Quietest hi-end card?

V

Val

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 1, 2005
Messages
299
I run 1920x1200 resolution. Will be building i7 system soon and cant decide on a video card/cards.

I want the card to be silent on idle and as noiseless as possible when playing games.

What would you recommend?
 
Either the ASUS DK or MSI.
If you're looking for highest-end, the 4870X2 Tri-Fan is probably the quietest.

I don't see why it matters, if you really want it to be as quiet as possible, buy whichever card suits your needs and then put an aftermarket cooler on it.
 
I have both the gtx260 and the gtx285. I cannot hear either of them at idle. They only are audible when I set the fans above 70% for gaming, but even then with the sound from the games I can't hear them.
 
caniba said:
I have both the gtx260 and the gtx285. I cannot hear either of them at idle. They only are audible when I set the fans above 70% for gaming, but even then with the sound from the games I can't hear them.
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60% isnt too bad on those fans but 70% is certainly loud. I usually leave mine at the stock 40% auto settings where it cant even be heard and they have never spun up during gaming.

the hottest my gpu has gotten to is 76C on a day it was 82F in my room. that same day I put it on 60% and it never went above 61C during hours of gaming. it gets really hot in my room in the summer so I likely will be putting it at 60% if gaming during the day.
 
It was an estimate. Somewhere between 60% and 70% is where they make a noticeable noise jump in my systems. I usually put them around 55% to 60% for most games, I can't hear them and it keeps things cool. I do bump them up to 85% to play crysis though, but getting into the game with sound I still have never noticed any noise from the pc.
 
caniba said:
It was an estimate. Somewhere between 60% and 70% is where they make a noticeable noise jump in my systems. I usually put them around 55% to 60% for most games, I can't hear them and it keeps things cool. I do bump them up to 85% to play crysis though, but getting into the game with sound I still have never noticed any noise from the pc.
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lol I just put mine at 85% and that could easily be used as a form of torture. my hearing is very sensitive though.
 
caniba said:
LOL, I am getting little deaf. I guess that's why I have my speakers so loud and can't hear the fans.

But, seriously they are pretty quiet cards.
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yes at its 40% auto setting it is about the quietest card I have owned. the average person that just buys a card and sticks it in should never have a prob with the gtx260 sound level.
 
+1. My GTX260, fans at stock is near silent, the PSU drowns it out, and that's not too loud either.
 
The GTX 285 would be a good choice.
Of course, water cooling would be the ultimate solution.
 
I also have a BFG gtx285, and find it inaudible in my system at 40%, during gaming I bump it up to 70% at which point i can hear it when not playing a game, when playing a game its not a problem at all.
 
I have a Radeon 4850X2 with two Zalman VF900s. It's completely silent with the fans on the fanmate included with the coolers. I never even have to turn the fans up. Hottest they get is 49-51 in gaming at 1600x1200.
 
Yes, but in context of OP's post, he is looking for a high-end card for 1920x1200 - a 285 would be the best choice given the constraints.
 
Dude, get a GTX 285+ (or equivalent ATI card) or nothing with that i7. FEED that monster. ;)
 
285 or 55nm 260 should be the quietest performance card you can get although once you start gaming all hell will break loose.

Air cooling is really a losing proposition, do you want more higher frequency sound or more lower frequency sound. A bigger fan will be quieter and produce a quieter hum although with greater inertia mass it will contribute more to case resonance.

If you make a concerted effort to silence your case though, you'll find smaller fans is actually easier to silence than bigger fans. Acoustic dampeners like dynamat will easily reduce the sound of the smaller fans but anyone that knows anything about audio knows its the lower frequencies that are impossible to block out (high end speaker manufacturers try anything and everything to block out resonance, marble, bamboo, 3" thick MDF). It's basically pick your poison.
 
astrallite said:
285 or 55nm 260 should be the quietest performance card you can get although once you start gaming all hell will break loose.
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all hell will break loose? my gtx260 fan stays at exactly the same speed during gaming. it has never spun up nor does it need to because it keeps the card nice and cool.
 
Default idle on my 4870X2 is pretty quiet. 1280rpm.

One thing to note is no matter how quiet your vga fans is if you give it poor case air flow it will still have to ramp up to compensate.
 
Thanks for all the replies! Appreciate that.

Will go with GTX285 and then get this cooler for it when its avalible. Will probably install my own 120mm fans on it (i dont have a computer case, so hum is least of my worries).

ac-acc-gtx200.jpg


Water cooling... Dont want to for it just yet :)
 
OP how quiet is your rig? My rig is very quiet but I can hear my GTX280 fan at 40% over everything else at idle. Under load it get loud to remain cool. I had a 4870x2 with the reference cooler and it was louder then my GTX280 by far. If your not into a super silent setup the GTX285 would be a great option. If your hardcore into silence like the guys at silentpcreview.com then you might want to look into something else.
 
No, not hardcore into silence :) heck, i dont even have a case, and computer sits right in front of me :) but its hardly audible at idle since i use some very good fans. Right now i have 8800gtx and its silent enough for me.

I guess 285 will be similar.
 
Val said:
No, not hardcore into silence :) heck, i dont even have a case, and computer sits right in front of me :) but its hardly audible at idle since i use some very good fans. Right now i have 8800gtx and its silent enough for me.

I guess 285 will be similar.
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In that case the GTX285 would be great.
 
At idle I think any card is likely to be pretty good. My GTX 280 is extremely quiet at idle. Load, well that's another story. Best card I've ever found so far is an 8800 GTX. That thing was extremely quiet no matter what. While the 280 is as quiet as it is idle (or near enough I can't tell), under load it is way noisier.

So if the 8800 you have will continue to make you happy, you can stick with that. If not, then I'm not sure. One of the new 285s would be better than a 280, since they are smaller lower power chips, but still probably louder than your 8800 under load.

You could, of course, get an after market heat sink. Arctic Cooling makes one that I'm looking at getting. Supposed to reduce temps a lot and noise even more. However that's more money, and of course you have to modify the card.

Give water cooling a miss IMO. It is a lot of work, and potentially problematic. If you are really that concerned about a silent system that you'd spend the money/trouble water cooling requires, put the computer in another room and just have some long cables coming back to your desk.
 
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