GTX 570 and 6970 Noise

[helpme3948]

How are the noise levels on these two cards from personal experience? I know it is a bit subjective, but I'd still like to hear some people's opinions. I'd like to have a very quiet computer when gaming. I know the kind of noise an Xbox 360 (with fans on what sounds like max) puts out and I'd rather have the exact opposite with my computer.

I've heard the GTX 570 does 40dB at load, but another place I've heard 50dB. Some places I've heard it's super quiet and yet other places I've read it can be loud enough to be really annoying. I'm not sure what to believe. I also don't know how the 6970 compares.

 

[Tamz_msc]

 

[jjb8675309]

if you plan on running the gpu completely at stock, with the fan on auto or low with no oc, then you can compare and quantify the db specs. But until you maintain that static scenario, then like you said, its subjective. Consider someone who may increase the fan speed to bring temps down with a high overclock. But most likely, if you want silence then you will probably not be oc'ing very much. In either case check the test setup and settings in the benchmarks of the reviews you are checking so you can make a better judgment overall in respect to the noise levels. From what I've heard the gtx 570s are pretty quite and efficient for the muscle. Personally my 6870 is not loud at all on auto but when you begin to crank the fan the noise rises, at 50% its not bad but at 100%, its a rocket engine. With my overclock the fan usually never goes over 75% and usually is around 50-60% which is tolerable (using sapphire trixx) that is my 2 cents..

 

[helpme3948]

Yeah, I wasn't planning on overclocking. I'm guessing the EVGA GTX 570 SC would be louder than the regular one then, huh.

 

[jjb8675309]

idk but i would assume, no bc it is still a reference design, unless evga sets the fan to a higher speed by default, again it all depends on how the fan is set, you could have no oc and a 50% fan and consider it loud, I would guess that the sc version is no louder then the regular one... not to mention that the level the sc is clocked to is easily achievable through a manual overclock although evga is a nice brand, you could save some money likely gettting a standard clocked version and ocing it a bit yourself, but it the end its up to you

 

[jjb8675309]

if you were considering a 570 why not a 560? it might be a much better buy and possible quieter then any of these solutions, if only you can wait a week and find out, what is your monitors resolution? and what are a couple games that you play currently? what cpu do you have? forgot to mention, with a high oc, the the forthcoming gtx560 will probably come damn close to the gtx 570 and cost about 100 less (gtx 560 will be $250 from what I hear) that should be the real sweet spot now that almost all nvidia 5 and amd 6 series are finally out

 

[Dougx1317]

I have a 6970. It is very quiet at default but the temps got up to 90C. I made a custom fan profile in Afterburner that keeps it below 65C at load, but it can get pretty loud. I think it's a trade off between temperature and noise. I chose a lower temperature, since the noise doesn't really bother me.

 

[17seconds]

As a GTX580 owner who also used to own a GTX480, I can tell you that I am all smiles about the lack of noise from the GTX580. Of course, there is a normal sound of air moving, but nothing that will cause any distraction. The GTX570 should be even quieter with a stock cooler, but then there are some with aftermarket cooling as well. The great thing about these cards is that you can overclock and/or run a dual card setup with only minimal impact on heat and noise levels.

In fact, noise level is something Nvidia paid very close attention, redesigning the fan, designing a cooler chip so the fan can run slower, redesigning the card case for better airflow, and retuning the fan profile so that it ramps up and ramps down gradually to make it very hard to notice. In most reviews, the GTX570 is not only quieter than the 6970, but it is almost as quiet as most budget level cards. The new cooler is that good. When you look at Db levels in reviews, some use different methods to test, so many cannot be compared between websites (the difference is often in how much system noise is tested, how far from the system the microphone is placed, etc.).

Here is a cool website that includes actual noise samples:
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1084/pg21/xfx-radeon-6970-and-radeon-6950-graphics-card-review-power-temp-noise.html

 

[helpme3948]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I'm glad to hear the GTX 570 is pretty quiet. I think I might wait for the GTX 560 just to see if its a better value to me. I don't have a gaming computer yet, but I'm planning on playing at either 1080p or 1200p when I buy a new monitor. The games I'd play are, well, pretty much everything. I like games in all genres. Though I am really looking forward to StarCraft 2 at the moment. The CPU I'm going to get is an i5 2500. I've never really like the idea of overclocking things.

 

[jjb8675309]

huh funny I've always really liked overclocking everything, as long as you know what you are doing I see no harm

 

[selits]

My 6970 runs really quiet stock, I don't think I once heard the fan while gaming until I started to change the fan speeds manually.

 

[jeanq001]

Thanks for you answer, it is useful!

As a GTX580 owner who also used to own a GTX480, I can tell you that I am all smiles about the lack of noise from the GTX580. Of course, there is a normal sound of air moving, but nothing that will cause any distraction. The GTX570 should be even quieter with a stock cooler, but then there are some with aftermarket cooling as well. The great thing about these cards is that you can overclock and/or run a dual card setup with only minimal impact on heat and noise levels.

In fact, noise level is something Nvidia paid very close attention, redesigning the fan, designing a cooler chip so the fan can run slower, redesigning the card case for better airflow, and retuning the fan profile so that it ramps up and ramps down gradually to make it very hard to notice. In most reviews, the GTX570 is not only quieter than the 6970, but it is almost as quiet as most budget level cards. The new cooler is that good. When you look at Db levels in reviews, some use different methods to test, so many cannot be compared between websites (the difference is often in how much system noise is tested, how far from the system the microphone is placed, etc.).

Here is a cool website that includes actual noise samples:
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1084/pg21/air_multipliergevey_ultra_simxbox_360_keyxfx-radeon-6970-and-radeon-6950-graphics-card-review-power-temp-noise.html

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey