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How Loud is a GTX 260?

A

amtbr

Member
Pondering buying a GTX 260, I currently have an OC'd 8800GT and the fan noise drives me nuts. It sounds like a hair dryer when I am gaming. I've read all the reviews with decibel levels etc...but I would like to know from actual owners who have OC'd their GTX 260 how loud is it? Does OC'ing the GTX 260 require setting up various fan profiles with Riva? Is the fan efficient, does it dump heat outside of the case? Another gripe about my 88800GT that it dumps everything inside...
 
you could always buy some aftermarket cooling for your GT or buy a 260 and get an aftermarket cooler that's known to be quiet and effective 🙂
 
I'm not aware of aftermarket coolers that work with the GTX series yet unfortunately. I think a hairdryer when gaming is something you have to deal with on the GTX series from what I've read. I'd like to hear a GTX 280 myself.
 
Thanks for the replies. Yes I understand I can 'cancel' out the hairdryer with more noise but I'd rather not have some ungodly noise coming from my near silent PC in the first place.
 
my gtx 260 is hardly audible.

if its too loud, download Riva tuner and set the fan speed to fixed at 50-56 %. in that range its at 800-1000 RPM and BARELY audible. any higher and u will hear it.

or just turn up ur speakers 😛
 
Originally posted by: Aberforth
There is no point in worrying about the loudness, instead of buying a cooler you could buy a nice set of speakers or headphones (this one actually made me jump: http://www.bose.com/controller.../companion_5/index.jsp ) and forget about the noise from your PC, you can reduce the fan-speed when you are not gaming.
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i have that exact speaker setup and love it! throws the sound everywhere in my little computer room 😀
 
I just bought an XFX GTX260 (9600GT in sig in second rig now) and it's not loud at all, like an above poster said only start to get loud in 3d gaming, but it's still very bearable. Great card BTW.
 
Your never going to get a good answer because noise is very subjective and changes drastically depending on many other factors like other fan noise, ambient room/house noise in general, room shape, etc... Personally my house is VERY quiet and even my P180 setup with 4870 @ 30% seems rather noisy. On the flip side I take it over to friends houses to game and even with everyone else using headphones (so no game noises) my pc sounds way quieter since the ambient house noise is so much greater.

I have never used a GTX260/280 but if the cooler is anything like that on the 8800GTS 512 (and it looks like it) then it is actually pretty quiet. I have mine running at 50% generally but when it was in my P180 I was able to get the entire system to be completly inaudible at ~30% fan speed. And I mean completly silent, the only noise in my room was the tiny pump coming from a small aquarium at the other end of the room. The temps where too high to game but even at 50% the fan is about the same noise as one of my yate-loon 120mm fans running at 7v so not bad at all.

It was definitly quieter than my 4870 fan but with a little tuning the 4870 stock fan is acceptable to me, though barely. Hopefully the 260 fan is something like my 8800GTS otherwise I just typed all that for nothing 😉
 
Originally posted by: nanaki333
Originally posted by: Aberforth
There is no point in worrying about the loudness, instead of buying a cooler you could buy a nice set of speakers or headphones (this one actually made me jump: http://www.bose.com/controller.../companion_5/index.jsp ) and forget about the noise from your PC, you can reduce the fan-speed when you are not gaming.
Click to expand...

i have that exact speaker setup and love it! throws the sound everywhere in my little computer room 😀
Click to expand...

Yes, it's the best choice for desktop PC's. The sound absolutely awesome, I suggest you play "the core" level in crysis with full volume 😛
 
Originally posted by: Insomniator
Friends dont let Friends buy Bose
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lol! For real. I don't mean to be rude, but Bose products really aren't very competitive, imo. These days, it seems like they mainly cruise on brand image and "cache".

Regarding the noise on the 260: Even on the OC models, it's quieter than the 4870, 280, or 4870x2 cards.

Personally, (though I'm an ATI fanboy), if silence is something you really want and you're only gaming at 1900x1200, then a gtx 260 216 variant is a very solid buy. Yes, the 4870 1gb models pull ahead at higher resolutions, as per Anandtech's own review, but the 216 variants are competitive at 1900x1200 and under, are quieter, and boast lower power draw both at idle and under load. I'd recommend one of the EVGA variants.

-S


 
Originally posted by: thilan29
Originally posted by: Insomniator
Friends dont let Friends buy Bose
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Do they have any sets that are THX certified?
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It doesn't need such certifications, bose speakers is all about the physics of sound, their 5.1 speakers doesn't need a 5.1 sound card. The purpose of their speakers is not about dolby, thx, dts compatibility, but to make you feel like sound is playing in your room, not from your speakers. It's all about sound tweaks.
 
my GTX 260 isn't loud at all. The only thing that is loud is teh corsair psu. For some reason it doesn't like the GTX 260 and makes a really high pitched electrical whine when fps goes into the thousands...like loading games and at game menus
 
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