Noise Levels: X1900XTX vs 7900GTX, videos @ techreport.com

[Rash]

LOL its great for parties , but the base gets way too load, thats the main problem, even when the base is is turned down its way too much

Yes agreed about the bass, outsatnding quality sound out of the basts though, nearly blew my head off when i cranked them up, in fact nearly blew the rest of my streets heads off aswell even though my neighbours live over 100 meters away!

 

[KENNYB]

I can attest to the x1900xtx's noise level. It is easily the loudest and hottest card i've ever owned. 55C at idle, 90C under load, but under water 35C/50C. Its just a huge difference.

The fan never spun at 100 duty cycle but i did set it to that to witness just how loud it could get and to try to keep the heat down somehow. There is no way that level is tolerable though. Exactly like a hair dryer.

 

[Trimlock]

or the HIS version with their cooler on it...

i just got one of these on order for a customer, i'm expecting good things from it

 

[entre nous]

The XTX may be faster in Oblivion, but god forbid there are other games out there, including future games like Quake Wars and RTCW2 that the 7900GTX will assumigly be faster at. I still can't believe people blatantly say XTX outperforms the GTX. It out performs it in ~less than 50% of all games. There might be a world where people don't just play Oblivion and BF2. The GTX outperforms it in, well.... its another topic....

But is the performance in Oblivion, BF2 and Fear worth the noise coming out of your computer? A friend of mine owns a XTX and I own a 7900GTX and are using the same Lian Li case. I was a bit frustrated with HDR+AA in Oblivion and Farcry with the XTX, but I rubbed it off casually. I went to his house to LAN two weeks ago and the noise difference is like a fight jet to a hybrid car. All my frustration went into, literally, laughing at how loud the card is, I know I'm evil. I could care less that he can play Oblivion, BF2 or Fear faster, because for anyone who wants a case semi-quiet, the XTX is not the card to have. So the moral of my story is, sex is good.

 

[burningrave101]

I can attest to the x1900xtx's noise level. It is easily the loudest and hottest card i've ever owned. 55C at idle, 90C under load, but under water 35C/50C. Its just a huge difference.

The fan never spun at 100 duty cycle but i did set it to that to witness just how loud it could get and to try to keep the heat down somehow. There is no way that level is tolerable though. Exactly like a hair dryer.

Yeah the thing is pretty damn loud. Its a wicked fast card for Oblivion which is the only game i play and the whole reason i bought it but i'm probably going to check into some aftermarket cooling before too long. I like the looks of the cooler but crap its loud when it fires up in a game.

 

[R1ckCa1n]

This takes care of the noise issue......... Highly suggested for silent Oblivion gaming lovn.

 

[Coolmanluke]

Are you capable of discussing an issue without calling people names like a child on a playground? Or would that be too rational and mature to expect from you?

As far as your assertions about the X18/X19 cooler being a "small annoyance", how about backing this with some facts like I'm about to do here?

First of all, I called myself an Nvidiot, not you. But if the shoe fits. "Small Annoyance" is just what it is. Reread my post. I was expressing a personal opinion having owned both cards. It was nice to see you away from our forums for a little while. I though Kyle might have given you the boot, too much to ask for I guess.

I'll gladly sacrifice a little noise for better image quality any day.

 

[entre nous]

First of all, I called myself an Nvidiot, not you. But if the shoe fits. "Small Annoyance" is just what it is. Reread my post. I was expressing a personal opinion having owned both cards. It was nice to see you away from our forums for a little while. I though Kyle might have given you the boot, too much to ask for I guess.

I'll gladly sacrifice a little noise for better image quality any day.

Its not just a little noise, did you even watch the videos in the links?

And if I gave you two identical screen shots, do you think you can pick which one is the X1900XTX? If you answer yes, then I surely will go through the trouble because I can guarantee you, having Nvidia's optimizations turned off, there is no difference. But I will go ahead and go out of my way and take shots of Fear, COD2, Quake 4 and Oblivion with both cards and see if you can pick correctly. However, if you pick incorrectly, you must make a new thread in the main video card forum entitled "ATI does not have better image quality than Nvidia".

 

[^eMpTy^]

This takes care of the noise issue......... Highly suggested for silent Oblivion gaming lovn.

How's crossfire working for you in oblivion? Are there still issues (bad crossfire scaling, or corrupted textures with the workaround) with that or did it all get worked out in the chuck patch?

