I'm not familiar with the really cheap stuff you pointed out. I can see you being right though, especially with them being 10-15 degrees cooler at load or whatever J2C said. Which makes a large difference in demanding games and warmer ambient air temps such as that of summer and a well heated home during the winter.The cheaper AIB cards are about the same price as the FE (maybe within $20-30), and they all have 3 fans. I think the lower noise levels are well worth it.