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So, i get paid in 10 mins....

Well, i can only go by my own experience, 470 sli, keep the fan speed below 60% and theyre not loud, yes above 60% they can be. But i game with noise cancelling headphones so i dont even notice fan speed.

ROFL! Do you think that might have a bearing on how loud you think this card is :D
 
Meh power consumption, it's not an issue for those that game a few hours a day.

What about if you dont have that much of a beefy psu? Anandtech's benchmark shows GTX480 using 81 more watts of power at load. Depending on your psu that could make the difference. Also, not everyone who buys from here / uses the forum overclocks. Despite the name, they sell to a lot of people not just overclockers.

Secondly, I'm not sure what 60% fan speed on a GTX480 sounds like, but on my 6950 it is stupidly loud. I can here it even through headphones unless i have them stupidly loud which isnt really acceptable. Also, not everyone uses headphones. I use speakers during the day for games and its pretty easy to hear when graphics card fans ramp up.
 
Yeah you can't compare fan speeds on AMD card to Nvidia, 60% on a 480 is relatively quiet. If you're buying a 480 you should have a decent PSU anyway.
 
What about if you dont have that much of a beefy psu? Anandtech's benchmark shows GTX480 using 81 more watts of power at load. Depending on your psu that could make the difference. Also, not everyone who buys from here / uses the forum overclocks. Despite the name, they sell to a lot of people not just overclockers.

Secondly, I'm not sure what 60% fan speed on a GTX480 sounds like, but on my 6950 it is stupidly loud. I can here it even through headphones unless i have them stupidly loud which isnt really acceptable. Also, not everyone uses headphones. I use speakers during the day for games and its pretty easy to hear when graphics card fans ramp up.

I found the 6950 fans to be to loud on anything over 35% and then it was hitting 90C in a long session of BC2, coming from a 5850 i was left feeling let down with the cooling of it. (its now under water)
 
480 just seems more of a hard hitting card to me. I love ATi but in this instance the 480 packs so much punch for 195 and I've actually found multimonitor setup slightly less of a faff and I'm 3D ready which is a nice afterthought as I'm getting a orojector soon.
 
Except people like Fox, who thought it was bad enough to send it back and spend another £100 on a 570.

It's a great card, but there is no sense in lying about it's downfalls. It is hot, and it is noisy - let the OP decide whether this is acceptable for them rather than telling them the issue doesn't exist.

Quite simply, if power consumption, heat and noise aren't important to you then the 480 is a good buy. If they are, then stick with the flashed 6950, there is nothing in it performance wise.

I think the noise issue is overplayed - it's a noisy card - noisier than the single slot leaf-blower 4850 it replaced in my system, but it's not as bad as people say. Temperatures were okay on the standard 50% fan speed. It's only when really trying to overclock it that the fans ramped up to an unacceptable level. Temps are much better than in early 480 reviews where they hover above 90c it seems.

If pure power is what you want get the 480, but for it to be faster than a flashed 6950 it'll be noisier. For a quieter, more efficient card get the 6950. I would have gotten the 6950 rather than the 480 were I to stick to using the stock cooler.
 
I found the 6950 fans to be to loud on anything over 35% and then it was hitting 90C in a long session of BC2, coming from a 5850 i was left feeling let down with the cooling of it. (its now under water)

90C? Do you live in the tropics? Do you have an oven for a computer case? Seriously now, my flashed 6950@70 never goes above 68-9C in BFBC2 @ 1080p eveything maxxed out

EDIT: oh and fan never goes above 40%
 
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