does anyone here own a GigaByte or Sapphire 9700?

[BoomAM]

hi,
the reason i ask the above question, is because i will soon be buying a 9700 and i am choosing between the two.
the main question for both are;

how loud are they?
because ive heard that the ATI 9700pros fans a very loud, and im trying to make a quiet system.

thanx in advance.

 

[jitspoe]

I'd go with a GigaByte, because supposedly they have better agp8x support (they'll probably have better driver support too). I don't know about the noise level though.

 

[cmdrdredd]

both cards are exactly to the ATi refrence Retail spec. Saphire is just a ATI retail card rebadged. They all use ATI's drivers anyway so that's a non issue. I'd wager that Gigabyte has a louder fan because it has a smaller heatsink on the GPU.

 

[xpeter]

GigaByte has the better layout with larger heatsink covering also the memory modules, the Sapphire is just the same as ATI. Sapphire was the company that produced all RETAIL ATI cards that were sold in Europe and marked as MADE IN CHINA, so it's a manufacturer you can trust. Anyway I would prefer the GigaByte solution I am personaly looking for the GigaByte GigaByte AP64D-G based on the ATI Radeon 8500. I think GigaByte has even better design than original ATI cards and also you have the ability of flashing BIOS with GigaByte, with ATI or Sapphire you will miss this option.

 

[BoomAM]

thanx for the replys, but i know about the rebadging of the cards, about sapphire making the cards for ATI, about the drivers and so on, all i wanted to know was how loud either cards fans are.

the reason is that ive just spent a fortune on making my PC quiet and all that would have been wasted if the 9700 cards make my pc sound like a mini airport!!!

i was thinking of the Gigabyte card as its only £10 more than the sapphire one in the UK, and you get loads more in the package, and some very nice heatsinks, that`ll cool the mem.

if you compare the HSF on the ATI and gigabyte cards, they are practly identical apart from the colour, so how can it be a smaller heatsink.

if i was to convert the 12v HS fan to a 7V fan would the chip still run fine, as my PC has amazing airflow inside. This would both reduce the noise of the fan itself and still have ample cooling for the chip.

 

[Smilin]

I have a sapphire and it's at least as quiet as the generic 80mm case fans I have.

ThermalTake makes a really nifty device you can buy. It's a high-medium-low switch for case/cpu fans. The switch is on an insert plate that mounts in a PCI slot (effectively putting the switch on the outside of your case in the back).

I found it to be a nice way to lower the god awful noise that comes out of my CPU fan. I can still flip the switch back to high if I need the cooling due to an overclock or whatnot. Beats soldering a transistor to step the voltage

 

[BoomAM]

that would be a great idea, if i wasnt for the fact that i want the voltage step down to be permenant and that the device that you are on about is for 3/4 pin fans. the 9700PRO cards HSF use 2 pin ones, plus the cables on them arnt long enough anyway.

 

[cmdrdredd]

why do you need a quiet video card? Just turn up your speakers on that game you play on that new 9700!

 

[BoomAM]

i cant have my speakers too loud otherwise i get complaints.
plus, in games like deus ex, you`re in the shadows trying to listen for a guards footsteps and all you can hear is BBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!.

i like my new quiet & fast(ish) PC, and a noisey GFX card fan would render the £200 i just spent on quiet parts a waste of money.

 

[xpeter]

if you want a noiseless system, than get the GigaByte card with it's large heatsink and turn off
the fan, if you have a good airflow in your case it's enough to cool the chip. I am using my
ATI Radeon 64 DDR like this without any problems - I know it's older card but it has very
small HS compared to the GigaByte one and the fan was so loud that I have turned it off
immediately after installing - games are running without problems, cooling seems to be OK.
I also built a quite PC for me and I also hate noisy fans, so this is my recommended step.

 

[nRollo]

" than get the GigaByte card with it's large heatsink and turn off
the fan, if you have a good airflow in your case it's enough to cool the chip"
Ouch. I'm guessing you're willing to send him the $320 he'll be out if your suggestion doesn't work?
He has a LOT more to lose than you.
I wouldn't do this if I were you.

 

[xpeter]

you are wrong! i have seen some articles about the temperature of the new graphic card chips in global meaning and
every article stated that there is no reason to worry about the active cooling of the card, because since the card
has high quality heatsink (and the GigaByte one does it) from both sides of the card (GigaByte does this also) than
you can without any problems run it without active cooling - I suggest that you take a look at Zalman's products,
they offer the passive cooling for GeeForce and ATI cards and it seems very similar to that from GigaByte if we take
a look and the large heatsinks. The GPU of the cards won't burn until 90-100 deg C is reached and they won't
reach this for sure. And also if you buy the GigaByte card you have the V-TUNER software that can monitor the
FAN SPEED and GPU TEMPERATURE so you can make your own management of the fan as you like it.

 

[Smilin]

Just thought I would throw this out there.

I spent about an hour over the weekend troubleshooting and then coming up with a solution for my friends graphics card that had a dead fan. Sure it works. Windows is great and all. He' gets about 5 minutes of quake and about 3 minutes of UT2003 before his shiz locks up.

Graphics cards that have active cooling generally need it.

The solution by the way was to position a 80mm case fan perpendicular to the graphics card and use enough duct tape to create a good airflow path. "If you can't fix it with duct tape and a hammer, it can't be fixed."