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Best approach to quiet GeForce?

uOpt

uOpt

Golden Member
Hi my name is Martin and I'm addicted to quiet computers. In the name all all semi-anonymous silent PC lovers lets me ask a few questions:

I have a Rose 5900XT which was too loud so I bought a NV silencer 3 for it. The NV silencer is nice in that it quiets up complete (fan off) when the card is resting in 2D mode. However, once 3D is active all hell breaks loose, it is really annoying. If things continue this way I can make a few bucks out of contributing to the soundtrack of the next movie playing on an aircraft carrier.

I am toying with the thought to sell above combo and get a 6800 (letters undecided).

So, what is the best approach?

1) Get one of these passive Gigabyte 6800 NUs:
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=14-125-142&depa=1

2) Get this Zalman heatpipe:
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/pr...8&pr_name=ZM80D-HP

3) Get a high-quality card with a quiet ventilator. If the ventilator is as quiet as my CPU ventilators and even shuts off in 2D all would be well. Are there any 6800 or better cards around doing that?

The Zalman has the advantage that I could use it on the 5900XT now and on a 6800 (only NU) later. I heard bad things about recent Gigabyte products, in particular their heat-conducting glue doesn't seem to be up to the task and they had that screwup with a BIOS disabling some of the pipelines.

I also want my PCI slot next to the card back. Only for a very slim card, it couldn't block a ventilator that is in the middle of the card. I know the Zalman pipe doesn't allow that, but the Gigabyte cards seems to do. Anybody knows for sure?

Opinions?
 
Bumpinsky.

Hey there can't be a shortage of opinions on this foum, right? 🙂

Anybody tried the Gigabyte or Zalman? Anybody who has a 6800xx with a very quiet fan?
 
hi,
quiet is relative. i think that my bfg 6800gt oc is very quiet with the arctic cooling nv5 silencer. definitely less than the other noise made by 2 quiet cooling fans and the fan on my watercooling radiator.
it's quiet but not silent. good enough so that what noise is there doesnt bother me.
 
How about ATI cards? I _heard_ they are quiter than Nvidia cards. 🙂 I myself have a PNY 6800GT with EVGA copper heatsink/orig fan that I won from EVGA. I'm thinking of getting a silent pc for myself too. The noise is starting to get irratating. Keep us updated.
 
Well, the reference design by ATI seems to include a quieter fan that the NVidia reference design.

But reference design is too noisy with either, and I really don't buy ATI unless I really can't avoid it, e.g. in a thinkpad.
 
If you want a silent solution then the 9800pro is the best card of your current generation. Wouldn't cost you too much to make the switch if you sell your 5900xt.

If you are set on upgrading then you can't go wrong with the x800's or 6800's both are significantly quieter than the terrible GeForce 5 series and their hoovers.
 
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