 

[Rash]

This takes care of the noise issue......... Highly suggested for silent Oblivion gaming lovn.

I hate you!, i feel like getting a water cooling kit for my shuttle for some overclocking!

 

[Apple740]

And if I gave you two identical screen shots, do you think you can pick which one is the X1900XTX? If you answer yes, then I surely will go through the trouble because I can guarantee you, having Nvidia's optimizations turned off, there is no difference.

I'm pretty sure i see FSAA when i play Oblivion with HDR on my XTX.

 

[truffle00]

And if I gave you two identical screen shots, do you think you can pick which one is the X1900XTX? If you answer yes, then I surely will go through the trouble because I can guarantee you, having Nvidia's optimizations turned off, there is no difference. But I will go ahead and go out of my way and take shots of Fear, COD2, Quake 4 and Oblivion with both cards and see if you can pick correctly.

So what you're saying then is you can either have close to the same framerate but worse image quality, or the same image quality but an even bigger difference in framerates. That sure makes me want to go out an pick up a 7900 today!

 

[Rash]

I'm pretty sure i see FSAA when i play Oblivion with HDR on my XTX.

heh!

 

[Terra]

One thing I think a lot of people forget are that dB are not a good "scale" for noise.
There the Sone scale is much better:
Wikipedia - Sone

The sone is a unit of perceived loudness after a proposal of S. Smith Stevens in 1936. In acoustics, loudness is a subjective measure of the sound pressure. One sone is equivalent to 40 phons, which is defined as the loudness of a 1 kHz tone at 40 dB SPL. The number of sones to a phon was chosen so that a doubling of the number of sones sounds to the human ear like a doubling of the loudness, which also corresponds to increasing the sound pressure level by 10 dB, or increasing the sound pressure by a factor 3.16 (=). At frequencies other than 1 kHz, the measurement in sones must be calibrated according to the frequency response of human hearing, which is of course a subjective process. The study of apparent loudness is included in the topic of psychoacoustics.

To be fully precise, a measurement in sones must be qualified by the optional suffix G, which means that the loudness value is calculated from frequency groups, and by one of the two suffixes F (for free field) or D (for diffuse field).

I know that I have heard low dB sounds that was more "present" than other louder dB sounds...

Terra...

 

[aznmc16]

oh god, i wish i saw this post before i bought my powercolor x1900xtx.

i read a post on this about the ZALMAN VF900.

Wil that fit my video card?? easy installation?? any guides to installing it? do i need to add as5 to it?

im getting annoyed of the fan spinning realy fast, then slowing down every few minutes. i am hoping to reduce the noise level in my computer, my CNPS9500 is really doing a great job keeping my 4400x2 cooled.

 

[entre nous]

So what you're saying then is you can either have close to the same framerate but worse image quality, or the same image quality but an even bigger difference in framerates. That sure makes me want to go out an pick up a 7900 today!

Turning off optimizations it not a significant hit as saying, turning ATI's optimizations off. In the games it beats the XTX, it will still beat it with optimizations off. The only reason I mention to turn optimizations off is shimmering in BF2 which hopefully will be fixed next driver release. Even in still shots it looks a little wierd.

My point is comparing apples to apple, image quality is identical (i.e. both cards set a settings standard) like review sites use to do. But, review sites do not even test image quality anymore because it pointless. However, comparing apples to oranges like ATI's FSAA+HDR in Oblivion or Nvidia's 8xSAA+HDR in Half Life 2 Lost Coast, is in my opinion, not logical to compare image quality. Of course trying to compare feature sets in different games will totally give you different outcomes. Sure, I can turn HDR+AA up on Oblivion, but I can turn 8xS AA in Quake 4, thus both producing two totally different image quality sets making tests like that moot.

But to the subject at hand, in my opinion, the cards jet engine cooling system to performance over the 7900 is not worth it. Again, my case is quiet, but after hearing this thing in action it was very bothersome. And I almost bought one too.... As I said, anyone who wants a quiet case, should not purchase a X1900XTX.

 

[PRIME1]

The XTX may be faster in Oblivion, but god forbid there are other games out there, including future games like Quake Wars and RTCW2 that the 7900GTX will assumigly be faster at. I still can't believe people blatantly say XTX outperforms the GTX. It out performs it in ~less than 50% of all games. There might be a world where people don't just play Oblivion and BF2.

