which is quietert? Twin Frozr III or Windforce 3x

M

Momo

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Mar 3, 2005
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I'd like to know which is a quieter solution, not the 'best' or 'coolest', given the same environment, cooling a GTX680. (noticed them at ncix today).

Also, it looks like the TwinFrozr III has vrm / ram cooling plate. Does the Windfroce 3x also have this, or is it individual ramsinks / vrm heatsinks? I'm thinking this is inconsequential to my above question, but might not be, feel free to correct me.

Thanks in advance.
 
I had a windforce on my 7970 that just died. It was LOUD. The default fan profile kept the core temps in the lower 60C range but the fan was running 80-100%.

I had a 6950 with the TFIII and it wasn't even close to as loud as the windforce. The fans on the TFIII are shit and all of them died on my card within a year.

The stock cooler on my 680 is far quieter than both of the aftermarket coolers. The temps are higher but well within the normal range.
 
if the fan was 80-100% something was terribly wrong, i can tell you that for certain.
I'm not surprised it died at all, given that.

Do you smoke(anything) or burn incense in your room by chance? This especially leads to issues with fans if there's a greater than average amount of dust/dander from pets.
 
I believe the WindForce will be quieter but not by much. Three fans pushing a certain amount of air will run slower - and thus quieter - than two fans pushing the same amount of air.

All in all, though, you can't go wrong with either one.
 
That's kind of what i'm figuring Phishy. I think in general that theory holds up.

Are the windfroce 3x fans 80mm or 70mm like the twinfrozr III?
 
I had a windforce 7970 and it was not quiet at load. SIlent at idle, very loud at load.
 
We've stopped using gigabyte video cards at my shop because of how loud they've been lately. Two 570s and a 580 all would roar at idle. Sure the temp was ambient, but it was louder then all the case fans on an Antec 900 cranked to max speed. We've gone back to EVGA for Nvidia cards and XFX for AMD. It was nice getting everything from one company for abit though.
 
No, the Windforce has smaller fans overall to be able to fit 3 of them on there I am pretty sure. I think when all the fans are @ 100% the windforce will be louder - due to smaller fans creating more noise overall - but at idle/load, they really should be about the same as far as noise goes.
 
Momo said:
if the fan was 80-100% something was terribly wrong, i can tell you that for certain.
I'm not surprised it died at all, given that.

Do you smoke(anything) or burn incense in your room by chance? This especially leads to issues with fans if there's a greater than average amount of dust/dander from pets.
Click to expand...

No doubt something was wrong with the card but I think the default fan profile is too aggressive on the windforce. I adjusted the profile to keep the card in the 75C range and it was much better but still not as quiet as the 680 stock cooler at the same temps.

The TFIII fans died roughly at the same time. Nothing is "burned" in the house and there were filters on all air intakes. Google search a bit and you will see it is common. The big PITA is that they won't sell you the fans. You either get it fixed under warranty or buy another cooler.
 
Very interesting comments.

Are you telling me that the windfroce x3 is louder than a stock blower style cooler @ 60% fan speed? ... this doesnt seem to make sense in my head. Then again, i've not heard a new reference design blower. Only my 5850's.

I was under the impression the windforce 3x solution was quiter than it 'sounds' it is. Yes, pun intended! lol...

Hrm. Perhaps the twin frozr III is worth a look in lieu of the gigabyte. Or maybe just a reference design card with an arctic cooling aftermarket solution... though i'd greatly prefer to avoid this, for the installation hassle of ramsinks, etc. and loss of Evga warranty.

The reason i'm after a quiet card is i've got an 800d case with an H100 in the top, so video card noise leaks right out the top of the case. I'd like to try a 'quiet' card, before switching to a different style of case without the top radiator.
 
I thought Evga was cool with replacing the cooler, as long as you put the reference one back on before you ship it back. The stock 680 cooler is very quiet at fan speeds below 60% or so, surprisingly quiet in fact. It does get loud once you get up to 70% though. Depending on the price difference, might be worth just getting a reference card with the plan to put an aftermarket cooler on it if it is louder than you want.

Palit has a non-reference card coming out as well, you could look into that one.
 
TwinFrozr is pretty darn quiet, i cant imagine anything being quieter unless its totally silent
 
I've been so impressed with my TFII 560Ti that I plan to buy a TF 680/670 for my next card, not really even considering other options.

The improvement in idle and load noise/temps compared to my previous two cards (GTX280 and 8800GTS 640mb both reference blowers) has been astounding.
 
windforce 3x can get loud if the rpm cranks up. No reason for it to though, even when heavily OC'd. Keep the rpms manually set low and it's fine.

I think the twin frozr is quieter though. My buds 580 frozr is silent without any tweaking.
 
i guess it comes down to the fact that we're talking about 3 x 80mm fans vs 2 x 80mm fans.

If both setups are spinning at the same RPM, the triple fan setup is likely going to be louder.

However, in theory, the triple fan setup should be able to dissipate heat quicker, and thus spin up to a lower cieling than the double fan setup. the lower cieling/noise is what matters for me. NOT how loud both cards are at 100%, or 70% even. I would set my own MSI afterburner fan profile if i can, or use whatever the equivilant is for Nvidia cards.

This of course does not take into account the variance in fin design, or RAM-sinks etc, or whether it's a single plate allowing for less restrictive airflow over the card's surface... or fan direction: windforce x3 is center Push, outside fans arePull... a pseudo push/pull vga cooler. awesome! ... and the MSI (iirc) is both Push.

Was interesting to have alook at MSI's Windforce micro-site and see all the varying designs they have implimented.
 
I locked the fans at 30-35% on my Windforce and was done with it......max temps at 70C while virtually silent.
 
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