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Slim & Quiet 1080?

guddler

guddler

guddler

Associate
Joined
21 Nov 2014
Posts
98
Location
UK
Hi all,

I'm looking to upgrade my GTX970 to a 1080. My current card is an MSI GTX970 (the red and black one) and I've been very happy with the noise levels of that.

Due to high prices I was tempted this time round to try and save some money by maybe looking at an OC UK card or a Pallit card or something but I'm really fussy with noise so I'm very, very nervous about a step into the unknown.

Can anyone recommend a quiet card for me please?

There is another consideration - the "slim" bit :)

I have an ASUS Gene VIII motherboard and the CPU is close enough to the GPU that I have had to put a piece of cardboard between them to ensure that the two don't ever touch and short out. A bit "heath robinson" but hey, it does the job nicely.

Obviously I could try and buy a narrower CPU cooler but that means removing the entire motherboard (because of my case), redoing the cooler and all the rest of it, never mind the expense of a new cooler and the gamble on how quiet that will be! The case is one of these:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/xigmatek-aquila-micro-atx-case-white-ca-082-xg.html

Any suggestions please?
 
I can highly recommend the EVGA ACX for it's quietness. I have a watercooled loop that is geared towards silence but the card was no louder on air compared to water. It also has a full backplate that will protect it from your cooler.

The only issue is that it is stupid expensive.
 
Hmm, which one, looks like OC have 3 different ACX's listed. You're right they're not for the lower budget though :D

To be fair, I have been selling stuff and pretty well have that much but I seem to have a real mental block at the £600 mark. I know at the end of the day I will probably have to go above that but if it wasn't for that magic number I'd have probably just randomly ordered something this morning.

While I have no problem with a Hyrid, I've been tempted several times, I expect they are out of my budget. Certainly when I've considered full WC in the past I've been under the impression that the pumps and radiators can be just as noisy as air cooling.

Incidentally, thinking about it, the spacing problem has nothing to do with my case, the problem is the motherboard together with my rather wide CPU cooler!
 
If you want your system silent at idle, I don't recommend hybrids or AIOs, but they are much quieter and cooler at load.
 
guddler said:
Incidentally, thinking about it, the spacing problem has nothing to do with my case, the problem is the motherboard together with my rather wide CPU cooler!
Click to expand...

if you running a single card you could put it a slot lower maybe?
if you tell these guys which motherboard im sure they can help you to say if this good move or not
 
Well. Here's the thing...

It's this motherboard:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...151-ddr4-micro-atx-motherboard-mb-649-as.html

Despite the product description clearly stating that the motherboard has two 16x slots, 1 16x or 2 8x, both the screening and the manual say different. The socket nearest the CPU is clearly marked 16x, the other is marked 8x. So I believe I have no other choice on slots. Would make life a lot easier if that was not the case...

At the end of the day half the reason I chose that board was down to the two 16x slots
 
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guddler confused if the 2nd slot will do x16 tho
and i duno
my guess is even at x8 it wont hurt the performance but i dont know that for sure
so hopefully some1 else can answer that

i had a similar problem in a small case and i wouldnt go with a backplate, just put some tape on the cooler or something
backplate will just make it harder to fit
 
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Yeah, sorry, should have been clearer about that but I was on my phone at the time being lazy :)

Obviously (or not) I understand that there is the limit of 16x so it's either 1x 16 or 2 x 8, what Is really, really not clear because the manufacturers info contradicts the manual and what is screen printed onto the PCB is whether the slot farthest away from the CPU will run at 16x if only 1 card is in there, or if either of them will (independently).

I might have to just give it a go and see if the BIOS tells me. This evening though I just received a surprise present of my code for Eve Valkyrie so I won't be swapping things about tonight ;)

If I can use the slot farthest from the CPU then OK, I may need to cut a window in the side panels to expel the heat but at least I won't have to worry about the width of the card and that will remove one of the concerns / criteria.
 
GPU-Z will tell you whether your card is running at 16x or 8x. Will also tell you whether it's in PCIe 1, 2 or 3. Just remember that it'll drop to a slower speed under desktop use so there is a render test that forces it to maximum speed.
 
OK, so just to put this one to bed once and for all, despite all of ASUS website and also the OC product page saying the board has 2 16x PCIE3 slots, I just swapped the card over and there is categorically no way that I can see to get the left most slot (viewed from the front) to go to 16x. It has a physical cap of 8x. Which makes sense given the board is screen printed with 8x for that slot! Maybe there's some technicality that makes it have 2 16x slots but to me it has 1 16x, 1 8x and 1 4x :)

Bit frustrating really but never mind, it was a year ago I bought it so nothing I can do about that now.

So the consideration that any GPU needs to really not protrude very much from the non-fan side at all remains. OR, I look at different CPU coolers. The Nugen Schythe that's in there now is the noisiest thing in the whole rig. Unless it's the chassis fans ramping up with CPU.

Back on track then to the GPU...
 
Well, on my GTX970, on the very quick test I did last night there was no difference in FPS. But I would hate to make my decision based on having to use the 8x slot only to find out that it is restricting the 1080.

Bottom line is, I guess I will replace the CPU cooler if I really have to.
 
Thank you - that's interesting reading.

I had a little investigate on some models last night and completely conversely to my original questions, I'm actually considering going with a pretty top end card in terms of pricing. The Gigabyte Xtreme Premium Pack 1080.

My suspicion is that I may need to either use the 8x slot, or change the CPU cooler but I can't understate how valuable the ability to have the HDMI ports on the front of the PC and be able to easily put the Rift back in it's box when not is use would be. That's one of my pet hates is having such an expensive bit of kit living on the desk because it's such a pain crawling under the desk and unplugging cables.

[EDIT] Of course I could save some money and go for the 1070 version but I will forever think that I compromised and could be cranking up some settings sliders had I gone with the 1080 :)
 
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