Quietest 2-slot 580-class or better GPU

[vbuggy]

So I have a few space issues in my gaming rig and while I was considering going SLI with the Asus DirectCu II's, I've realised that it'll leave me no room for the other stuff I want to get in there.

As you may be aware, the Direct CU's are 3-slot.

I built the rig *primarily* for silence. So it's Noctua throughout, NH-D14 running ULNA with one fan, etc. And obviously that's why the DirectCU was chosen and it's all running inside a Fractal Design R3.

Now I've decided I want slightly more horsepower than one 580 can provide down the line - especially as I'm now running dual 27" HPs, with a third possibly as soon as I do a bit of rearranging / redecorating.

And yes, it has to be an NVidia card for various reasons.

Noise while gaming isn't a major issue - but I need it to be deathly quiet in idle / regular use, and I'm not looking to go water or modding seriously to achieve it.

So I'm assuming the options are to run two 2-slot 580's and possibly a single 590 (given that running two 570's would probably not give a significant power vs silence benefit...?). Which specific cards would be the best silence vs power compromise? I do need an active cooling system, i.e. no passives as airflow is purposely limited / directed within the chassis.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

7970 in two weeks

 

[Smartazz]

I think that both the 7950 and 7970 will be faster.

 

[BD231]

Yeah I'd wait, the new 28nm process allowed AMD to add twice the compute units/shaders so it should DESTROY a 580.

 

[aphelion02]

I liked my old MSI gtx580 lightning, but I'm not sure it was "dead silent", given that my case fans were also making some noise and I never really paid attention.

 

[vbuggy]

Added "Bolded for the textually challenged"

 

[Arkadrel]

if all you care about is 580 and 590, and quiet is key.... then that throws the 590 out the window.

So your question really is... what is the quiest 580 you can buy?

*goes to look at 580 card reviews on Techpowerup*


ASUS GTX 580 Matrix ~33 dB
ZOTAC AMP! Edition ~41 db (lower idle noise than ref.)
referance design from nvidia ~41 dB
MSI's GTX 580 Lightning ~44 dB
ASUS GTX 580 ~45 dB
MSI's new Lightning Xtreme Edition ~49 dB


^ only 580s I found on Techpowerup.

 

[vbuggy]

if all you care about is 580 and 590, and quiet is key.... then that throws the 590 out the window.

So your question really is... what is the quiest 580 you can buy?

*goes to look at 580 card reviews on Techpowerup*


ASUS GTX 580 Matrix ~33 dB
ZOTAC AMP! Edition ~41 db (lower idle noise than ref.)
referance design from nvidia ~41 dB
MSI's GTX 580 Lightning ~44 dB
ASUS GTX 580 ~45 dB
MSI's new Lightning Xtreme Edition ~49 dB


^ only 580s I found on Techpowerup.

So what you're saying is that in order to go lower than reference it's going to be a 3-slot.

Hmmm. I looked up the 590 and it says 33db idle. However it says 31db for the 580 - presumably the reference, which will be noisier than the Directcu / Matrix(?) at idle. So I'm not sure which figure is which.

Anyone have a Matrix (which has the same cooler as the DirectCu II from what I can see) and a 590?

 

[Arkadrel]

Those are noise levels at load, ei when your gameing ect, not at idle.
Yeah it looks like the 3-slot options are the least noisy.

the 590 ref. design is around ~48 dB at load (around 84-87 degrees celcius on stock, during load).

 

[RussianSensation]

ASUS GTX 580 Matrix ~33 dB
ZOTAC AMP! Edition ~41 db (lower idle noise than ref.)
referance design from nvidia ~41 dB
MSI's GTX 580 Lightning ~44 dB
ASUS GTX 580 ~45 dB
MSI's new Lightning Xtreme Edition ~49 dB

That list is missing one of the quietest dual-slot GTX580s - the Gigabyte version.

At 2000 rpm fan speed, the Gigabyte card is about 42 dB, which better than any other dual-slot GTX580 I can think of. The vertical dotted lines mark the max speed of the fans in the automatic regulation mode.

Review 1
Review 2

 

[vbuggy]

The key factor is noise at idle. When I'm gaming I'll have a headset on so any noise is not going to be a big deal within reason.

Having said that, if all of those figures are on load, then the figures for the Matrix on load (assuming that's 33db) is significantly noisier than I'd like from any single SLI card in idle, if the DirectCuII has an identical noise profile to the Matrix.

Does that rule out any stock 2-slot GPU for my uses?

EDIT:

OK, so looked up Techpowerup's review for the DirectCu. My card has 30db load, 27db idle.
So I guess the comparison is between two of these vs a single 590 in idle. Techpowerup lists 33dba idle for the 590. Could any other 2 x two-slot NVidia combo better that?

