Recs for *quiet* GTX 770 or equivalent...?

[bovinda]

Looking for a vid card for new gaming/HTPC system, around the 770 or equivalent in power, as quiet as possible. Having trouble finding reviews.

Would like at least 3 GB of vid ram if possible, as will be playing heavily modded Skyrim as well as Bioshock, Shogun, others.

Any recommendations on cards or info? My budget is ~500, but I can go up a hundred or so if there's an especially good (quiet) 780 or equivalent.

Thanks for any and all feedback!

 

[Jaydip]

I am using the 780 equivalent and it is whisper quiet http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127747

 

[bovinda]

That does look nice...one of the reviews on Newegg (for what those are worth) mentions it's a little loud while playing games. Is the rest of your set-up pretty quiet? Does it rev up much under basic tasks or while gaming for you?

Cards I'm looking at right now:
EVGA ACX 770 4 GB - $510
Gigabyte 770 4 GB OC - $460
MSI 770 4 GB as rec'd by Jaydip - $480

 

[Jaydip]

That does look nice...one of the reviews on Newegg (for what those are worth) mentions it's a little loud while playing games. Is the rest of your set-up pretty quiet? Does it rev up much under basic tasks or while gaming for you?

Cards I'm looking at right now:
EVGA ACX 770 4 GB - $510
Gigabyte 770 4 GB OC - $460
MSI 780 4 GB as rec'd by Jaydip - $480

I have played lots of games and honestly I couldn't once hear the fans.Here is another one for you, this should be very quiet as well.Sadly it comes with only 2GB vram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121770

 

[bovinda]

I looked at that Asus, it got good reviews at HardOCP and others...if it just wasn't 2 GB, I would probably have gone with it.

 

[Jaydip]

Some testimonial http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_770_TF_Gaming/25.html
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_770_gaming_review,7.html

 

[DaveSimmons]

My MSI GTX 680 is very quiet, so the 770 version should be a good choice.

I have a big Antec P280 case for good airflow though.

 

[bovinda]

I'll be using it in a Fractal Design R4 with several Noctua 140 mm fans, so hopefully it will have enough airflow. The MSI does look promising.

I think it's between that and the Gigabyte for me. My last card was a Gigabyte GTX 570 with the older version of the same cooling system, and it's very quiet, but I know it varies from generation to generation...

 

[ZGR]

Would a 4GB GTX 760 be a good solution? It should be able to run all those games without too much trouble. And when 20nm Maxwell comes around next year, there could be some great offerings if you need more performance.

Also much cheaper than the 770 and 780.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/ASUS_GeForce_GTX_670

I believe the DCII 770 has the same cooler. If quiet is truly your top priority, I think this is the card to get.

 

[SickBeast]

I recently did a lot of research to see who made the best and quietest GPU heatsink and to my surprise it was Gigabyte, although they were nearly tied with MSI; they were within a few degrees and a few decibels of one another. Asus was good as well but MSI and Gigabyte were the best. They said that because the Windforce cards have 3 fans they can spin slower while cooling the card better with less noise.

 

[blackened23]

The top picks are the Asus DC2, MSI gamer, and Gigabyte windforce. All of these cards are within .05-1% of each other in terms of noise, in other words, you'll never notice the difference. I personally really like the aesthetics of the asus and MSI gamer cards, I would go with one of those - and Asus is my absolute #1 favorite brand (although I really like MSI lightnings too..) There are reports of coil whine with the gigabyte windforce at H, though, i'm not sure if that's a SKU wide type of deal or just 1 unlucky user.

These cards are all great and are so close to each other, you shouldn't think too much about which one you end up buying - they're all equally good. Just pick one based on warranty and aesthetics, whatever does it for you. You really can't go wrong.

 

[Z15CAM]

Gigabyte 770 4 GB OC - $460

Plus X's 2. Particularity if you are attempting 1440p.

 

[bovinda]

Thanks guys for all the feedback. I ended up going with the Gigabyte. I would have chosen the Asus but for the lesser VRAM (no 4 GB available). I couldn't find anyone to compare the EVGA to the others, and even though the ACX sounds good in theory I just don't know how it would be (and sites made it sounds a little louder), and it was $50 more. The MSI sounds very good, but my last card was a Gigabyte with the same sort of cooler, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

The MSI does sound like it would be better for OCing, but I won't be; so the Gigabyte should be fine, I hope.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[AMD64Blondie]

The Gigabyte was a wise choice.

I own a Gigabyte GTX770 4GB,with Gigabyte's Windforce cooler..and it only gets up to 130 degrees F while in-game.

Also it's so quiet,that when I first turned on my PC after installing the new GTX770..I thought it hadn't started at all.(no noticeable noise at idle..)