X1900XTX...not that loud really.

A

Arch

Gawd
Joined
Mar 9, 2000
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I just bought an X1900XTX card. I was worried about getting it because I read about how loud the card is. I'm happy to report that the card isn't loud at all. At idle is just as loud of the rest of the fans in my case. When gaming I can hear the card but its nothing hairdryer like.

If this was stopping anyone from purchasing this card, don't worry about it.
 
Arch said:
I just bought an X1900XTX card. I was worried about getting it because I read about how loud the card is. I'm happy to report that the card isn't loud at all. At idle is just as loud of the rest of the fans in my case. When gaming I can hear the card but its nothing hairdryer like.

If this was stopping anyone from purchasing this card, don't worry about it.
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I dont think the fan is that loud either. The problem is many peoples X1900XTX cards didn't run stable at the stock settings and they had to use ATI tool or something to bump the fan to 100%. It's when you do that, that you feel like you just bit into a York Peppermint Pattie :D :p
 
Arch said:
I just bought an X1900XTX card. I was worried about getting it because I read about how loud the card is. I'm happy to report that the card isn't loud at all. At idle is just as loud of the rest of the fans in my case. When gaming I can hear the card but its nothing hairdryer like.

If this was stopping anyone from purchasing this card, don't worry about it.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree, to me the fan is very loud, i guess the level of noise is relative to the other fans in your case, if you have a quiet system you will def notice the annoying fan.
 
I have a very quiet case, and when I had just one X1900XT, it wasnt loud. I could hear it spin up when playing a game, but just a little. It was far from loud. Now that I have two X1900's in Crossfire, its louder, but still not by much.

Good air flow, and a well designed case layout are keep to keeping components cool. But then "loud" is all a matter of opinion.
 
My X1900 doesnt make any noise. :D

With stock fan, I found it to be noisy at idle, at load it was unbearable. I am so glad I water cooled it.... :D
 
Like the reviews say, the highest fan speeds you will end up with in most rooms is pretty grating. Because the fan kicks up noticeably, it usually drops below this temperature threshold pretty quickly, and then slowly comes back up. So it kind of goes back and forth. For me it spends a good 15% of it's time in games sounding pretty angry. It's probably right at 80 or 90C she squeals. :D

Thank god it never goes 100% like when you turn it on your comp. That's some crazy stuff.

I like swifty stuff because I think they do the best job coming out with kits and not forcing you into other blocks.
 
I'm running one right now. I can live with it since i wear headphones for gaming. If I was using standard speakers, I would not like it one bit.

The card really isn't that noisy at all, up until the point where it really starts to get hot. The fan ramps up for a few seconds and the jumps back down, once it has cooled things off enough. Just for that, I lock my fan @ 75% while gaming.

And notes about my PC environement:
1 more than moderately noisy case fan
1 moderately noisy CPU fan
1 more than moderatly noisy MB chipset fan.
2 HDD's

So my personal recomendation to others is, if you have use headphones exclusively, the x1900 is no prob. If you use standard speakers, get the 7900.
 
You've got to wonder what ATI was thinking when they put those fans on their flagship part. :confused:

After all the flak ATI owners gave 6800U owners about big loud fans, too put one even louder than the 6800U on their comeback part takes some serious cajones. (not to mention the heat and power draw)

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/hardware/grafikkarten/2006/test_ati_radeon_x1900_xtx_x1900_cf-edition/27/#abschnitt_lautstaerke

You'd think they could have spent $10 more and put Silencers on them, instead they force us to and void their already industry shortest warranty. :rolleyes:
 
If you're at all sensitive to sound levels, the fan on an x1900xt is nothing short of obnoxious...but if you have a loud system already and you don't much care...it's tolerable...
 
Slo Gun said:
I have to disagree, to me the fan is very loud, i guess the level of noise is relative to the other fans in your case, if you have a quiet system you will def notice the annoying fan.
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Same here.

Obviously at idle when the fan is barely moving it's quiet, but at startup, and at full bore, the noise is definitely unacceptable unless you're wearing a headset.

Moreover, like with chipset fans, it's not so much that it's "loud" per se but the small fan and high revolutions creates a very high-pitched whiney tone that is particularly obnoxious.
 
