Quiet card

T

Tudz

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Messages
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G'day,

I was wondering if anyone knows, which is the more quiet card when idling, the GTX260 or the 4870?

I'm trying to make my computer quiet, but buying all new fans and a CPU cooler which are all below 20db is kinda pointless if I go out and buy a noisey video card. It only really bothers me if the idle sound is loud, as thats when I'm trying to work and study. In games it can get loud.

Anyone had experience with both these cards?

Cheers,
Tudz
 
I have experience with both the 4870 and GTX 280, the 4870 is a bit quieter than the 280 (I have to try hard to hear the 280, but I can't hear the 4870 at all). But loaded the 4870's fan is much louder than the 280's and has a higher, more annoying pitch.
 
Hmm, interesting. Is the GTX260 cooler the same as the GTX280? Would they have the same sort of sound?
 
Or you could buy a video card that already has an aftermarket cooler installed?
(nvm...the 4870 and 260 don't have those yet)
But you can still get aftermarket VGA coolers to cut down the noise.
 
Yeah, but I'd prefer it if the stock coolers were sufficient. If I have to buy an aftermarket cooler I'd like to know before I buy them, as the GTX260 is about $50 more than the 4870, so if I bought a GTX260 then found out it needed aftermarket cooling, it'd end up being close to $100 more expensive than a 4870 if the 4870 is suffieciently quiet with its stock cooler.

Ideally it'd be good to have actual decibel values at given distances and temperatures to compare with the rest of my PC before buying them to save me being forced to buy more than is needed. At the moment each component in my PC (from reviews and benchmarks I've read) should produce less than 20db each.

Unfortunately I can't find that info online.
 
Heh, I like this thread. I was thinking about upgrading my video card to an HD4870 or GTX260 but, was concerned about the fan noise also.
 
Honestly if you have any 120mm fans running in the case at all, you will hardly notice the fans on either card during idle (I run 120mm and 140mm yate loon 1200 rpm low speeds myself).

I doubt the 260 would be louder than a 280, from what I've read they have the exact same cooling.

During load its a different story, both cards become the loudest things in my case...
 
Xeth said:
Honestly if you have any 120mm fans running in the case at all, you will hardly notice the fans on either card during idle (I run 120mm and 140mm yate loon 1200 rpm low speeds myself).

I doubt the 260 would be louder than a 280, from what I've read they have the exact same cooling.

During load its a different story, both cards become the loudest things in my case...
Click to expand...

I've got 2 120mm fans, but they're pretty quiet. Also my PSU is an earthwatts which is also pretty quiet. Despite my 120mm fans, the case is far more quiet than my friend's Antec 900. Its even quieter than my dad's PC, which has no case fans at all (his CPU and PSU combined are noisier than my CPU, GPU, PSU and 2 x 120mm case fans all combined, at idle at least, under load my 8800GTS 320mb gets louder).

I've read some reviews where the entire system load was over 40db, I dont think that's possible with my PC. Beside the video card, each component in my PC is 20db or less according to benchmarks I've read. So its unlikely sound intensity would increase much more than 4 or 5 times 20db (remembering the jump from 20db to 30db is increasing the intensity by 10 times, as the decibel scale is a log scale).

Assuming they're set up properly, 120mm fans produce less noise than 80mm fans.
 
wait for aftermarket cooling cards for the HD 4870. They already have some for the HD 4850.
 
Both ATI cards can use the best and quietest cooler out there, the Accelero S1 :)
(its really cheap too)
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=147

Application:
ATI:
Radeon HD 4850/4870, Radeon HD 38xx series, 36xx series, 2600, 2400, X1950, X1900, X1800, X1650, X1600, X1550, X1300 series
nVIDIA:
GeForce 9800GTX+, 9800GTX, 9800GT, 9600 GT, 8800GTS(G92), 8800GT, 8600, 8500, 8400, 7950GT, 7900, 7800, 7600, 7300, 6800, 6600 series (except 7X00 GS AGP)
 
Does putting an aftermarket cooler on a card void the warranty? I'm thinking of picking up a powercolor, HIS, Asus or Gigabyte 4870, but I dont want to void the warranty within 1 week of owning it (after a few months I dont mind voiding the warranty, but when its brand new the warranty is good incase something blows up).
 
Oh man I have about 8 case fans in my system and its fine. I keep my case under my desk. Even running the fans at 100% its still very quiet (keep in mind fan noise is a matter of opinion). Either card will be fine. Just keep your case under your desk.

Fan noise questions are like should I buy a vette c6 z06 or a cadillac cts. Well lets see one performs freaking amazing while being bumpy and loud while the other is quiet but performs crappy and is slow. For every pro there is a con (keep in mind this is not an analogy relating to the video cards performance but rather wanting a fast video card with no noise they don't exist(at least stock)).
 
Tudz said:
Does putting an aftermarket cooler on a card void the warranty? I'm thinking of picking up a powercolor, HIS, Asus or Gigabyte 4870, but I dont want to void the warranty within 1 week of owning it (after a few months I dont mind voiding the warranty, but when its brand new the warranty is good incase something blows up).
Click to expand...

XFX and EVGA allow heatsink replacing.
 
sh0vet said:
Oh man I have about 8 case fans in my system and its fine. I keep my case under my desk. Even running the fans at 100% its still very quiet (keep in mind fan noise is a matter of opinion). Either card will be fine. Just keep your case under your desk.

Fan noise questions are like should I buy a vette c6 z06 or a cadillac cts. Well lets see one performs freaking amazing while being bumpy and loud while the other is quiet but performs crappy and is slow. For every pro there is a con (keep in mind this is not an analogy relating to the video cards performance but rather wanting a fast video card with no noise they don't exist(at least stock)).
Click to expand...

