Silent GPU fans

HRL · 24 Jun 2016 at 19:45

Why don't manufacturers fit silent fans on GPU's?

I get they'd be a bit more expensive but you'd think in this day and age there's definitely a market for them.

BluD · 24 Jun 2016 at 19:48

Probably so they dont end up having to throttle due to overheating in hot countries. Some of them do turn the fans off under a certain temp now so technically thats silent until you start gaming

smogsy · 24 Jun 2016 at 19:49

they are silent but, gpu fan needs to spin faster to get rid of 180W tdp+

cpus are only around 65W now days

HRL · 24 Jun 2016 at 20:20

No, I didn't mean on budget cards, I meant on high-end cards.

I understand that higher TDP means more heat has to be shifted but why hasn't anybody improved fan design to counter this? Is it limited by thermal dynamics? Or by cost?

HACO · 24 Jun 2016 at 20:26

HRL said:
No, I didn't mean on budget cards, I meant on high-end cards.

I understand that higher TDP means more heat has to be shifted but why hasn't anybody improved fan design to counter this? Is it limited by thermal dynamics? Or by cost?

It's affected by all of it. To dissipate heat you either have to move more air or have larger heatsinks, or both, which is what they've done. Putting fans that cost £20 each on a GPU isn't feasible. Nobody will buy that product.

HRL · 24 Jun 2016 at 20:33

HACO said:
Putting fans that cost £20 each on a GPU isn't feasible. Nobody will buy that product.

Seems a real shame tbh. I'd happily pay an extra £20 for a silent version of the latest card.

Bit niche perhaps but I can't believe I'm the only person that would like one.

five8five · 24 Jun 2016 at 20:35

MSI Gaming cards are excellent even when overclocked. Couldn't hear their fans above case fans.

HACO · 24 Jun 2016 at 20:37

HRL said:
Seems a real shame tbh. I'd happily pay an extra £20 for a silent version of the latest card.

Bit niche perhaps but I can't believe I'm the only person that would like one.

Most people who really care about silence do custom watercooling. My PC has only NF-F12 fans running at max 300rpm which completely turn off if the load is low. Everything is virtually inaudible under any load.

Gerard · 24 Jun 2016 at 20:39

HACO said:
Most people who really care about silence do custom watercooling. My PC has only NF-F12 fans running at max 300rpm which completely turn off if the load is low. Everything is virtually inaudible under any load.

I was considering water-cooling my strix cards then seen the cost involved

Close to £500 just to make things quieter.

RanxZy · 24 Jun 2016 at 20:43

Palit Jetstream/GameRock, Gainward Golden Sample (both chunky 2.5 slot) and MSI Gaming X 1070/1080 cards have very quiet large fans. The Palit and Gainward GS spin exceptionally low under load compared to the reference versions ~1000rpm vs 2000+rpm. They can still can hold their high boost clocks too unlike the reference 1080 on auto fan.

HACO · 24 Jun 2016 at 20:56

Gerard said:
I was considering water-cooling my strix cards then seen the cost involved Close to £500 just to make things quieter.

Remember that most of that cost is split among many upgrades. The radiator, pump, etc will last you ages. And when you get waterblocks you no longer need to pay extra for expensive coolers on custom cards. You just get the cheapest reference cards.

PhoenixUK · 24 Jun 2016 at 21:26

HRL said:
Why don't manufacturers fit silent fans on GPU's?

I get they'd be a bit more expensive but you'd think in this day and age there's definitely a market for them.

Don't they on some cards? I swear the first time I booted up the MSI 960 gaming, the famouse Akasa Neo Vortex and some of the old HIS IceQ 1xxx series, I literally had to put my finger in the fan to make sure it's running as I was worried that the fans not spinning and the card will burn.

Disco_P · 24 Jun 2016 at 21:52

Seeing as a "silent" fan is just a normal fan spinning slowly, then every card with an adjustable fan curve has silent fans. Which is every card.

NirK · 24 Jun 2016 at 21:55

HRL said:
Why don't manufacturers fit silent fans on GPU's?

I get they'd be a bit more expensive but you'd think in this day and age there's definitely a market for them.

What is this magic physics defying silent fan you mention?

They already use "silent" fans, but the fans have to push air onto the heatsink and moving air makes noise. Unless you can make some sort of magical cooling device then they will always make noise. But the bigger the heatsink and fans the quieter it will be.

Telecaster · 24 Jun 2016 at 23:43

HRL said:
Why don't manufacturers fit silent fans on GPU's?

I get they'd be a bit more expensive but you'd think in this day and age there's definitely a market for them.

Because silent fans don't exist. It's quite simple. You're moving air across all manner of convoluted heatsink surfaces at the same time as spinning a blade at 1500-2000RPM, silence is impossible.

CPU air coolers can achieve near silence because of the relatively low TDP and the ability to run better coolers and proper fans at low RPMs. GPUs don't have this option.

I am a massive advocate of air cooling but for graphics cards, if silence is a key element for you then water cooling is the much better option because it allows you to run multiple fans of better quality at lower RPMs, air cooled cards are generally quieter at no/low loads but once you're gaming at 100% GPU load a water cooled card will trounce it for noise performance.

TL;DR = magic fans don't exist.

tommybhoy · 25 Jun 2016 at 00:34

HRL said:
Why don't manufacturers fit silent fans on GPU's?

I get they'd be a bit more expensive but you'd think in this day and age there's definitely a market for them.

AC Xtremes have been used partnered with Nv AIB's, and after using my original £32 AC 5870Xtreme over 4 gens-5870>6970>7950/70>290X, there was no better choice imo:

Cooling Better with Arctic Cooling Solution
The Calibre X480 Graphics Card is equipped with the Accelero Xtreme cooling solution from Arctic Cooling

http://www.techpowerup.com/128831/s...80-graphics-card-with-custom-cooling-solution

Pretty sure Inno3D partnered too for a few series and now the Hercules range looks remarkably similar, or they have carried on the partnership.

Telecaster said:
Because silent fans don't exist. It's quite simple. You're moving air across all manner of convoluted heatsink surfaces at the same time as spinning a blade at 1500-2000RPM, silence is impossible.

Disagree, using a combination of suitable components-proper low noise case, massive air coolers and the AC Xtreme-without case fans running, it can be done through past experience.

You would never have known a 290X was running in my case if it wasn't for the heat produced-can attest to late night naked summer gaming! :eek:

(forgetting the heat as we are talking noise levels)AC xtreme's can tame anything on low noise@stock, you do not know it's running even with a high powered gpu, the combination of a massive quality cooler can run gpu fans truly silent.

Telecaster · 25 Jun 2016 at 11:08

Small fans spinning at higher speeds does not make silence.

tommybhoy · 25 Jun 2016 at 12:31

I know, but the Xtreme uses 3 larger fans at much lower rpms, when all you can hear is your mechanical HD's seeking, that's gpu silence in my book.

andybird123 · 25 Jun 2016 at 12:51

Gerard said:
I was considering water-cooling my strix cards then seen the cost involved Close to £500 just to make things quieter.

You can put together a decent watercooling rig for under £200, rads you can pickup 2nd hand for a 3rd of what they are new. Pumps are worth getting new but £40 is not that big a deal, and you can get core only GPU blocks that you then carry forward so no need to pay £100 extra everytime you upgrade. If you get enough rad space you dont need expensive fans either as any fans are quiet when running below 1000rpm.

Compare with £100-150 for an AIO, its actually not much more to get an extra rad and a core block to add in a GPU.