Is the ATi Radeon X1950 XT a really loud card?

Is the ATi Radeon X1950 XT a really loud card? if it is, is it worth the performance gain even tho its destracting?

Yes, the HIS is known for being quieter than other cards. In any case, if loudness is an issue for you, stay away from the Sapphire card.

The cooler like the one on the sapphire will be really loud. I had a sapphire x850xtpe with the same cooler, it was like a jet engine. Now, on my ASUS x1950Pro I can barely hear the cooler, even when it is at 100%.

It's not a loud card when gaming as long as you have decent airflow through your case. The stock cooler fan on mine wouldn't even start to spin until it hit 70C and it was only a low hum. I game with a headset and my tower sits on the floor and I couldn't even hear it when it did spin up unless it was on 100% fan speed. I decided to get the Thermalright HR-03 to put on mine for several reasons, one being the fact that I got to choose how loud it would be (the HR-03 doesn't come with a fan although it comes with brackets to hold on a 92mm fan).

My Sapphire X1800XT isn't loud at stock speeds. I think it shares the same fan as the X19xx's, just not as hot a chip maybe. Sapphire almost seems to have a lower RPM compared to reference as it almost never goes above 49%. OC'in and setting the fan to a higher RPM it gets loud. But really, at 49% it's not much louder than the HIS X1950XT iceQ. Obviously, the iceQ is better for temps and quietness, especially if OC'in.