Exactly how loud is the GTX470? 480?

[bunit]

Hi all

I'm building a rig for college use and I"m going to be in a dorm. The last thing I want is a screamer that could potentially annoy other people/myself, especially when I"m wanting to take a quick nap or other stuff. To me, bringing a desktop to college is already a bit of a burden - everybody else is running around with their little mac book pros after all. I just don't want it to stick out more than it already does. Oh and moving days will be a pain.
Everything else in my case is going to be quiet - from the lower RPM/high MM case fans to the PSU to the anti-vibration case. Trying to find a fairly quiet CPU cooling solution as well, looking at a Hyper 212 but will probably replace the fan.

Anyways. Here's the deal. I have a relative who works at Nvidia as a higher ranking software engineer. I could probably get a decent discount on some Nvidia cards if I were to ask. Heck, I could possibly even get them for free as a sort of graduation present. I'm guessing anywhere from 10%-20% if you're looking at standard employee discounts that are common at most places.

Previously, I was looking at an ASUS DirectCU 5850 - a great card - quiet, a good OC-er. Assuming a 15% discount, that puts the 470 and 5850 at a similiar price point, with me paying $10 extra for the non-reference Asus solution. At this price point, I'd still be leaning towards the 5850 because it runs cooler, quieter, and will probably OC better.

But, if the 470 got any cheaper than that..well...that would be very interesting. I mean, I think that Fermi is a bit of a failure this generation..but I'm not going to say no to free/heavily discounted, relatively good-performing cards. Keep in mind I'm not sure what make of card (PCB wise) I'd be getting on the Nvidia side...so....I'm mostly wondering exactly how loud reference 470s are and if they are noticeably annoying. I don't even know if I'd get to pick, or if I'd get OEM cards? Through my relative that is.

Right now I'm on a P4 with an ATI AGP 4650 and a cheapo Coolermaster 450w PSU. Sometimes the fan(s?) will ramp up randomly, and it is EXTREMELY ANNOYING TO ME. To the point where I have trouble falling asleep in the same room. I don't even know what is making all the noise - I can only assume its either the GPU or the PSU, or it could just be the exhaust because I stuck a new PSU/GPU into an OEM HP. Either way - its loud and annoying and I would hate this in college, as would my roommates. Sometimes it gets as loud as a mini-vaccum cleaner..to me. Even the ambient fan noise (idle) is noticeable and can be annoying.

So...thoughts?
Oh and is the 480 louder than the 470?
Oh and should I be concerned about heat? I don't care if it runs hot as long as theres no random overheat malfunctions/shutdowns or other consequences...like a dead GPU or worse affecting other components in my case. Water-cooling is not an option as this will be my first system build and I don't want to deal with the headache/maintenance.

I want my rig to be low maintenance - it will be pretty low on my priority list in college.
Loudness is pretty subjective - but would you guys run a Fermi in a small dorm room with two other people?
Oh and what about SLI? Super-loud? Viable on 3case-fan air? LOL now I"m just getting greedy.

 

[3DVagabond]

Well, it's the loudest card you can currently buy. Think if you did that with the rest of your system. How quiet would it be? :\

 

[Cookie Monster]

I could probably tell you the answer next week when I get my EVGA GTX470.

There are quite a few AT users (e.g BFG10K, nitromullet etc) who actually own these cards, so their opinion on this matter is much more credible.

 

[Skurge]

You could always get the 470/480 sell it and get that 5850 or a 5870 vapour-x I hear they are whisper quiet.

 

[BFG10K]

The GTX470 is louder than a GTX285 at load, but it's not too bad if you wear headphones while gaming.

 

[ArchAngel777]

The GTX470 is louder than a GTX285 at load, but it's not too bad if you wear headphones while gaming.

I have a 280 GTX and I am fine with the noise at 'AUTO' speeds. If I manually adjust the fan, at around 45% I can hear it over my other fans in my case...

So, I wonder, what is louder, a 280GTX or a 285 GTX? That may help me decide if I will end up getting a 470. Also, is the 480 all that louder?

And BFG, I do have a question for you, perhaps you already answered it - here it is:

You had mentioned in a thread in the past that average minimums mean far more than just the minimum and I agree with that 100%. So I am curious, have you done, or know anyone that has graphed the frame-rate comparing the 4XX series to the 5XXXX series? I have been doing some basic google searches, but I can't really find anything. The idea of a good minimum frame rates is appealing to me, but I want to rule it out as a fluke.

 

[BFG10K]

AFAIK the GTX280 is louder than the GTX285.

Here are some graphs: http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=783&type=expert&pid=7

 

[zod96]

Go with a 5870 and put an artic cooling twin turbo pro on it Dead quiet and keeps temps at or about 35 idle and about 50 load.....I'm sure the GTX470/480 idle at like 50 and load about 95 :-(

 

[shangshang]

Go with a 5870 and put an artic cooling twin turbo pro on it Dead quiet and keeps temps at or about 35 idle and about 50 load.....I'm sure the GTX470/480 idle at like 50 and load about 95 :-(

wow didn't know it's that huge of a temp difference! wonder what artic cooling can do to the 470/480?

 

[happy medium]

wow didn't know it's that huge of a temp difference! wonder what artic cooling can do to the 470/480?

