nvidia GTX 260 too noisy?

tolerable sound levels are a personal thing however, the GTX260 is one of the quieter alternatives at the mid-high end range. both the HD4870 and HD4890 are louder. Perhaps the HD5850?
 
The GTX 260 is only loud when you force the fan speed to 50% or higher. At stock levels with the default fan control, it'll be one of the quietest components of your rig.
 
What exactly do you guys mean by "stock" GTX 260?

SicKlown42012 said:
The GTX 260 is only loud when you force the fan speed to 50% or higher. At stock levels with the default fan control, it'll be one of the quietest components of your rig.
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Is this a manual setting?
 
I don't know what you people are talking about?! The 260 is loud as all hell. It's the only part in my case that makes any noise. I'm still waiting for a descent alternative to the fan.

Yea, sure if I set the fan speed to 20% it doesn't make any noise, but then it locks up any time I play a game. So, that's not really a solution to the problem.

I bought the arctic cooling heatsink, but the RAMsinks are cheap shit, so I never bothered installing it. Anyone know where I can get some good ramsinks for it?
 
I don't plan on playing any games, but like having good cards in my machine for those rare occasions when the power will be needed. What I'm most concerned about is the noise level outside of games (since I don't play any). Most of my time on the machine will be spent in Photoshop or Cakewalk Sonar.
 
By stock, I mean no overclocking or manual setting of the fan speed. If you only need want silence when not gaming, you can download Rivatuner/MSI Afterburner and set the fan speed at a low speed when not gaming and turn it back up when you go into 3D. Truth be told, most graphic cards are quiet when in 2D due to advanced power saving features they employ.
 
SicKlown42012 said:
By stock, I mean no overclocking or manual setting of the fan speed. If you only need want silence when not gaming, you can download Rivatuner/MSI Afterburner and set the fan speed at a low speed when not gaming and turn it back up when you go into 3D. Truth be told, most graphic cards are quiet when in 2D due to advanced power saving features they employ.
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Dude, do you own this card? I don't think you do. I own it and when I set the default fan speed it locks up because it overheats at a quiet fan speed. I have to use rivatuner to set the fan to 100% so it won't crash my system.
 
hedron said:
Dude, do you own this card? I don't think you do. I own it and when I set the default fan speed it locks up because it overheats at a quiet fan speed. I have to use rivatuner to set the fan to 100% so it won't crash my system.
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I don't have any stability problems with an undervolted fan.
 
My GTX260 is very quiet, and I've never had any stability issues. The cooler is quite well-designed.
 
I found the GTX 260 to be rather quiet as well. I suspect Hedron has a bad GTX 260.
 
I will also add that my GTX 260 from Evga is not really audible with the default settings of low fan speed at 2D and ramping up slightly for 3D. Although, I do regularly dust my case to keep all my fans relatively optimal. If you can only play games at 100% fan speed with a non-overclocked card, your fan and/or card is broken.
 
yes the gtx260 is very quiet especially for a high end card. my 4670, 6600, and 7600 were all much louder. the gtx260 also runs pretty cool so not only is the cooler quiet its effective too.
 
hedron said:
Dude, do you own this card? I don't think you do. I own it and when I set the default fan speed it locks up because it overheats at a quiet fan speed. I have to use rivatuner to set the fan to 100% so it won't crash my system.
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I think your card must have had too little thermal goo applied, or some other problem. My 260 was perfectly stable up to the highest temperature I've ever seen on it, 93C, as long as I didn't overclock it. That was in a house with the heater on full and with poor airflow. With good airflow and a normal temperature room, it was ~80C load and never had a problem.

And to the OP, the 260 is very quiet considering the HSF is the same as on the 280, which can get quite loud. The difference obviously is temperature. Keep the incoming air from being hot and noise isn't an issue at all.
 
Flubb said:
I think your card must have had too little thermal goo applied, or some other problem. My 260 was perfectly stable up to the highest temperature I've ever seen on it, 93C, as long as I didn't overclock it. That was in a house with the heater on full and with poor airflow. With good airflow and a normal temperature room, it was ~80C load and never had a problem.

