8800 GTS: Noise and Temperature.

I am looking for a new video card for my new Q6600 - P5K Premium - P812 system.

I am considering a 7900GS, 8600 GS/GTS or 8800 GTS (maybe EVGA e-GeForce 8800GTS Superclocked 320MB). I plan to use this PC for a few years without any upgrade.

Besides the money, does the 8800 consume more power and generates more noise than the 7900 and 8600 series cards?

I'd say YESY and YES, but most importantly on a build you want yo 'use for a few years without any upgrade' then most importantly of all IT's WORTH IT !!

IMO, anything less than a GTS for such a build is not a good fit.

In my build the GTS 320 is easily the loudest thing in my case when it's fan is on 100% but as the other felles stated it's well worth it. This thing is blazing fast stock and it overclocks verry nicely to. I have mine set with rivatuner to keep the fan at 60% when on 2D stuff and at that speed you won't hear it. When it's on 3D stuff it kicks the speeds upto 610/950 which is a relatively modest overclock and the fan to 100% which I can't hear over my surround while playing. The noise isn't really a bad tone anyhow, I've heard worse on my modded x800xl. Bottom line just get the 8800 and you'll be alot happier.

If it's eVGA and you don't do funny things to it you don't need to bother monitoring its temperatures. Go for it, smart choice.

This is probably a very subjective question.

If it's your money, which card would you buy:
1. EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked 320MB
2. BFG Technologies GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB

Both in the same price range.

Like I said, I do not plan on making any further upgrade to this PC for a few years. This is why I am getting all the quality components (P5K-Premium, Q6600, Freezer Pro-7, P182+1 extra case fan, Cosair-620W, etc).

Since this EVGA and BFG cards are in the same price range and similar perfromance, I will buy the one which is more reliable and quiet.

If they are the same price get the card with higher clocks and better waranty.

I've never heard of a 8800gts 320 overheating or even being that hot so I wouldnt worry about temps. The p182 is a good case with good airflow. I'm not sure why you would need an extra fan in there.

This BFG card probably does not have the latest cooling technology, something called ThermoIntelligence Cooler. Too bad...

I read it somewhere from a BFG (GeForce 8800 GTS OC) owner that this card operates at full fan speed all the time.
Does this make sense?

I'm confused. Here are two reviews. One shows that the noise of the 8800 GTS increases under load, and one shows that it doesn't. A noise increase under load would mean the fan is NOT always running at full speed. The problem is, who is right here? Both Anandtech and XbitLabs are reliable sites, so I'm guessing it's just me being unable to make sense of the numbers.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =2953&p=12
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/v [...] html#sect0

I hope somebody can clarify this for us...

Just curious, as a BFG card owner, how did this horror story end? Did BFG send you a new card? Did that one work? Did you have to send your old card first and spend some weeks without any card? Did you have to pay shipping for either the old card or the new one? Thanks!

make SURE you monitor your temps with ntune or something similar..I bought a second evga 8800 320 superclocked and my old card operated at 107 degrees C in SLI until i moved it to PCIex number 1 position (close to CPU), only then did it drop by 40 degrees.

Watch the temps! get the OC version or save your money and when the G92 cards come out, get an 8800 ultra at the reduced price!