Hydro 1080 Ti Liquid Cooled GFX

[sht00]

I'm planning a single 1080 Ti build and want it to be as quiet as possible without custom water cooling. (I don't have the time or skills to be doing w/c.)

I had a really bad experience with a very noisy gfx in my last rig - I could hardly bring myself to use it. So I'm wary of my choice this time round. Was thinking of just going on air (no overclock) with a massive beQuiet CPU cooler and "silent" case, but couldn't decide on the graphics card.

Then I saw that Corsair have a card that is basically a pre-assembled MSI GTX 1080 Ti cooled with a CORSAIR HYDRO Series H55. I'd be interested to know if anyone has any experience with this card. And also is there any annoying pump noise with these closed-loop w/c systems (I have zero experience with them)? It seems bloody expensive but for a quiet system it might be worth it.

Any input greatly appreciated!

Stu

 

[orbitalwalsh]

EVGA have there's out as well, using Asetek AIO design like the Corsair one and Waterforce will be out after computex I think, not sure if this doesn't have a Blower fan like previous versions

they should be quieter , can also use a better sourced 120mm fan for the radiator to provide better performance and lower noise, and then adjust fan curve on the blower to have it barely spinning at all

 

[Brazo]

Yes you will get noise from two sources the pump and the fan!

I had similar concerns to you and run a bequiet dark rock 3 in silent mode which is awesome.

The quietest 1080ti will be the zotac amp extreme. Also has 0dba mode which any water setup won't have.

 

[oldestgregg]

I have a Palit 1080 and its whisper quiet. Fans dont kick in until it hits 50 degrees and even then they never go high enough to hear them. Quietest card Ive ever owned and my last one was a Titan X with the AIO you have mentioned.

 

[orbitalwalsh]

any Ti under load will hit 30db or louder. Yes cards feature 0db but if your gaming at 1440p/4k with latest games your fans will kick up soon enough - unless you've got good enough air flow to keep that down.
You can have a Silent Wing 3 fan blowing 100% @ 19db on the radiator or spinning at 800rpm and making no sound what so ever

worth youtubing reviews for sound levels on cards and fans if you go Hybrid route

 

[Brazo]

any Ti under load will hit 30db or louder. Yes cards feature 0db but if your gaming at 1440p/4k with latest games your fans will kick up soon enough - unless you've got good enough air flow to keep that down.
You can have a Silent Wing 3 fan blowing 100% @ 19db on the radiator or spinning at 800rpm and making no sound what so ever

worth youtubing reviews for sound levels on cards and fans if you go Hybrid route

It is always a compromise between having a completely silent rig when required I.e 0db mode for non/light gaming applications or indeed 4 mins of GTA at 4K ultra before your gpu hits 95c (don't ask!) and a noisier card for gaming versus a quieter card for gaming and an ever present low level of pump/fan noise.

I've had both and for me the air cooled only option is a no brainer over any aio gpu. Others will go the other way and that's cool too

My silent wings 3 fans at 100% are very loud! Ok noticeable! More than 19db. I understand there are a few variants and a very low powered version is quiet at 100% but won't cool like the std version either. My silent wings 3 fans on silent mode are silent (but not worth having in the air moving stakes!)

 

[varkanoid]

I've said it before and I will say it again it also depends where you have your PC. I currently have the window open, few birds singing and I can hardly hear my case fans let alone anything else. My PC is bottom right of me in desk alcove current ambient temp is 28c inside case 25c in room. I have two AIO pumps too plus 5 Corsair fans and the PSU fan. With window closed its a low rumble. My wife sits next to me and she can't hear any noise. Horses for courses.

 

[sht00]

I agree that it really is horses for courses. I'm starting to think that given that I'm likely to spend the majority of time on it with light to no GPU usage and only cranking it up every now and again, I should go air only with a card that has a silent mode. I'd rather cope with some noise on the odd gaming session, than have annoying sound while I'm working.

Thanks so much for the replies - it's really helped.

 

[Brazo]

I agree that it really is horses for courses. I'm starting to think that given that I'm likely to spend the majority of time on it with light to no GPU usage and only cranking it up every now and again, I should go air only with a card that has a silent mode. I'd rather cope with some noise on the odd gaming session, than have annoying sound while I'm working.

Thanks so much for the replies - it's really helped.

The only game where I can notice my gpu fan noise is hunter call of the wild as this maxes my gtx 1080 and turns it into a very average card! Otherwise the fans on my zotac amp non extreme are very quiet running the latest games.

Of course you can customise the fan profile too for even better attenuation.