Not too mention that the GTX runs quiter, cooler and with less power. Linux support, OpenGL performance, better drivers, better warranty, transparency AA, etc.

There is more to the world that than a few FPS in a handful of games.

 

[5150Joker]

Not too mention that the GTX runs quiter, cooler and with less power. Linux support, OpenGL performance, better drivers, better warranty, transparency AA, etc.

There is more to the world that than a few FPS in a handful of games.

You can get lifetime warranty with ATi products and still come out cheaper than nVidia cards with similar warranty. ATi has adaptive AA which is every bit as good as nVidia's transparency AA and in Doom 3/Quake 4 the OGL performance difference is meaningless since the fps peak in the 100s. As for better drivers, nVidia's recent 84.25's suffered from IQ degradation and OGL performance loss, I wouldn't call that stellar. Contrast that with ATi's awesome monthly support, rock solid functionality and the awesome "chuck" patch that will have the potential to add in AA to any game that has FP 16 HDR.

 

[Rollo]

First of all, I called myself an Nvidiot, not you. But if the shoe fits. "Small Annoyance" is just what it is. Reread my post. I was expressing a personal opinion having owned both cards. It was nice to see you away from our forums for a little while. I though Kyle might have given you the boot, too much to ask for I guess.

I'll gladly sacrifice a little noise for better image quality any day.

You've been a member here 2 months/35 posts and they're "your" forums?

In any case, I've edited my original reply to correct my misunderstanding.

Back on topic, I'm guessing the reason 7900GTs don't get as much attention for fan noise is they don't have the plastic cage/high rpm little fan. I think after the 5800U, the X1800XT, the X1900XT, and the X1900XTX we can safely say that big plastic cases with high rpm little fans are not what the public wants.

 

[Rollo]

You can get lifetime warranty with ATi products and still come out cheaper than nVidia cards with similar warranty. ATi has adaptive AA which is every bit as good as nVidia's transparency AA and in Doom 3/Quake 4 the OGL performance difference is meaningless since the fps peak in the 100s. As for better drivers, nVidia's recent 84.25's suffered from IQ degradation and OGL performance loss, I wouldn't call that stellar. Contrast that with ATi's awesome monthly support, rock solid functionality and the awesome "chuck" patch that will have the potential to add in AA to any game that has FP 16 HDR.

Which ATI cards have a lifetime warranty?

As far as the "chuck" patch goes:
1. render errors with grass shadows
2. not supported by ATI or Bethesda
3. while he theorizes it may add this capability to other games, it hasn't yet, isn't WHQL, etc

 

[PRIME1]

You can get lifetime warranty with ATi products and still come out cheaper than nVidia cards with similar warranty.

Not built by ATI. Do they cover overclocking, after market coolers or are they transferable? nope.

ATi has adaptive AA which is every bit as good as nVidia's transparency AA

Not from what I have seen.

and in Doom 3/Quake 4 the OGL performance difference is meaningless since the fps peak in the 100s.

Who cares about peak it's min and average that matter.

As for better drivers, nVidia's recent 84.25's suffered from IQ degradation and OGL performance loss, I wouldn't call that stellar. Contrast that with ATi's awesome monthly support,

ATI needs one every month to fix the problems. Like texture flashing.

rock solid functionality and the awesome "chuck" patch that will have the potential to add in AA to any game that has FP 16 HDR.

I would not call an unsupported beta patch "rock solid" that is if CCC does not bring the system down.

 

[Spank]

Which ATI cards have a lifetime warranty?

Powercolor, visiontek

As far as the "chuck" patch goes:
1. render errors with grass shadows

Just turn it of then, grass shadows aint usable with a single 7900gtx anyway according to bit-tech

2. not supported by ATI or Bethesda

Uhh, nvidia sends out there official drivers to developers to get them approved and supported before they release them? might explain there lack of releasing whql drivers.

 

[Spank]

ATI needs one every month to fix the problems. Like texture flashing.

Unlike nvidia who needs to release a beta driver for each new game that comes around, oblivion, tomb raider, etc.

 

[entre nous]

Unlike nvidia who needs to release a beta driver for each new game that comes around, oblivion, tomb raider, etc.