Hence why I asked which card is quieter, rather than whether or not one card is quiet enough, as one is subjective and the other is a simple comparison. ;) I know some people find 50% fan speed on the 4870 acceptable and all that, what I'm more interested in how loud the 4870 at idle is compared to the GTX260.

I have had some experience with the 4870 on my friend's PC, at 30% fan speed it was noticable and 35% it was significantly louder than the rest of his PC. However that was in his Antec 900, and IMO his Antec 900 is far too loud even without a video card. Even though I found 30% "noticable" in his PC, 30% fan in MY PC would be incredibly annoying.

My computer is under my desk... its just when I'm trying to study (which I mostly do on the computer) I find it extremely annoying. Hence why I went out of my way to buy a quiet case, quiet PSU and quiet case fans.

I'm sure the 4870 with accelero S1 is quiet enough, even if its not I can just bang some quiet fans on it instead of the turbo module. However I'm worried this will void the warranty and also it adds at least $45AUD to the cost of the card, making it as expensive as the GTX260, and in some ways I prefer the GTX260 as it has more video ram and I've been burnt in the past by cards with not enough video ram.
 
Does that little noise really stop you from concentrating? I find that a quite odd. Anyway, you should google about soundproofing your case if you are really interested in this. I think there is more you can do than just buying quiet fans. Just an idea.
 
Tudz said:
G'day,

I was wondering if anyone knows, which is the more quiet card when idling, the GTX260 or the 4870?

I'm trying to make my computer quiet, but buying all new fans and a CPU cooler which are all below 20db is kinda pointless if I go out and buy a noisey video card. It only really bothers me if the idle sound is loud, as thats when I'm trying to work and study. In games it can get loud.

Anyone had experience with both these cards?

Cheers,
Tudz
Click to expand...


buy case fans with fluid dynamic bearings , scythe s flex or panaflos, if you want a quiet video card then buy a weak one, avoid sleeve bearing fans that make alot of noise, 20db fans are very low power and not likely to offer effective cooling, you want quiet? go with a low powered, WEAK computer and you'll have plenty of quiet. :D
 
If youre looking for ATI, HIS makes cards with the ICEQ cooler (the 4xxx series one just came out i think)

for Nvidia, i went with the 8800GTS G92 and its the same. pretty much silent. Barely any difference between the two. (other than the 8800 being faster than my HIS 1900 :) )
 
Jospeh said:
Does that little noise really stop you from concentrating? I find that a quite odd. Anyway, you should google about soundproofing your case if you are really interested in this. I think there is more you can do than just buying quiet fans. Just an idea.
Click to expand...

I think its more an issue of Obsessive Compulsive, I have friends just like this, oh my god my computer is making noise ROFL meanwhile the fan in the room is roaring and drowning out the computer and seconds later the music on the cd burner is thumping at 90 decibels. Computer fans are just background noise, there are plenty of ways to let the air flow without having things too loud which starts by purchasing a good case and high quality case fans and heatsink for the processor. When buying quiet fans remember, they are quiet because they are putting out half as much cfm and spinning slower which means SIGNIFICANTLY less cooling and higher temps, higher temps leads to earlier equipment failure.
 
You know nothing about this guy, keep it positive.
 
Jospeh said:
Does that little noise really stop you from concentrating? I find that a quite odd. Anyway, you should google about soundproofing your case if you are really interested in this. I think there is more you can do than just buying quiet fans. Just an idea.
Click to expand...

90% of the time the sound doesn't bother me, but I do have a sickness where I get a lot of headaches and if I didn't keep trying to study through them I'd have failed by now. When I've got a headache already, working on a computer that's making a noise in the background can be a lot harder, and even if I dont have a headache I'm more likely to get one after several hours trying to do study and assignments on a noisy computer.

Even without a headache though, trying to study for an exam and coming up against a problem you just can't figure out how to solve, the noise of the computer will really start to distract me.

Also tolerance of noise has a lot to do with the type of noise, a lot of computers emit sound of a frequency which really bugs people. Some TVs emit a high frequency noise which is probably less than 25 decibels, far less than the sound the audio is making, but it'll drive me insane simply because of the high pitch.

The problem with buying a weak computer is that I still like to play games :p I know quiet components move less air and all that, but I dont overclock so it hasn't been an issue thus far. With an aftermarket CPU cooler you can make your CPU much cooler than stock whilst emitting barely any noise. Currently I'm using noctua fans, which are much quieter than my old antec tricools and seem to move just as much air. Bearing and blade design as well as vibration contribute to the noise a fan more than the amount of air it moves. If you set up the airflow well in the case and have good heat sinks, you dont need super powerful fans.

Really the only thing between me and a computer that is powerful enough to play any modern game but also quiet enough for me is the video card.

My case is an antec sonata III, which is relatively quiet but doesn't have a lot of air in/outlets. My rear case fan blows out air from around the CPU, which the CPU fan blows in that direction anyway to avoid opposing airflows. Then I've got a front fan under my hard drives which blows air under the video card, so it'd be nice to have a GPU cooler that exhausts hot air like the stock ones, as recycling the air back into the case it'll have nowhere to go and will end up opposing my existing front case fan. Other than those 2 spots the only place air can get in and out is a small grill on the back and through gaps in the 5.25" drive bays.

I find my 8800GTS 320mb is quiet enough with the stock cooler when idling, unless its 30 degrees in my room, then it cranks up a bit, or of course under load. From stuff I've read the 8800GTS had a pretty quiet stock cooler, though. I did want to avoid an aftermarket cooler if possible, just because of the extra cost (accelero S1 + turbo module is $55AUD). Then also I didn't want to void the warranty of the video card (my CPU and mobo was a few months old before I put an aftermarket cooler on them).
 
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