nv 5900 non-ultra: how quiet when not gaming?

[DaveSimmons]

If you have a 5900nu, what is the brand, and how quiet is it when running non-gaming applications like IE, word, etc.?

 

[titanmiller]

eVGA, quieter than my retail 2500+ fan.

 

[Keysplayr]

I have the eVGA 5900nu. Almost completely silent in 2D. I have to put my ear right up to the card to hear the fan in 2D.
In 3D it speeds up quite a bit and then you can't hear it over the game sound. Works nicely.

 

[Genx87]

I cant hear the thing in 3d or 2d. I have an eVga 5900 NU.

 

[Alkaline5]

I have an XFX nu. It's the single loudest thing in my case, but my other fans are all under 20dB. I can hear it in desktop mode but only because it's a smaller (i.e. higher-pitched) fan than the others.

 

[Ineptitude]

I've got the Gainward FX5900 Golden Sample and I can't hear the fans at all. It's running reliably at 450 Mhz core and 900 Mhz mem.

 

[Mike99Pgh]

If it ends up bothering you and you have some extra cash you can always get the Zalman heatpipe (ZM80C-HP). They also have a noiseless fan can add to it. That's what I'm doing on my 9800pro in an attempt to make my system silent.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Mike99Pgh
If it ends up bothering you and you have some extra cash you can always get the Zalman heatpipe (ZM80C-HP). They also have a noiseless fan can add to it. That's what I'm doing on my 9800pro in an attempt to make my system silent.

Yes, if I get a 9800 pro instead I'd consider the Sapphire card with the Zalman pre-installed (and under warranty) since I'd hate to destroy a $300 card doing my first heatpipe install 🙂

And thanks to everyone who's replied, so far eVGA and Gainward both sound like good choices for quietness.

 

[InSuboRdiNaTioN]

My PNY 5900 runs very quiet in 2D since the fan is temperature controlled... rarely does it ever even spin up in 3D.

One problem though: My Card itself (not the fan) makes a buzzing/hissing type sound whenever scrolling or playing a game! It's pretty audible too!
Anyone ever hear of this before??

 

[Atif]

With any GeForceFX 5900 card, simply use the Coolbits registry setting to enable clock frequency changes. Set the 2D core to something ridiculously low like 200MHz, and drop the memory down as well if you like and use those settings when doing anything other than playing a game.

Peace

 

[yhelothar]

my PNY 5900 is very noisy in 2D.. i have it downclocked to 100MHz in 2D mode and my case is 35°C. However I had a PNY 5900 Ultra before, and it was dead silent in 2D.