And to the OP, the 260 is very quiet considering the HSF is the same as on the 280, which can get quite loud. The difference obviously is temperature. Keep the incoming air from being hot and noise isn't an issue at all.
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leaving it at default fan speeds mine rarely goes much over 70-75 even when overclocked. the only way I can get to 80 is furmark. hedron definitely has a problem with his card.

EDIT: I just played Batman for a couple hours and never went over 69 at stock fan settings and overclocked to 666/1392/2200.
 
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yeah, even my overclocked SLI 275's don't go above 85c and they are completely sandwiched together....and that's with leaving the fan at the stock (40%) speed.
 
hedron said:
Dude, do you own this card? I don't think you do. I own it and when I set the default fan speed it locks up because it overheats at a quiet fan speed. I have to use rivatuner to set the fan to 100% so it won't crash my system.
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In games or not? Because the rest of us are talking about noise during normal usage, NOT games.
 
Just so we're all clear, here... if I buy a GTX 260 and don't play games, do I need to *do* anything special to enjoy that silent operating? Or are all of the default settings set up to be silent until I choose to ramp them up for games (which will be never)?

What if I break from my usual convention and go with another video card, something that's more Photoshop-oriented -- keeping in mind that although there won't be any 3D gaming involved, Photoshop has its own 3D GNU enhancements, and images can be ridiculously huge (10,000 x 10,000 at times)... Dragging images that size around the screen may not constitute 3D, but it's still quite demanding graphically. If there's one thing I hate, it's watching Windows have problems redrawing its windows, or stutter when playing several 2D videos at the same time, etc.
 
the gtx 260 can definitely handle photoshop and still be quiet. you dont need to do anything special to enjoy silent operation.
 
I use Rivatuner to control the fan speed. Under 60 C I have it set to 35%, which is most of the time and that is extremely quiet.
 
Flubb said:
I think your card must have had too little thermal goo applied, or some other problem. My 260 was perfectly stable up to the highest temperature I've ever seen on it, 93C, as long as I didn't overclock it. That was in a house with the heater on full and with poor airflow. With good airflow and a normal temperature room, it was ~80C load and never had a problem.

And to the OP, the 260 is very quiet considering the HSF is the same as on the 280, which can get quite loud. The difference obviously is temperature. Keep the incoming air from being hot and noise isn't an issue at all.
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The highest I ever saw was about 80c or so, but that was with default fan speed. With 100% it doesn't get over 60c. That's on full load.

In games or not? Because the rest of us are talking about noise during normal usage, NOT games.
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I'm not really sure the point of even getting a 260 if you don't game. I suppose for folding or video compression/encoding. Why you would need something so powerful for desktop apps is beyond me.
 
hedron said:
The highest I ever saw was about 80c or so, but that was with default fan speed. With 100% it doesn't get over 60c. That's on full load.
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So what was the problem with leaving it at default speeds then? A maximum of 80C is no problem at all for a modern video card, and you could have enjoyed silence while still having perfectly reasonable temps.
 
hedron said:
Dude, do you own this card? I don't think you do. I own it and when I set the default fan speed it locks up because it overheats at a quiet fan speed. I have to use rivatuner to set the fan to 100% so it won't crash my system.
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I ran that card from the time it was released to the time the 4890 was released. You obviously have issues with your card. Mine was overclocked about 13% on the core and mem and 22% on the shaders and I kept that fan at default profile with no problems. Running it at stock speeds would allow me to lock the fan at 25%, which was inaudible, with no issues. Sorry you're stuck with a bad card, might me time to RMA fella.
 
I run mine at 75%, I can hear it but 99% of the time I have my headphones on so it doesn't bother me, the 6 120MM fans running at 2K RPM are more annoying but fan sounds don't bother me...I sleep with one pointing right on my head so
 
Ditto here, the GTX260 is the quietest card I have owned. Even at stock 40% speed (auto) - which stays 40% even at loads, it is quieter than anything I've owned. The 8500, 9800Pro, 6800NU, 7800GT and 8800GT all have been louder for me.

Mind you I have 5v S-Flex fans, 9v P12. My loudest components are my hard drives.
 
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