One of my friends has just one and whilst it was loud enough to be annoying, and would have had the cooler replaced in about 30 seconds if I'd have bought it instead of a 7900TX I do have to say that it is nowhere near as loud or annoying as my old Gainward 6800GT (the twin fan one) that was f'ing horribly loud.
 
Dynamic fan speed adjustments are murder. Every time it changes fan speed, my focus shifts from the game to the odd, resonating sound eminating from the little aluminum box I have down by my feet. It's maddening.

I can't use a third party tool that can control fan speeds because I then lose control of anisotropic filtering.
 
Desdenova said:
After all the flak ATI owners gave 6800U owners about big loud fans, too put one even louder than the 6800U on their comeback part takes some serious cajones. (not to mention the heat and power draw)
:
Click to expand...


They had to hit that power consumption in order to compete on the performance level (a problem with their current inefficient design)
 
Was the 6800U that loud? The 5800 was the supreme king of ear bashing.
I love my X1900XT, but have to agree that the cooler is a little annoying when it spins up.
I think it's the pitch more than anything - the lower tone of 120mm fans is much more palatable. But it only really squeals at startup - during gaming it's a bit whiney at times but easily drowned out by even low-volume sound. I honestly don't notice it, and I haven't even got the side panel on my case at the moment.
 
My X1900XT is definetly tolerable. In idle I can barely hear it over (rest of the system is watercooled), when gaming the fan spinning up and down sure is bit annoying. But then again ATItool is free software and aftermarket cooling is not that costly so no problems.

Personally Iam going watercool this one as soon as I can find a good block for it.
 
I don't think you should have to aftermarket cool a flagship product that I paid over $900 cdn (with tax) for!!! I returned if after a couple of days because it was BY FAR the loudest component in my PC. I admit to being a quiet PC junkie, and even with my headphones on I could easily hear is changing fan speeds.

I now run a 7900GTX, and it's dead silent. And it performs just as well. If silence is key, the 7900 series is the way to go at this level of card.
 
Stellar said:
Moreover, like with chipset fans, it's not so much that it's "loud" per se but the small fan and high revolutions creates a very high-pitched whiney tone that is particularly obnoxious.
Click to expand...

This is the type of description that made me think twice about getting the X1900XTX. For me, my card isn't high-pitched at all. Even at full speed it has more bass to it. High pitched and whiny = Delta 60mm 50CFM fan. The X1900XTX doesn't even come close.
 
For the people that run without a side panel, where is your computer sitting? If it's on your desk like my system, there's no way you can run without the side panel and not receive hearing damage. Yes, it is loud when it spins up (which it has to keep cool). It sounds like a race car changing gears sometimes.

The most disappointing aspect is, considering the noise the HSF makes, it sucks for cooling. Idled at 55C. Heated up to 90C under load. Put it on water and now idles at 35C, but i haven't tested the load yet.
 
robberbaron said:
They had to hit that power consumption in order to compete on the performance level (a problem with their current inefficient design)
Click to expand...

Inefficient design?! Care to explain?
 
"not that loud" is relative, but if it's not too loud for you that's all that matters.
---

The fan on my old 7800GT was driving me crazy. It was only rated at 37dB at full speed and it never ran that fast, but it was the loudest thing in my closed case (next loudest item: 27dB hard drive, fans 17dB-22dB). The tone of the fan was different and it didn't help that it was louder (typically ~34dB under load) than the other items.

Anyways, the 7900GT fan is quieter and i'm happier now. But there's no way I could deal with a 40dB or noisier fan on those other cards.
 
texuspete00 said:
Like the reviews say, the highest fan speeds you will end up with in most rooms is pretty grating. Because the fan kicks up noticeably, it usually drops below this temperature threshold pretty quickly, and then slowly comes back up. So it kind of goes back and forth. For me it spends a good 15% of it's time in games sounding pretty angry. It's probably right at 80 or 90C she squeals. :D

Thank god it never goes 100% like when you turn it on your comp. That's some crazy stuff.

I like swifty stuff because I think they do the best job coming out with kits and not forcing you into other blocks.
Click to expand...

Yeah, what bothers me is not how loud it is normally, or at the loudest it gets, but how it jumps up all of a sudden to a louder level, runs at that level for 10 seconds, and then jumps back down.... And it does so every couple minutes. If I am not completely engrossed in the game (which fortunately I usually am with Oblivion) it is kind of annoying.
 
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