Quiet video card fan?

[Evgeny]

Can anyone recommend a quiet video card fan. I have an ASUS V7700 and it's not overclocked. So noise comes first and performance second. How is the Crystal Orb in this respect? I've read some reviews and one described it as "reasonably quiet", while another said it's "comparatively noisy". Can I get some comments from people who have one?

Evgeny

 

[jonmcc33]

If you are looking to replace your video card fan the Thermaltake Crystal Orb and Blue Orb are the best. I have a Blue Orb on the northbridge chip on my Asus A7V133 since the stock fan died out. It doesn't make any more noise than any other 40mm fan would. Is it loud? Not really. It's just a little more than a low RPM 80mm fan.

 

[boyRacer]

That fan is spinning pretty fast so its got to be a little noisy IMO... my BLORB is pretty noisy... louder than my HDs... go take a look at tennmax.com... since you're not OC your card... you might as well go for something quieter.

 

[Southpaw]

I replaced the stock fan on my GF3-TI200 with a Blue Orb
I am not big into overclocking, but I do some...not sure the amount (225/450??)

The 50mm Orb fan was a lil too whiney....
you have all heard of the 7V mod...

well I did the 8.7V mod.
I hooked the ground wire onto the 3.3V line of the single row connector (orange wire)
I left the Red +12V and RPM sense wire in the connector and plugged it on the motherboard.

now instead of 4800 RPM, I get about 2600 RPM. Much quieter and fine for my needs.
This is just a stop gap measure....
I am going to solder a 25 ohm resistor inline to the fan and then go back to using the regular ground....

Southpaw

 

[bluesky]

Try some passive solutions with no fans.
I've seen some of them here.

 

[Evgeny]

Thanks for the replies. Bluesky, I've been thinking about passive solutions myself, particularly a Zalman heatsink, but I don't know if the card will be cool enough or not. I've started another thread asking about that, but no-one has replied yet!

Evgeny