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X1900 Fan Noise. Is it Loud ?

Soldato
Joined
27 Jan 2003
Posts
5,962
Location
Chesterfield, UK
Hi,
Cancelled my order for an X1900 yesterday after reading a few reviews that suggested that the X1900 is very loud. One review even suggested it sounded like the old 5800 :eek: So peeps is it loud?

Are the holes aligned like a GTX 512 which would allow the use of a NV68 waterblock? This could be an option.

Gratz people on buying a nice bit of kit BTW :)
 
I too would be interested in this as I found even the stock cooler on x850 XT PE annoying - again this is the one thing that's stopping me upgrading for my GTX 256.

Might even just get a GTX 512 to tide me over until any new top end card comes out with a quiet stock cooler.

Alternatively, I wonder if the current AC solutions fit the x1900XT?
 
Hi there

In 2D mode they are silent, can't hear them even out of a case. When under full whack they do spin up a bit more but to a noise level that most would consider OK and not loud. :)
 
Hi Gibbo - thanks for the response.

I know this is all subjective, but in 3d mode, would you say the fan is louder than a 7800 GTX 256? If so is it louder than a 7800 GT?

Apologies for the difficult questions. If it's close to the noise of a GTX 256 at full whack I can cope with it - not if it's anywhere near as loud as a 7800 GT.

Cheers.
 
JKD said:
Hi Gibbo - thanks for the response.

I know this is all subjective, but in 3d mode, would you say the fan is louder than a 7800 GTX 256? If so is it louder than a 7800 GT?

Apologies for the difficult questions. If it's close to the noise of a GTX 256 at full whack I can cope with it - not if it's anywhere near as loud as a 7800 GT.

Cheers.

Every review that I have read mentioning noise said its loader than the 7800gtX 512Mb.

One review stated its volume to be 65db and another 70db- thats damn loud no doubt about it. The thing draws more power than the X1800XT so the fans have to work harder to keep the beast cool. These values are a lot louder than the 5800, but then the X850 fan is a lot louder than the FX5800 was.
From Guru
Code:
Graphics card 	100% load 	System Idle
X1300 XT 	193 	133
X1600 XT 	211 	140
X1800 XL 	229 	155
X1800 XT 	273 	160
X1900 XTX 	290 	165

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/315/7/

We always test at an ambient room temperature of 21 Degrees C. At idle, normal operation expect roughly 45-48 Degrees C, which is a bit on the high side, but high-end products have a higher core voltage and thus will be warmer. At 100% graphics core utilization we measured a maximum ~75-77 Degrees C peak temperature. That's a lot.

Two years ago I would have freaked out. Speaking of cooling and thus ventilation, the cooling fan at 100% utilization does make a lot of noise yet not once during our tests (except bootup) did it spin at 100%..


Some other reviews have other results for noise level because it depends from whatdistance you measure it.
 
I cant find the link atm but i'm sure i seen a review somewhere, in which the GTX 512 was measured in the high 40s dBA and the x1900xt was 70dBa odd. So, there is a large difference under load.

I was hoping that ATi would adopt the 512 heatsink design and actually use some heatpipes and a larger 92mm fan, but i guess they could be saving that for the X1900XT-X PE beat-g71-and-produce-a-lot-of-heat-vapourware-edition ;P
 
Fx-Overlord said:
I cant find the link atm but i'm sure i seen a review somewhere, in which the GTX 512 was measured in the high 40s dBA and the x1900xt was 70dBa odd. So, there is a large difference under load.

I was hoping that ATi would adopt the 512 heatsink design and actually use some heatpipes and a larger 92mm fan, but i guess they could be saving that for the X1900XT-X PE beat-g71-and-produce-a-lot-of-heat-vapourware-edition ;P


I tried to find that as well. There is a big difference under load.
At idel of course there is no difference.
 
mmmm, looks like credit card isn't going to be bashed this time around. Might have to wait for the green team's offering. March isn't it?
 
If your worried about noise, there are two after market solutions that should be out soon which should be pretty good. They were shown at CES and i think it was the new arctic cooling and zalman solutions. You can google for them, but they seem pretty good performers on paper.
 
Yeah - I thought of another Zalman (I have a spare one kicking about here from my old 7800 GT), but I just can't be bothered. In my mind, if I am shelling out a shed load of cash for a new card, I'd like it to have a decent cooling solution with acceptable noise levels already.

If I was going to DIY a card (as I'd have to to stop driving myself nuts with the racket), I'd be expecting to pay a DIY price for it ie knock 70 quid off the retail price to account for the Zalmann and voided warranty.

