The quest for the most quiet 560 Ti ever!

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Rhialto

Gawd
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Feb 23, 2004
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I'm looking for nothing else than the most quiet 560 Ti on the market (@full load, of course).

Let me first tell you a short story. After my usual looking around to buy what I believe could be among the best, I gave a go to the HAWK but what a mistake, so hot and loud! Yes my card had a problem. 83C with fans @ 100% was the best I could get and this with side panel open.

After returning it I took some more time to compare the HAWK Frozr III with the Frozr II and we can see the blades are taller on the Frozr II and would probably give better results because for the same rotational speed I'm pretty sure the Frozr II push more air. I've also read here and there a few who tried both and the Frozr II was in fact quieter. Yes I know, the HAWK is OC even more so more heat to dissipate and such but they advertise it like awesome nonetheless with temp like 68C at full load. It's not because the Frozr III is more recent that it automatically mean it's better than a previous version! We must not always take for cash what they claim on the box either... we need to carefully study and compare to find out the truth. Anyway, my nightmare is over...

After Googling for way too long to find the best candidate in my quest for the most quiet card, I met the Gainward Phantom. Unfortunatly, not sold here in North America so no need to discuss more about it.

Recently I heard of the Sparkle Calibre X560 Ti DF. Anyone got one of those? Or anyone knows someone who bought one? ;) This is the new version with their own cooler and not the previous one with Arctic Accelero cooler. Not many reviews yet but 90mm with tall blades looks promising.

And finally, the ultimate solution (ultimate like in totally silent) would be to fit a Thermalright Shaman on a 560 Ti. The 560 Ti is not listed as compatible on Thermalright website. I was not able to find if someone has ever done it. I guess we first need to find a card that could accept it?

If Kepler was to be released in January, I could wait... but recent news stating early 2012 could easily mean March or April before finding them in store.
 
If you buy a reference GTX 560 Ti, you can stick an Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme Plus II on it... I have one on mine and it's damn near silent. Bonus, you can have them in SLI. Not sure you can do that with the Shaman due to its size. The reference GTX 560 Ti mounting config is exactly the same as the GTX 460, so the Shaman should be compatible at least.
 
Just took another look and the ASUS performs well in some noise test reviews and not better than a Frozr II in some other.
 
They seem to be of similar design, but I've always bought Asus.
 
Zinn said:
If you buy a reference GTX 560 Ti, you can stick an Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme Plus II on it... I have one on mine and it's damn near silent. Bonus, you can have them in SLI. Not sure you can do that with the Shaman due to its size. The reference GTX 560 Ti mounting config is exactly the same as the GTX 460, so the Shaman should be compatible at least.
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Thanks for the info! If you had to point me to a ref 560 Ti, which one?

I also read about the GELID Ice Vision that seems to perform well which use 2 x 92mm fans so I still wonder how the Sparkle Calibre would do since it use something similar. We read A LOT more about MSI, ASUS, eVGA than Sparkle... still trying to figure out how popular they are.
 
I dunno maybe I don't understand your post. You said you want the quietest card. I can never hear mine even at full load, stock clock settings. Currently using a 6950, but it's the same design as the 560ti I linked.
 
Dallows said:
I dunno maybe I don't understand your post. You said you want the quietest card. I can never hear mine even at full load, stock clock settings. Currently using a 6950, but it's the same design as the 560ti I linked.
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Maybe you can't hear it because you have other fans taking over it? When I had the HAWK, it was inaudible when idle but when on load, sounded like a small jet engine or full speed hair dryer. I've read that the ASUS can get very loud too when fans are full speed and you will tell me that this should not happen and probably I can also setup a profile to prevent high fans RPM but I'm still afraid after my HAWK experiment.
 
Rhialto said:
Thanks for the info! If you had to point me to a ref 560 Ti, which one?
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I'd get EVGA because they have a lifetime warranty on some of their cards, and the warranty specifically allows you to install aftermarket coolers. You can't really go wrong if you're buying reference though---they're all mostly identical aside from the service and support.
 
Zinn said:
I'd get EVGA because they have a lifetime warranty on some of their cards, and the warranty specifically allows you to install aftermarket coolers. You can't really go wrong if you're buying reference though---they're all mostly identical aside from the service and support.
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Thanks, if I go that way, I would choose http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=01G-P3-1563-AR

I'm currently Googling to read some stories about both cooler (Accelero Xtreme Plus II & Icy Vision).
 
Rhialto said:
Maybe you can't hear it because you have other fans taking over it? When I had the HAWK, it was inaudible when idle but when on load, sounded like a small jet engine or full speed hair dryer. I've read that the ASUS can get very loud too when fans are full speed and you will tell me that this should not happen and probably I can also setup a profile to prevent high fans RPM but I'm still afraid after my HAWK experiment.
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If your case has good airflow it shouldn't be an issue. I do have 2 louder fans (still pretty quiet) but even without them it's not very noticeable. I can give you some numbers tonight. I run MSI Afterburner from time to time to get the temps, fan speeds.

Going from memory I don't think my 6950 breaks 40% fan speed when under full load even. Idle is somewhere in between 10% - 20% depending on ambient temp. Idle temps are in the low 30's and load temps don't break 80C.
 
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