Quiet Please

[VirginStranger]

Give me your opinions

I've had a XFX R9 280x for almost 3 years performs well, mostly high to very high settings, but always notice noise at idle & load so can be bit annoying.

I'm planning an upgrade and RX 480 seems best choice to last another few years but which one to pick. Given that noise is my main concern I think the MSI 480 8gb Gaming X seems to be quietest but is it worth the price or can someone suggest alternatives .

 

[MyBrainz]

I got my Sapphire Nitro+ 480 4GB (£210 @OcUK but out of stock atm) last week and all i can say is if you use the TriXX software then your're gona have a quiet card with nice temps.. check out my load and idle temps after a couple of hours of BF4 on Ultra 4xMSAA and Arma 3 Battle Royale on almost Ultra settings with 2xMSAA..



Here is my Fan Profile..



I am also overclocked to 1366/1800 with these temps.. +50% power limit set with default voltage.. my 480 does 1400Mhz core with no voltage change and gets through 3DMark benches fine with zero artifacts

Link to the Nitro+ 480 4GB > https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sapp...-pci-express-rgb-graphics-card-gx-37d-sp.html

Im planning on Vega when it comes but if you want a 480 for a few years then i'd go for the 8GB version just to be safe.. depending on your display resolution of course, im @ 1080p atm and BF4 uses less than 2.5GB VRAM, Arma 3 BR uses around 3.1GB VRAM.

Dont go by the reviewers Sapphire temp results, they are way out for the Nitro+ at least, maybe ref versions get hot, but my Nitro+ certainly doesnt.

 

[AdamScott85]

I had a r9 290x which I am guessing is similar and the cooler was crap, I changed it to a gelid. The coolers on those AMD card's where not the quietest, wouldn't touch AMD anymore but back then that was annoying.

 

[Burr]

I'll vouch for the Powercolor RX 480 Red Devil, it's a very quiet card and that's on the main OC bios, i haven't even tried the silent bios yet. Having had a RX 480 Nitro+ OC (RMA'd) i can tell you the difference in the Time Spy benchmark is 40 points between them, in the Nitro+'s favour - which is nothing really. There's a lot of headroom with the Red Devil for overclocking further as well.

 

[Poneros]

The PowerColor Devil 480 is by far the quietest 480 and will give you the best performance in that area.

 

[VirginStranger]

Thanks anyone for previous opinions

I'm now getting near decision time and i've had the MSI RX 480 Gaming X as my likely pick past week or so.

Now i'm reading lots good news about the EVGA GTX1060 SC and MSI GTX1060 Gaming X and both cheaper than the 480 and with similar performance.

I've always had AMD cards 4870, 6870, R9 280x so should I jump ship and if so which 1060 ?

Budget can be stretched to £300

 

[southernorth]

Thanks anyone for previous opinions

I'm now getting near decision time and i've had the MSI RX 480 Gaming X as my likely pick past week or so.

Now i'm reading lots good news about the EVGA GTX1060 SC and MSI GTX1060 Gaming X and both cheaper than the 480 and with similar performance.

I've always had AMD cards 4870, 6870, R9 280x so should I jump ship and if so which 1060 ?

Budget can be stretched to £300

I have an EVGA GTX 1060 SC and can attest to it being quiet and running cool in games (only gets to 60c @45% fan speed).


Apart from the noise levels of the cards you're looking at, the customer service quality and RMA procedures are important to consider. For example, Powercolour probably make one of the quietest rx 480s but their CS is not well known and I am pretty sure their RMA requires that you send your card to SE Asia. Which isn't too good.



Also, which games do you currently play and intend on playing in future? As certain cards perform a lot better in certain games.