It drops temps 10/15c, to about 80c.
They allready make a card with one of those coolers.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2075094

 

[ramj70]

I really didn't notice the noise on my 470. I also have a 480 that I replaced my 470 with and at first the thing was very loud especially when playing games at load. However, I found out that my rear exhaust fan and my side intake fan were not working and I hadn't noticed that. I replaced those fans and put two 60mm exhaust fans in the extra slots in the back and that has helped tremendously. My 480 is as quiet as the 470 now, even at load.

You need to have a case with good cooling and airflow.

 

[Attic]

I wouldn't want to be your roomate if you end up going the 470/480 route.

 

[tweakboy]

Well ya any card is at @ max fan speed,

Really you dont need that much cooling normally. My card goes to 90c until I turn on my inverter split duct room

I haveimes. and it works flawless.

See u really dont need all 100 percent speed no matter how you OC. trust me, might be wrong but Im blunt enough to say it.

Also another myth,, ATI 2d is better then nvidia 2d. Well let me tell you 2D has not changed since the old Millienium Matrix cards For 15 years or you can say since win95. the sound is annoying I cant do it cuz I produce music... anyhow,, gg

 

[bunit]

I see.
Well.

My friend owns a GTX260 rig with a decent case + airflow. He has an H50 + 3 fans? + NZXT Apollo. The noise is tolerable, it's actually somewhat silent. In fact, it's quieter than the current P4 PC I"m currently using.

How bad is the GTX470/480 compared to the GTX260? Reference designs of course.
I'll be wearing headphones a lot of the time, but the thing is, I don't want it to bother other people. I just got into computers and before that if I ended up dorming with some kid with an obnoxiously loud computer I'd tell him to get that thing the hell away from me.

 

[JAG87]

Well it's dead silent when idling, but it's not going to be quiet when you are gaming. I'd say it is noticeably louder than a GTX 260. Not annoyingly louder but noticeably. If you are playing with headphones at moderate volume, you won't hear it. Your room mate however will want your game sessions to end fast. Also because in a small dorm room if you play 4 hours straight I guarantee your room temperature will rise by 5C.

Go with water cooling if you want quiet. Another advantage of water is that if you have carpet in your dorm, and you place the rad outside the case, cleaning becomes super easy. An air cooled PC would become infested with lint and dust in no time with carpet flooring, and actually require more maintenance believe it or not.

 

[joygame]

GTX280 is louder than the GTX285.

 

[SolMiester]

Well, it's the loudest card you can currently buy. Think if you did that with the rest of your system. How quiet would it be? :\

errr, i think the loudest card is currently a 5970 or the super overclock 5870 at idle speeds!

 

[3DVagabond]

errr, i think the loudest card is currently a 5970 or the super overclock 5870 at idle speeds!

We apparently read different reviews.

 

[Idontcare]

I had the same question a while back OP - so I started hitting up all the usual review sitesand I came across this review on HardOCP :thumbsup:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/03/31/geforce_gtx_480_real_world_temperatures_sound/

Keep you speaker volume level the same across all the video clips and you'll a good idea of the sound differences across the Nvidia and ATI cards.

Kyle talks in the videos so you can adjust your volume and dial in his voice so that it sounds "regular" and then you have a reference point for how loud the background noise is.

 

[ArchAngel777]

If the 480 GTX is only slightly louder than a 280 GTX, then I don't see the big deal... I don't consider my 280 GTX with auto fan settings noticable, until I have been playing for a few hours and the fan goes past ~50% and even then, I don't happen to care. I would care though, if I am sitting at my computer and trying read something with a dust buster going, but presumable, that would be idle and wouldn't happen... The 480 GTX is getting more and more temping for me, but I am not sure I can justify $500 for a graphics card anymore... I have it, but the idea of spending it sort of makes me ---- sick. I am sure I will get over it

 

[Axon]

It's hard to say in text and it depends on the construction of your case, but the noise level of the GTX 470 is no worse than any other high-end card. You'll hear it when it's running a game, but when you're just surfing it's pretty quiet.

 

[slayernine]

errr, i think the loudest card is currently a 5970 or the super overclock 5870 at idle speeds!

The loudest config I remember reading about is two 480's in SLI which produces and ear shattering 80 db

edit: My memory isn't quite as right on as I would like it to be, here is the actual numbers. So all of you who are saying, its not that loud compared to other cards can shut up now. (referring to the 4xx cards)

"At 70dB the GTX 480 SLI is the loudest card configuration we have ever tested"

 

[OCGuy]

The noise thing is completely overblown.

 

[v8envy]

Remember that the 470 and 480 are not the same card. The 470 is "normal" for a performance video card. The 480, according to multiple sources, is vying for the "loudest card ever built" crown. Kyle from [H] claims he can hear his from a DIFFERENT FLOOR of his house.

If you, as my roomate, had something like that I'd dip your hand into a bowl of warm water nightly.

 

[slayernine]

Oh and to the OP, no matter what card you go with you can always count on tools like RivaTuner or CCC Overdrive to modify fan settings and clock speeds.

For example you might setup a profile that runs the card at a low core clock speed when your not doing anything graphically and then have another profile running at stock speeds with the fan turned up higher than usual to eliminate the fan jumping up to 80-100% speed which is just annoyingly loud on any high end video card.