 

[mrjoltcola]

The Matrix 580s are extremely quiet both idle and load. I have 2 in SLI, and I cannot tell they are there; the rear and front 120mm chassis fans are the loudest thing in my build.

 

[ElFenix]

get an aftermarket cooler. no fan at 2000 rpm is quiet.

 

[vbuggy]

The Matrix 580s are extremely quiet both idle and load. I have 2 in SLI, and I cannot tell they are there; the rear and front 120mm chassis fans are the loudest thing in my build.

Yes, the DirectCu II's are the same physically as the Matrix and as I said practically right at the start of the first post, the main reason for looking at other cards was the fact that I need the slots that a two x 3-slot arrangement would block off.

 

[vbuggy]

get an aftermarket cooler. no fan at 2000 rpm is quiet.

What would you suggest?

 

[Magic Carpet]

In my experience, no video card is as quiet as you can make it. Whatever review sites can claim ;-p

Get prepared for modding.

get an aftermarket cooler. no fan at 2000 rpm is quiet.

Good start.

 

[Dman8777]

At idle, the 7970 draws 3 watts according to the Anand review, that should be pretty quiet...

 

[aigomorla]

this is the quietest.. however... u need about 200 more dollars in other EQ to make it work.

And if u want to see 2 together:

I would show u three as i am now on tri sli, but i cant find my camera... :\

But Yeah... op after the blocks you need tubing + radiator + pump to finish that loop, which is why i said about 200 extra dollars required in other eq to finish it.

get an aftermarket cooler. no fan at 2000 rpm is quiet.

kinda dangerous on a 580GTX unless u have active cooling on the VRMs as well...

Well my 580's are sandwitched between sinks... here is a closeup of the underside:

 

[The Boston Dangler]

this is the quietest.. however... u need about 200 more dollars in other EQ to make it work.

And if u want to see 2 together:

I would show u three as i am now on tri sli, but i cant find my camera... :\

But Yeah... op after the blocks you need tubing + radiator + pump to finish that loop, which is why i said about 200 extra dollars required in other eq to finish it.



kinda dangerous on a 580GTX unless u have active cooling on the VRMs as well...

Well my 580's are sandwitched between sinks... here is a closeup of the underside:

how does that help the OP? why do you keep doing this?

OP, i would wait. if i had to buy right now, i'd go for the gigabyte.

 

[vbuggy]

Cost not an issue. Hassle a major issue. Water - no go.

 

[vbuggy]

how does that help the OP? why do you keep doing this?

OP, i would wait. if i had to buy right now, i'd go for the gigabyte.

Yeah - given the above I'm thinking perhaps I should wait as well to see what NVidia has up their kimono, and whether for my forthcoming needs I can get away with a single card again. It's not like I have to have it now.

 

[RussianSensation]

Keep in mind, if all you are concerned with is idle noise levels, the benchmarks for reference coolers online are not the lowest you can go. For all NV and AMD cards I buy, I lower the idle fan speed way lower. You can go all the way down to 15-20%, while stock fan BIOS speeds are often 35-40% (such as for GTX470/480 cards for example). I am not sure if they are also 40% for GTX580 card, but they are for sure much higher than 15-20%.

The point is, you can manually force the fan speeds of most cards far lower than factory default settings. This makes your comparison harder because I haven't seen any review site actually do this.

Here is my setup. I can easily lower my idle fan speeds to just 16% up to 60*C and keep temperatures < 50*C for all desktop applications. The card is completely inaudible in 2D. Some cards won't let you lower fan speeds below the lowest level specified by the BIOS.

 

[tweakboy]

Woah nice pics.... Stick with the card you have. SLI will bring too much heat since hte noise level will be lower due to fan spinning at 30 percent each.

Once you game, and these puppies go to 100 percent each , its going to sound like a jet in your room.... Wait for 7990 which is out or wait for 6xx ,,,, the newer gen single card is always faster then previous gen SLIed.....gl

 

[vbuggy]

Keep in mind, if all you are concerned with is idle noise levels, the benchmarks for reference coolers online are not the lowest you can go. For all NV and AMD cards I buy, I lower the idle fan speed way lower. You can go all the way down to 15-20%, while stock fan BIOS speeds are often 35-40% (such as for GTX470/480 cards for example). I am not sure if they are also 40% for GTX580 card, but they are for sure much higher than 15-20%.

The point is, you can manually force the fan speeds of most cards far lower than factory default settings. This makes your comparison harder because I haven't seen any review site actually do this.

Here is my setup. I can easily lower my idle fan speeds to just 16% up to 60*C and keep temperatures < 50*C for all desktop applications. The card is completely inaudible in 2D. Some cards won't let you lower fan speeds below the lowest level specified by the BIOS.

I did look at this before but I opted for the lowest possible 'things to go wrong' when I picked the DirectCu II as my GPU for the rig. Still, worth keeping in mind, thanks.

 

[SHAQ]

You better be quick though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130751