I obviously know that isn't going to happen at all - so I'll keep buying the card that provides the best performance for my needs with the best cooling solution. It could be the fastest card in the world, but if it's noisy and hot I'll buy a different card every time.

If NV can produce the 7800 GTX and GTX 512 cards with their excellent stock coolers, why can't ATI do the same? Last quiet ATI card I has was an x800 XT, but they've gone a bit mad since then. Shame as I really fancy another ATI card again.
 
Part of the problem is the R520 and R580 draw a lot more power than the G70 cards. They are not very efficient on transistors and so hvae more trannies and more realtive die area.

But they are using the low-k 90nm process which should help them a lot but seemingly it isn't. The 7800 GTX 512Mb is what is amazing, the core speed and relatively low power usage out of the standard non low-k 110nm process is amazing. Their engineers must have really done a good job and getting the optimal configuations and trimming the transistor count. Which is why the G71 is going to rock IMO, the unbeleiveable 32 pipes at 700-750MHz becomes believable when you compare the G70 to the R520 despite the die process disadvantage.
 
A friend of mine had his card delivered this morning. It sounds exactly like my X1800XT's fan. In fact it sounds quieter - simply because he is using the Heatsink and fan which came with his AMD processor, and I am using watercooling. So he cannot hear this card above his cpu fan.

If you have a standard cpu fan, you will not hear this card tbh.

If you have a massive heatsink for your cpu and a slow fan, then you will notice it change RPM as it gets hotter.
 
Its the same cooler as on the X1800XT, and it is subjective, but IMO it is an annoying whine when at idle.
Deffo louder than the 256mb GTX fans.
But a quick instalation of a Zalman Fatality cooler, plugged into the XT board and speed controlled using ATi tool brings silence and better cooling, so don't be put off.
Depending on what other system fans you have, you might not even notice it.
 
Noise is a real killer for me. Immersion on one hand with the better graphics which is what everyone is trying to achieve and IMHO the all point of these new cards and on the other hand a dust buster in the background completely ruining the experience. You would have hoped ATI would have learned something given whats kicked off in the past with Nvidia and the new 512 cooling solution. I really wanted to have a play with one of these cards and was going to give up one of my GTX 512 to fund it.

I'm sure I read that the X1800 had the same mounted holes as the GTX? Anyone confirm this. I have a NV68 DD block sitting doing nothing
 
Not sure but I think thats correct Asguard.
In fact I will give you the dimensions ... <digs out stock cooler> ...
All the holes, arranged in a square, are 53mm centres from one another.
 
The Asgard said:
Noise is a real killer for me. Immersion on one hand with the better graphics which is what everyone is trying to achieve and IMHO the all point of these new cards and on the other hand a dust buster in the background completely ruining the experience.

Well said.

I can't stand fan noise either.
 
Hey

I must be death compared to half of you guys on here.....
I have two in Crossfire here and when the machine is just running as normal I can't hear them unless I put my ear against them. When under load they do pick up but is just a quiet gentle hum even after running 3D Mark for 1 hour and more. The only time I find them noisy is when first booting the PC when they like get to full speed and go mad that I consider very loud, but in operation even when gaming they never get to such noise levels. :)
 
If it's the same cooler as the x1800 XT and the X850 XT PE, it had a strange whirring noise in 2d that was really the worse thing (even though the fan was really just idling). I game with headphones, but obviously sitting around surfing got to be intensely annoying to the max. Put me right off that ATI dual slot cooler, that did.

I will admit that when in 3d mode the fan wasn't quite as bad as my old 7800 GT - which I could actually hear through my headphones. I guess I am just spoilt as the fan noise (or lack of) on my 7800 GTX in 3d mode is pretty good.
 
Hi m8,
With me its the frequency of the noise and once you hear it you just can't get away from it. I suppose its down to the base ambient noise of your system which on mine is very low. I think most people are getting sick of noise and it looks like the manufactures are starting to take note. Intel seem to be getting back on track with there new processors so hopefully things will start getting even quieter in the near future.


Gibbo said:
Hey

I must be death compared to half of you guys on here.....
I have two in Crossfire here and when the machine is just running as normal I can't hear them unless I put my ear against them. When under load they do pick up but is just a quiet gentle hum even after running 3D Mark for 1 hour and more. The only time I find them noisy is when first booting the PC when they like get to full speed and go mad that I consider very loud, but in operation even when gaming they never get to such noise levels. :)
 
I'm going to keep the stock cooler on my x1800XT for the time being until a couple of months when hopefully there will be some newer rear exhaust VGA heatsinks, here's hoping Arctic Cooling come off the drugs and redesign their new cooler with this feature, as it is the only reason I pick AC over other coolers such as the Zalman
 
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