Quietest & Coolest running 7800GT?

[eno]

I am going to be ordering a 7800GT in the next 3weeks. I am trying to hunt down which of the cards have the quietest fans on them. The 6800GT BFG I sold ran rather hot and noisy. I will be putting the card in my Silverstone case and when watching movies late at night, the old 6800GT was audible and would like to find something quieter.

So far I am looking at the eVGA,BFG,XFX in that order. Any one really have a clue on the noise comparison on these and any 7800. Any good reviews that show the noise factor?

EDIT : And yes I know there are aftermarket quieter coolers but would perfer to keep my warranty and not have to fork out more coin for a cooler.

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

The Gigabyte 7800GT uses the Zalman VF700 cooler as it's stock cooler . . .

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125214

Also eVGA warranties for HSF changes just to let you know (BFG does NOT) . . . BFG though has a water-blocked 7800GT . . .

 

[eno]

Originally posted by: 1Dark1Sharigan1
The Gigabyte 7800GT uses the Zalman VF700 cooler as it's stock cooler . . . .

So this cooler is supposed to be super quiet?

 

[Cookie Monster]

Are you planning to play any games?

I would suggest you to grab a 6600 silencers(6600 with no fan but passive coolnig).
It has fully working Pure Video, plus low power consumption/no noise at all.

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

Originally posted by: eno

Originally posted by: 1Dark1Sharigan1
The Gigabyte 7800GT uses the Zalman VF700 cooler as it's stock cooler . . . .

So this cooler is supposed to be super quiet?

Yeah . . . pretty much inaudible. Your other fans/hard drives would def. be louder . . .

 

[eno]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Are you planning to play any games?

I would suggest you to grab a 6600 silencers(6600 with no fan but passive coolnig).
It has fully working Pure Video, plus low power consumption/no noise at all.

50" SONY LCD, you bet I will be gaming. Audigy ZS into "6.2" 5x Infinity Towers,1x Infinity Center, 2x JBL 12" 400watt subs. O yeah, not only a media center but a Xbox's roll model.

Good idea on the 6600, that was a thought about a year ago. Now 7800GT's are such a good price/performance at around 280-300$.

 

[w00t]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Are you planning to play any games?

I would suggest you to grab a 6600 silencers(6600 with no fan but passive coolnig).
It has fully working Pure Video, plus low power consumption/no noise at all.

lol, no he just enjoys ownig a 7800GT for the fun of it .... use your brain you have one for a reason.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: w00t

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Are you planning to play any games?

I would suggest you to grab a 6600 silencers(6600 with no fan but passive coolnig).
It has fully working Pure Video, plus low power consumption/no noise at all.

lol, no he just enjoys ownig a 7800GT for the fun of it .... use your brain you have one for a reason.

Why are you flaming me? he specifically said Media Center PC. What are "Media Center PC" used for? watching high quality DVDs, music etc in your lounge or whateva. Most Media Center PCs arent built for gaming, hence they use low end GFX cards and most often they are passively cooled. And thats what i thought because the OP wasnt specific enough. Why waste your money on 7800GT when the 6600 can do the same thing for high quality DVD playback, MPEG2/WMV acceleration etc all your media stuff. Btw if your playing games grab a 7800GT. Its a great performer. :thumbsup:

Why dont you just grab a normal GT with a NV silencer 5? is it really bothering to get an aftermarket cooler? Plus, Nv silencers are quiet, and i mean quiet. If you dont want to grab the zalman cooled gigabyte 7800GT.

 

[eno]

The Gigabyte 7800GT is looking better and better. Seems like the eVGA would be the best dollar to performance but I am wondering how much of a difference the single slot cooler on the eVGA compared to the Zalman CF700 on the Gigabyte would be. I will not be buying a aftermarket cooler unless that will be the only way to quiet this new system.

 

[Nextman916]

Well like dark sharigan said evga still warranties cards with aftermarket cooling on them. I would suggest you get an evga 7800gt which run pretty cheap AR nowadays and throw on a NV silencer which would probably equal the price of the gigabyte and performs way better(the zalman is louder and that model isnt even copper). If your afraid of messing up your card in the installation, let me tell you that only a complete moron can accomplish this. You would have a crazy oc'ed, quiet, killer 7800gt.

 

[SergeC]

The Zalman VF700Cu, set to 5V, is the quietest active video HSF I've ever seen/tested, bar none. In addition, even set to 5V, it's still significantly more effective than the stock heatsinks. I suppose my suggestion would be the eVGA 7800GT (for the warranty including HSF changes), and an aftermarket Zalman VF700Cu.

Check out silentpcreview.com - they're just about as anal as it is possible to be about computer noise.

 

[w00t]

Cookie Monster I am not Flaming at you just thought it was funny. Why would he consider a 7800GT if he wasnt going to do any gaming?

edit: and before he already said he had a 6800GT why would he want to replace a 6800GT with a 6600? maybe because its quiet but there is an passively cooled X800XL.

 

[eno]

I am getting mixed stories on eVGA's warranty. Some people says its crap , others (anandtech) says its great. Anyone know or have first hand experience with their warranty process??

 

[rise]

i only had one experience qith evgas rma and it was great. very fast to respond and very accomodating. it will take a great deal for me to buy anything but evga.

as nextman said, i would recommend the AC silencer, especially if its going into a traditional htpc style case. the silencer does a much better job exhausting the hot air out of the case.

i've used both on my gtx and the silencer is superior imo.

 

[aatf510]

I am not sure about other 7800GTs, but I am be sure that the eVGA 7800GT (CO or not) is incredibly noisy (at least much worse than the almost silent GTX KO). According to the admins on eVGA.com forum, it seemed that the 7800GT doesn't have the fan speed vs. thermal hardware built into the card unless the GTX.

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

I use an AC Silencer on my 7800GT and it's quiet as hell even @ 100%. The VF700Cu does cool the GPU better but the Silencer cools the entire card better (mem, pcb), not to mention dumps all that hot air out of your system . . .

 

[eno]

Alright you helpful bastads... I think I will order up a eVGA 7800GT w/ AR Silencer V3. Can't wait. I will be cutting the case around the fans to allow more air threw, hopefully this new system in my HTPC will run cooler and most importantly quietly.

 

[tuteja1986]

I have media center comp : XBOX + softmod + 200GB HDD + wifi dlink bridge :!

Anyways i recommend : Intel Pentium-M 745 1.8Ghz + The DFI 855GME-MGF