Do you think thats a bad thing? I for one think thats a great thing. That means Nvidia is, should I say it? Actually working on optimizations and implementing features in those games to maximize experience. To say the least, they push the envelope to fix issues or structure better performance. I don't think I can say that with ATI. It usually takes awhile for ATI to release drivers to fix bugs and/or optimize performance.

This bashing back and fourth is sounding too much like Rage 3D. Nvidia does this.... well ATI does this..... bla bla bla. Both are legitmate video cards, each with their own greatness, and their own horrible weakness. In this case, its with the noise level of the 1900. Not the crap job drivers ATI has, or the no HDR+AA in Oblivion with Nvidia. Or even my mom getting bent over and.....

 

[Apple740]

Lol. The only one i still miss here is Trancendenz (aka Ruined, were is he btw). Or wasn't he invited on this green teaparty (=Ati bashing).

 

[R1ckCa1n]

Lol. The only one i still miss here is Trancendenz (aka Ruined, were is he btw). Or wasn't he invited on this green teaparty (=Ati bashing).

Yeah, he has been MIA or banned. Don't know for sure. Even Burrning is now on the RED camp so Empty, Terra, and Rollio are the only ones left. PRIME1 is making a good arguement why he should be invited though

 

[^eMpTy^]

Yeah, he has been MIA or banned. Don't know for sure. Even Burrning is now on the RED camp so Empty, Terra, and Rollio are the only ones left. PRIME1 is making a good arguement why he should be invited though

pot
kettle
black

 

[{NG}Fidel]

Its pretty pathetic that Nvidia fans have to turn to noise issues to support their latest card. A Few used to claim whatever has the best performance and IQ is the card I want during the 6x00 and Xx00 Series generation. If no one can see through this obvious damage control shame on you. I dont see why anyone would want a 7900GTX other than SLi. THe 7900GT is a great card in my opinion due to its price performance ratio but with the GTX costing as much ore more than a X1900XTX the choice is clear. If you go ATI you get more features, Monthly Driver support, better hardware dynamic branching support for SM3.0 Games and AVIVO. I realize the 7900GTX runs cooler and quiter thats a fact. But during the last gen war with the 6x00 and Xx00 Cooler and quiter didnt matter much like dual slot and single slot didnt matter to you people. Its time you stoped letting Nvidia think for you and think for yourself. ATis win here isnt domination and they beat Nvidia this gen after screwing up royaly during the X1800 days. The 7800GTX was amazing hardware but now with the X1900 and 7900s its clear that while ATi didnt slap Nvidia and the face and run away with a trophey they do have the better hardware.
I dont root for either company I only root for getting good hardware. Those who have loyaties towards any of these two companies as if they were a foot ball team need to get real.

 

[Rash]

Hey Rollo im atill waiting for that answer....yes or no?

HEY PRIME 1!
Yep i got lifetime warranty with my x1900xt from powercolor (cheaper than the 7900gtx), There are also linnux drivers for the x1k series, you also dont have to install the CCC if you dont want to either, im not really fussed about the power consumption as long as it works on my 350watt power supply (another sad nvidia argument!

) in my shuttle which it does, along with the rest of the gear in there. It also wont rest against the drive cage bending the card. I must also say i prefer monthly driver releases but thats my personal preference. I also beleive that ati has a more consistent framerate in games, and better video/movie quality playback and decoding.

The only think that pisses me off that nvidia has 1up on ati is that the vivanonno emulator with rave racer will actually work on a nvidia card with highest settings (it just cashes on ATI) so to sum up Nvidia is better for emulators.

 

[Trimlock]

Even Burrning is now on the RED camp so Empty, Terra, and Rollio are the only ones left

both empty and terra have given props to ATI where props is due

i never really thought burning to be a zealot for Nv before, i'm sure everyone wants to defend what they own but i never once saw him start a thread trying to state how much ahead his favorite company was...

i honestly can't see why this thread got this big, its about noise issues, not performance issues, so one might say "its faster, i can put up with the noise", thats fine and all but its not what the thread is about, its about the best card on the market with a piss poor HSF design, which has alot of people confused

 

[Tigerblade]

its about the best card on the market with a piss poor HSF design

Tell that to the latest HIS card owners....

