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looking for SILENT gfx card for gaming, please help.

Things change I've changed

Things change I've changed

Things change I've changed

Soldato
Joined
27 Jul 2005
Posts
13,359
Location
The Orion Spur
<sigh>

Just been testing this card out that I bought yesterday,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-075-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1341

And it sounds like a vacuum cleaner on load, even trying to control the fan via afterburner doesn't help, I got rid of a Sonic Palit GTX 460 which I thought was loud and now I'm stuck with another loud GPU :(

This is starting to cost me an arm and leg now plus it's starting to stress me out, all I want is a silent gaming GPU, do they exist?

What do the GTX 570's sound like on load?

I'm thinking perhaps it's better to have a GPU that expels the air from the case as every GPU I've owned that doesn't do this seems to be loud.

Tired and frustrated tbh.
 
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The Powercolor 5870 PCS++ (non-reference card) was the last high end card I used that doesn't sound like a jet engine.

Have you thought about watercooling?
 
You'll never get a decent yet completely silent card. The Gigabyte GTX 460 is pretty quiet, even under load. Look at a few tests and also make sure your case has good ventilation as that will keep temps down.
 
Aedus said:
570GTX Phantom will be very very VERY quiet on load

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-143-GW&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

18:30 for the example of the noise.
Click to expand...

Was thinking about that card tbh, I wish people would test these cards in an actual closed case though, most cards will stay pretty cool and quiet on the bench.

mmj_uk said:
Have you thought about watercooling?
Click to expand...

I've never dabbled in water cooling before, can it be used in a PC that is on 24/7 ?
 
Antec P180, 1 x 120mm fan pulling in air in the front and 1 x 120mm expelling air at the rear.

Just booted into wow and in a dense forest I'm hitting 80c with the fan speed nearly reaching 90%, ridiculously loud.

Anyway I'm going to have to return/sell the gpu anyway, I'm going to give the GTX 570 a go, if that's as loud this then I'm think I'm done with PC gaming tbh.

Just doesn't make sense when you read stuff like this in reviews of the card,

"the card in a fully stressed status (in-game) ... 38 DBA, now that is downright silent. Very impressive really, in normal conditions you will not hear the card"

Yet I can hear the card in the next room.
 
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I'd recommend an MSI Twin Frozr card. I have the 5850 and the custom cooler is really quiet. I can't hear it at all until it gets to over 50% (which it never does because it cools so well and keeps it under 70.c)

The 470 Twin Frozr is on offer.
 
lowrider007 said:
Antec P180, 1 x 120mm fan pulling in air in the front and 1 x 120mm expelling air at the rear.

Just booted into wow and in a dense forest I'm hitting 80c with the fan speed nearly reaching 90%, ridiculously loud.

Anyway I'm going to have to return/sell the gpu anyway, I'm going to give the GTX 570 a go, if that's as loud this then I'm think I'm done with PC gaming tbh.

Just doesn't make sense when you read stuff like this in reviews of the card,

"the card in a fully stressed status (in-game) ... 38 DBA, now that is downright silent. Very impressive really, in normal conditions you will not hear the card"

Yet I can hear the card in the next room.
Click to expand...

Buy a hundred watt light bulb and turn it on....... After 10 minutes put your hand on it.


Hot?


I imagine very is the answer, so now imagine modern graphics cards use about double that and that heat needs to be removed, either from your case where two fans will struggle to cut it or out the back in an exhaust.

Either way noise that's unavoidable.
 
lowrider007 said:
I've never dabbled in water cooling before, can it be used in a PC that is on 24/7 ?
Click to expand...

I don't see why not, if ithe pump ever failed the CPU/GPU would probably just crash or shut down via it's inbuilt safety mechanism.

lowrider007 said:
"the card in a fully stressed status (in-game) ... 38 DBA, now that is downright silent. Very impressive really, in normal conditions you will not hear the card"

Yet I can hear the card in the next room.
Click to expand...

Yeah 38db is not silent at all unless you live in a factory. :p

All of my fans (watercooled) are circa 20db and it's perfect imo, I mean you can obviously still hear them but it's not distracting or ear ache inducing it's just a pleasant humming sound (I use S-Flex 1200's)
 
If youre wanting the quietest decent card, then it is reportedly XFXs 1gig 6870

At the risk of spoiling the rest of our article, this card is for all practical purposes silent
Click to expand...

link

Of course performance to noise is always going to be proportional, if you need a better card youre going to have to put up with more noise
 
Well I've put in for a refund under DSR, feel a bit guilty doing that but it was so noisy, I honestly couldn't of enjoyed any gaming with it.

Think I'm gonna take a step back down to the GTX 460, is there any particular 1 gig model that anyone can actually confirm is silent?
 
mmj_uk said:
The Powercolor 5870 PCS++ (non-reference card) was the last high end card I used that doesn't sound like a jet engine.

Have you thought about watercooling?
Click to expand...

+1

I had a VTX 5850 based on the Powercolor PCS+ cooler & it was very quiet even when clocked at 850/1150 - 40% fan - 60c max temp after a few hours.

Another option on ATi cards would be Sapphire Vapor-X series.
 
lowrider007 said:
Antec P180, 1 x 120mm fan pulling in air in the front and 1 x 120mm expelling air at the rear.

Just booted into wow and in a dense forest I'm hitting 80c with the fan speed nearly reaching 90%, ridiculously loud.
Click to expand...

that gigabyte card should not be noisy at all, ^ that is why it is noisy because your case cooling sucks, it's simply not removing enough heat from the case and thus the gpu is running hot which is why it is noisy improve your case cooling or what ever you get will end up being noisy
 
da_ging said:
that gigabyte card should not be noisy at all, ^ that is why it is noisy because your case cooling sucks, it's simply not removing enough heat from the case and thus the gpu is running hot which is why it is noisy improve your case cooling or what ever you get will end up being noisy
Click to expand...

Maybe, but even with the side off the case the fan is still hitting 80% with a core temp of 75c in WOW, just doesn't make sense, perhaps it's a dud or something.

I've genuinely never had a GPU get so loud before.
 
I agree that its definately the case cooling. I had a thermaltake kandalf case and everything about it was loud because the fans were not up to the job of keeping a modern pc cool so all fans were having to work hard. Now i have a haf x 932 gaming case which has monster sized fans running at low rpm which keeps the inside cool so my gpu and cpu fans stay at low rpm. this keeps all components inside easy on the ear. Time to upgrade the case or add in some more fans. As for taking the side of the case off i think my temperatures rise if i do this as the airflow is affected. With my old case taking the side of definately helped though.
 
get any gpu you want, then WC it, or get an aftermarket cooler like the gelid one etc.

Or read/watch a review first and if its above 30db then you dont want it.
Improve your case cooling as a gpu should not be running at 90% fan speed really, so tidy those cables or get some more/better fans and if you can, make it so cool air is directly available for the gpu to suck in and expel.

That phantom sounds ridiculously quiet, did you click the button that Aedus posted? All the phantoms use the same cooler afaik, so get one of them?
 
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