Exactly how loud is the GTX470? 480?

[slayernine]

The noise thing is completely overblown.

You might be feeling a bit overblown if you own a GTX Dust Buster

 

[slayernine]

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

Sorry but that myth has been busted:

http://mythbustersresults.com/mini-myth-mayhem

You'll have to think of a better way to tell a roommate their video card is not welcome in the household.

 

[nitromullet]

My opinion on GTX 470 fan noise at various levels:

• 40% quiet. Mine idles at 40%
• 50% noticeable, but still quiet. Blends with the rest of my 1200rpm fans.
• 60% an unobtrusive hiss sound.
• 70% a definite whoosh. Fine while gaming or otherwise preoccupied, but probably too loud for most at idle/web surfing. Leaving the fan on auto makes mine hover around the mid 70s at load.
• 80% about as loud as a regular house fan. Definitely noticeable no matter what you're doing. Distracting while gaming.
• 90-100% sounds about the same to me - too frikken loud!

 

[konakona]

The noise thing is completely overblown.

dunno, my new 4850 for the secondary rig was way too loud at load to be comfortable with before I hurridly purchased a S1 rev and brought it under control. That was a must have upgrade, for me anyway. Isn't 480 much louder that 4850 at load assuming both are fitted with stock coolers? Maybe you are completely incensitive to noise, or have louder parts to drown all that noise Oh but please do note that I haven't seen or heard either of the fermi cards, and my opinion is entirely based on stuff I have read on the internet.

The 480, according to multiple sources, is vying for the "loudest card ever built" crown.

Doesn't that (dis)honor belong to 5800 ultra?

It drops temps 10/15c, to about 80c.

Unless I am missing something, I don't see noise figures on that while being overclocked. Speed does look impressive, fermi scaling is excellent as we know it. But we really should be discussing noise in this thread, and I haven't found anything on that in your link

Another thing is, aren't 470s totally different beasts from 480s? I don't think people were saying 470 was overly loud or hot to begin with. Do they make 480s with comparable aftermarket cooling cards? I am sure it's doable, just not sure if dumping out all that heat back into the case would be ok, or if those cards (if they exist) can overclock while keeping noise down.