High end GPU without unbearable noise problems?

[Itchrelief]

Originally posted by: error8

Originally posted by: Keysplayr
OP, I'd consider water cooling if noise bothers you so much. I don't even know how you guys can hear any fan noise while gaming. Unless you play without sound?
If the fans are noisy constantly, even in 2D apps, then I would say go for a water cooling system.

His gentle ears will be deranged by the sound that the coils make under load, so water cooling can't solve his problem.
He needs to put the computer into another room so that there will be a perfect silence while gaming without sound.

It's actually more of a problem if you run something like Folding@Home on the GPU, as you generally have the thing whining away while you're trying to do something else like read a book.

Granted, it is kinda hard to hear it over the fan noise once it gets going, but water cooling isn't a panacea for this situation (trying to do quiet, non-gaming activities while running GPGPU type activities).

 

[mbeleni]

I own a Sapphire HD4890 and it is actually one of the quietest video cards that I've ever owned. The fan rarely goes above 35% even under the heaviest of stresses and at that level it just isn't noticeable over the other components in my system. At 100% it is pretty loud, but that never happens except for a couple of seconds during bootup. All other times I just don't hear it; it's quiet enough that I'm considering getting another one for Crossfire.

 

[shadyshabby]

I read into it a bit and I found out the 4890's are hit or miss with the harmonic distortion.

After considering my options for awhile, I decided to just settle for a 9600gt for $60 and wait until the new breed of dx11 cards become affordable (assuming it is sometime next year).

I'd imagine this is a bad time to purchase a high end video card anyways. 4890 may not be that bad of a choice (considering the deals lately), but the people who are paying $400 for gtx 285's should probably be placed on suicide watch come Q4 :laugh:

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: ChronoReverse
I notice the squealing too and it's pretty noticeable for quiet sections of games and sometimes even when it's not that quiet. It's the reason I don't fold anymore on my GTX260 because the whine is annoying.

Try this fix

I'm going to take a hot glue gun and/or nail polish to my GPU and PSU power circuitry with a vengeance as my next weekend project. Folding on my GTX260... damn nVidia. 9700 Pro, 6600GT, X850XT, HD3850, GTX260, 9600GSOs... only the GTX 260 and the 9600GSOs have given me this problem. They were all purchased this year too... this is when being a silent PC nut drives me insane... you can hear coil whine like no other.

 

[bryanW1995]

if a 9600 gt works ok for you then you're wasting your time here, anyway.

good luck with that single slot cooler btw, it should be WAY quieter than the dual-slot coolers that the high end cards have 😉

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner

Originally posted by: ChronoReverse
I notice the squealing too and it's pretty noticeable for quiet sections of games and sometimes even when it's not that quiet. It's the reason I don't fold anymore on my GTX260 because the whine is annoying.

Try this fix

I'm going to take a hot glue gun and/or nail polish to my GPU and PSU power circuitry with a vengeance as my next weekend project. Folding on my GTX260... damn nVidia. 9700 Pro, 6600GT, X850XT, HD3850, GTX260, 9600GSOs... only the GTX 260 and the 9600GSOs have given me this problem. They were all purchased this year too... this is when being a silent PC nut drives me insane... you can hear coil whine like no other.

I hope that nail polish can conduct heat. You might be insulating the sound the caps make, but you're also sealing in heat. Can cause early death of parts. IMHO.

 

[skline]

Just installed an AC Accelero Twin Turbo on my HIS 4870 IceQ4+. My fan was loud over 50%. At 1005 the Twin turbo sounds like the Iceq did at @25%. Cools MUCH better. idle dropped from 47C (50% fan) to 38C (100%). Max dropped from 65C to 50C. I got it for $31 shipped from ewiz.

 

[fleshconsumed]

High end videocards will always be noisy.

1. They will have loud fan
2. They might also squeal/whine under load

The first problem can be remedied with an aftermarket fan. I have one installed on my GTX260 and it works wonders, the only problem is that most aftermarket coolers do not exhaust hot air outside the case, so you need to make sure your system fans are up to the task.

The second problem is harder to solve. However, from what I've read and from my own experience, the squealing sound is usually at its worst when FPS are high, such as during pre-rendered scenes. So if you have this problem try limiting FPS in game or up the settings to bring FPS down under 70fps level.

 

[TemjinGold]

Just out of curiosity, OP, what kind of case do you have? I know way back in the day when I used to use crappy $50 cases that came with PSUs, everything was pretty noisy. If that is what you are using, maybe you should instead consider getting a case that insulates against sound a lot better. I have really sensitive hearing myself (I can hear a key turning a lock down a hallway behind 2 other doors) but inside my P182, I can barely hear my 4890.

Nevermind, I just noticed that p180 in your sig. In that case, I really don't know what to tell you...

 

[alcoholbob]

The HD5870 is quieter than the 4890 or GTX 285 by a fair margin. The reason is the fan speed doesn't pick up beyond 30% unless you run Furmark for fun.

 

[v8envy]

You don't have to be a prima donna to hear and be bothered by the coil load squealing. My wife can't hear it, but my kids and I easily hear my 8800GT at load over system fans even in the next room. It's high pitched and unnatural, so game sounds and ambient sounds would have to be very, very loud and constant to drown it out. Just my luck -- eyeballs which detect every trivial LCD deficiency and ears which hear coil whine. I get to spend more money to address things others aren't bugged by! Could be worse, I guess. My youngest reliably spots rabbits in the grass 3 blocks away. I'm hoping for better display tech than LCD by the time he's using a PC.

Anyway, some of the newer 4890s (like the Sapphire vapor-x) and the 58xx series have had the squealing problem reduced. Which leaves cooling.

The Accelero passive cooler combined with a low noise 120mm fan strapped to the outside of the PCI slot cage has worked wonders for me. Might want to give that a shot.

 

[sandorski]

Not sure about the new cards, but the 4xxx have a variety of exotically cooled cards from the Manufacturers. My Gigabyte 4850 with Zalman HeatPipe copper heatsink has been very nice and quiet. So checkout reviews on those cards. You could even get the Factory Overclocked cards, then clock them back to standard speeds, the extra cooling on them should allow lower noise that way.