DP adaptors so that I can connect to 3 Dual-Link DVI (120Hz) monitors?
At 60%+ the fan slowly becomes louder, beyond comfortable, and at 100% its as irritating as a washing machine or a jumbo jet taking off lol.
However even though it is loud, with a custom fan profile, as provided by user Ltmatt (
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18454664), you can keep the average maximum to 50% - 60% if keeping the card under 70c. With a mild overclock of 1100/1600, i very rarely reach 65c in games so the fan isn't loud enough to become disturbing. Running a stress testing program such as Furmark can push those temps upto 85c, and as you can imagine, the noise, oh the noise!.. unbearable unless wearing headphones.
If you have the cash and are one to be bothered by noise, say you've spent time on your tower keeping noise to a minimum - as some do, definitely buy a non reference aftermarket 7970 as they are way quieter/cooler and not much more in price.
My previous 7970, a gigabyte windforce x3, with its 3 fan cooler, fan level at 100% is comparable to my msi 7970 reference @ 55%. It was very quiet in comparison.
If you're looking to crossfire 2 of those msi's, and push them hard, god help you. Your pc may just float.
- not my video by the way.