GTX 280 noise/power/temp compared to 8800GTS

[Dutch Guy]

Last week I replaced my 8800GTS-640 with a MSI 280GTX Super OC and I was a little nervous that it would be a lot noisier than my 8800GTS.

But to my surprise the GTX 280 is actually quieter and cooler at idle than my 8800GTS and also uses 30W less, fanspeed is at 40% which is ~1300rpm.

At load the fan is a bit louder but the temp is also lower than the 8800GTS at 87C max running Furmark when my 8800GTS would his that temp running any game and the GTX 280 is already running at 702/1404/2300Mhz

So far I am very impressed by the card and I have some overclocking to do as well.

 

[Dutch Guy]

Thanks. I was going to ask this exact question as I was thinking about upgrading my 8800GTS-512 to a GTX 260/280/285 and I was not certain about noise. I have a very quiet system and the 8800 is effectively silent at both idle and load.
Anybody else have a comparative view after upgrading?

A GTX 280 is anything but silent at load, let that be clear, but as soon as you exit a game the fan dops to 40%/1300rpm and is very quiet.

 

[Dutch Guy]

What are your idle and load wattages?

Idle is ~160W and load is ~350W when running Fallout 3 and ~390W when running Furmark.

 

[Dutch Guy]

Im shocked that a GTX280 would use less power then a GTS640meg.

Maybe at idle which you have said. It be nice to see the results at full load what the GTS used. Somehow i would think it should be less.

At idle it uses 30W less on my system (I did have my 8800GTS overclocked to 648/2000Mhz)

At load it uses way more power than a 8800GTS which isn't surprising at all.

 

[Dutch Guy]

Plug a second monitor in and you'll find it suddenly starts magically using 35-37w more power at idle. A bug of the GTX 280.

Maybe when using two monitors the GTX stays locked at 3D speeds? (and voltages)

 

[Dutch Guy]

It appears with all 8800 and 200 series cars that if the fan goes above around 80% then it is very loud. My 8800 GTS is silent under load (even with the most demanding games/benchmarks) because it never spins up past 40%. Does it sound logical that this would be the same for the GTX 280/5 etc. if not overclocked and the case is well ventilated? Or is it that these 200 series cards all spin up their fans under load?

The 280GTX does spin up a lot faster at load than a 8800 series card but it depends on what game you run how much it speeds up, I have just been playing Fallout 3 for 30 minutes and the fan wasn't that loud, I estimate ~1800rpm but running Furmark sets the fan at 100%/3100rpm which is OTT but typing this the fan is back at 40%/1300rpm and temp is 54C

 

[Dutch Guy]

Is it possible to have the 2D fanspeed at say 30% and the 3D speed automatic depending on load and temperature or is it a case of everything auto or everything manual?