Quietest High End

[The Halk]

I think I need to replace my 5870 which has gone faulty. I don't want to fit an aftermarket cooler... So I'm looking for a card in the over 200 quid range, which is very quiet/inaudible at idle. I'd pay up to 400 for the card.

Ideally the card would idle very quietly and produce very little heat.

 

[The Halk]

Hi mate. No idea to be honest. If I was buying a new card I'd be happier going a bit higher than 200 to be honest and I don't think the card I have is the quietest at the moment.

I was hoping one of the manufacturers had come out with a really good solution for noise, like back when cards started appearing with arctic coolers prefitted.

 

[The Halk]

I guess 400 it is then! I've been looking at reviews and the reference model is more efficient than the previous models. I just need to nail down which manufacturer makes the best cooled one - if they aren't all reference anyway.

 

[The Halk]

Yep I know the reference ones are the same... that's why I'm wondering if they're all reference or not. If they aren't then perhaps there's a quieter one in there. Otherwise it'll be the 2 year warranty.... after 2 years the card is worth a whole lot less anyway.

The gainward has 2 fans on it, while the rest seem to have only one. It's difficult for me to tell though as I'm browsing on my phone.

 

[The Halk]

What's quiet to you may differ to what's quiet to someone else. It's 100% subjective. I suggest you get the best card with the MSI Twin Frozr fitted on for £400. You are guranteed to have a cool quiet card that w y.

The gainwaed has the sane thing as the msi. So i think thats the one to go for.

 

[The Halk]

This is basically what I was after when I made the thread... who has a good non-reference cooler on their cards.

As far as the high end goes...

nVidia 580 and 570, and ATI 6970 and 6950

The latest cards are the most energy efficient, which means they'll dump less heat and should be quieter.

Out of the 4 different cards... the

580 has the Gainward "Good".
570 has none
6970 has none
6950 has MSI Twin FrozR

As much as I'd like to spend loads of money on nice stuff, I can't seem to see past the 6950. Plus I should refuse to buy anything branded as "good' on principle

 

[The Halk]

This card looks interesting :-

Gainward GeForce GTX 580 "GOOD Edition"
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-141-GW

Has 2 PWM fans instead of the single factory fitted fan. Can't find any reviews of it yet.

Thats the one i bought. There seem to be a lot of dual fan non ref designs around and i suspect theyre all the same cooler type. I wss thinking of waiting on the phantom but i'll see how this turns out

 

[The Halk]

Its very quiet. I have the side off the case just now balancing fan powers in bios and im very pleased how quiet it is. Hopefully aero isnt enough to kickbit up a gear but the case is pretty well ventilated so i hope.it doesnt