 

[Rollo]

Its pretty pathetic that Nvidia fans have to turn to noise issues to support their latest card. A Few used to claim whatever has the best performance and IQ is the card I want during the 6x00 and Xx00 Series generation. If no one can see through this obvious damage control shame on you.

Really?

So back when the 5800U had angle independent AF, and was much louder, were you saying: "It's pretty pathetic ATI fans have to turn to noise issues to support their latest card?"

Should we search?

I remember a LOT of ATI fans saying angle independent AF didn't matter at all back in those days, and noise was the deciding factor, funny how times change...........

 

[Terra]

Yeah, he has been MIA or banned. Don't know for sure. Even Burrning is now on the RED camp so Empty, Terra, and Rollio are the only ones left. PRIME1 is making a good arguement why he should be invited though

Only ones what?

Terra - 1 post from "report post"-button

 

[Terra]

Really?

So back when the 5800U had angle independent AF, and was much louder, were you saying: "It's pretty pathetic ATI fans have to turn to noise issues to support their latest card?"

Should we search?

I remember a LOT of ATI fans saying angle independent AF didn't matter at all back in those days, and noise was the deciding factor, funny how times change...........

You are saying that "dustbuster" no longer qualifies as an argument?

Terra - Times have surly changed...

 

[CrimandEvil]

i honestly can't see why this thread got this big, its about noise issues, not performance issues

I can see why, ATI fan bois saw a legitmate thread on an ATI specific issue and then started posting in order to transition the issue into an "e-penis" one (performance). Hell if you'll notice one of them even claims that the GTX cooler is louder then ATI's cooler.

 

[ivzk]

Really?

So back when the 5800U had angle independent AF, and was much louder, were you saying: "It's pretty pathetic ATI fans have to turn to noise issues to support their latest card?"

Should we search?

I remember a LOT of ATI fans saying angle independent AF didn't matter at all back in those days, and noise was the deciding factor, funny how times change...........

Hey Rollo, I'm pretty sure I recently posted a link to your post at Anandtech where you claimed the 5800U was better than the 9700 pro. So this post is squarely in your realm of reasoning.

And yes, we should search for more of your gems to pass the day quickly. Anandtech slow these days. Or are you still banned?

EDIT: added "recently"

P.S. "I remember a LOT of ATI fans" as opposed to shills.

 

[Tigerblade]

I can see why, ATI fan bois saw a legitmate thread on an ATI specific issue and then started posting in order to transition the issue into an "e-penis" one (performance). Hell if you'll notice one of them even claims that the GTX cooler is louder then ATI's cooler.

I'll consider myself as one of those !!!!!!s as I stood up for the xtx, not being able to hear it at normal game volume levels, and was waiting for one of you to say something as lame as this, as you always seem to do ...

*Looks at sig*, some ATi !!!!!! I am lmao

{NG}Fidel has hit the nail square on the head tho.....heat and noise were no issue when 6800 series was being compared to the x800 series with the famous 'nv crew', so why is it an issue now? Funny that. Brand loyalty is a sad sad thing.

 

[aburgard]

For me noise is even a larger factor over performance. If I can hear my computer in anything but complete silence it bugs me. I have very sensitive hearing. The Zalman VF-700CU is great, but I almost ditched it. It took 2 weeks before it lost its slight squeek.

 

[Rash]

Hell if you'll notice one of them even claims that the GTX cooler is louder then ATI's cooler.

Yep that was me, if you care to look at my shuttles airflow design, thats the sn25p, the 7800gtx did it no favours with its heatsink/fan design, thus making its own fan and the rest of the fans in the shuttle ramp up a lot more in speed due to the heat coming off it cocking up the rest of the cases airflow, whereas the xtx fan kicks the air out of the system complimenting itself and the rest of the hardware inside the shuttle so basically the fans in the rest of the shuttle do not ramp up in speed, the heatsink/fan design of the xtx is brilliant for small form factor shuttles. so yes i stand by my original statement thanks.

 

[Apple740]

{NG}Fidel has hit the nail square on the head tho.....heat and noise were no issue when 6800 series was being compared to the x800 series with the famous 'nv crew', so why is it an issue now?

Because it's the only straw they got. Being a member of the 'Nv crew', it must be very frustrating to read things like "in Oblivion, the X1900 XTX with HDR lighting and antialiasing together outruns the 7900 GTX without AA".
If you're being beated in the performance AND IQ department you'll have to look for other things to come up with.