Upgrade for my MSI N660 TF 2GD5/OC

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fantanel

fantanel

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May 25, 2011
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Good day!

I currently have a MSI GeForce GTX 660 OC TwinFrozr III 2GB DDR5 192-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127699

I use it together with an i5 inside a Nanoxia Deep Silence 2. I only play ESO.

Lately it started to make a bit of noise when it goes above 55 Celsius. Lowest FPS was 40, the performance is not the issue. The noise is.
Before playing ESO I did not notice any noise, so I guess it did not get that hot.

What viable/smart options are there for me:
- any video card that delivers at least 30% better performance
- is not OC (if OC means more noise, I don't want it!)
- around 300 $ / Euros
- I saw that the newer card either have 3x vents or 1 at the side (encased). Which is better(better at cooling and lower noise) and why?
- should I get a water cooling option for my current card? (this would be pretty expensive but less expensive than a new card O guess)
- should I try with some Arctic Silver 5, maybe that is the issue? Is it safe to take off the cooler/vent system?
- any other tips?
 
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ak47jar3d

ak47jar3d

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Mar 3, 2014
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I guess the best you can get is 4gb gtx 770. Its funny that you wanted a 30 percent performance increase and that almost the exact difference between gtx 660 and 770 in general. The windforce is the quietest card that is a gtx 770 (tested in various dbs). You can water cool as it helps with noise and heat, but can be fairly difficult depending on your setup.
windforce 770:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125462
 
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chemmajorp53

chemmajorp53

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Apr 5, 2013
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What kind of noise were you talking about out of curiosity? Like a high-pitched whine or a wha-wha-wha sound or just the general noise of air moving? BTW 4GB of VRAM (it works fine on 256-bit) is a waste at 1080p, only get that much if you plan on going WQHD or getting a second card in the future. Any brand GTX 770 won't be any quieter than an MSI GTX 660 with no flaws in the cooler as it has to displace twice as much heat. Watercooling or an aftermarket cooler are your best bets for optimum noise control
 
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gamer2321

gamer2321

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The GTX 770 is my recommendation as it is just 30$ over your 300$ budget.
Perhaps this specific no OC'ed card;
<link removed>
and no don't go for Water Cooling as you will notice almost no upgrade in performance and later on you would wish that you had made a better investment. GPUs can work up to 100C plus on most cards.
The 770 is better than the 660Ti in all benchmarks and has a significant FPS boost in new games.Refer to the benchmarks section of this;
<link removed>
So The GTX 770 is the way to go.
 
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BnG

BnG

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Nov 1, 2013
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+1 this, I have a 670 windforce and it is very quiet =). Personally I think Gigabyte has the least noisy cards in general.
 
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fantanel

fantanel

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@chemmajorp53
the noise comes from the 2 vents, normal noise of a small vent spinning fast. This happens only above 50 Celsius.

Water cooling for the 660 gets close to 300 Euros, which is not something I am willing to do.
After market cooling... yes I could try it... but it will still be 2 vents.

Why would
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186096
be a better choice? Are this cooling solutions using better vents?
 
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chemmajorp53

chemmajorp53

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Apr 5, 2013
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They're just quieter fans; they have more blades and a larger surface area so they can move more air while spinning slower. The speed of the fans is what causes the noise. Water cooling doesn't always involve a full loop though, you can also use one of these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186095

but the air cooler will probably be just as quiet. Manufacturers of these cards probably don't expect people to have as high of standards for noise as you do, so they go for performance at lowest cooler cost over sound dampening. Aftermarket coolers fill this gap.


 
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ak47jar3d

ak47jar3d

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Mar 3, 2014
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Yeah, you could go with 2 gb of vram, but its 2014 and 2 gigs of ram is not enough for max AA at 1080 in some games present day and will only get worse with time.
 
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