Recommend a Quiet High-End Graphics Card

[rhsnipes]

1st build and it gets noisy when playing games(sole purpose). Just to make sure... Is it my HD 5870? (1080p)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...26&cm_re=Gigabyte_5870-_-14-125-326-_-Product

Or my Amd stock heatsink?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103894&cm_re=970-_-19-103-894-_-Product

Or, however unlikely, my NZXT Phantom case?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...067&cm_re=Nzxt_phantom-_-11-146-067-_-Product



Can someone suggest a quiet but still powerful as hell GFX card? Hopefully at least as powerful as my current one. I just don't see how my PS3 can be so silent.. There must be a way to get my gaming pc to be the same.

 

[cjl]

Yes, you can absolutely have a quiet gaming PC, although to respond to your comment about the PS3, part of it is that the PS3 is much less powerful than a 5870.

As for noise? Here's a list of current GPUs by noise level (under load):
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/235

Here's one for idle:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/234

 

[rhsnipes]

Does the brand/ heatsink play a significant role?


From the list it appears I should have bought a 6950...

 

[s9y143]

ya brand heatsink plays a significant load.. the Heatsinks of EVGA are the quietest of all...with good cooling ..

 

[jyjjy]

That chart is for reference coolers. FYI Asus and MSI often make very quiet and effective coolers. You should look at reviews for any card you might consider to find out the noise levels both at idle and load before purchasing.
What you can try with your current card is downloading MSI Afterburner. It is the best overclocking software but you don't have to use it for such. It also tracks temperatures and fan speeds and allows you to create a custom fan profile that you can use to try to lower the noise output.

 

[tomate2]

hm... you can try buying a new heatsink for your graphics card... it will further improve cooling and noise... but remember that no matter how many "silent" fans you put in your case... the noisier it gets... lots of fans = lots of cooling but even the quietest fans add up the noise...

 

[hang-the-9]

Larger fan = less noise for the same air flow generally. If you really want quiet cooling look into water cooling.

 

[g00fysmiley]

"EVGA are the quietest of all...with good cooling " i love me evga cards for good warrenty and pulling the hot air out of the case... but evga are refrence cards, aftermaket cards usually have better cooling and run quieter , though they aften need a good case with good ventilation , the op's case should be fine for ventilation so a quieter aftermarket card will liekly net less heat and less noise

 

[wolfram23]

You can get much quieter aftermarket GPU heat sinks as well. I found my 5850s could get super loud with the reference coolers so I bought Scythe Setsugens - I was limited by available area, there's bigger ones that are probably better at cooling but these ones do the job fine for me and are significantly quieter.

 

[rhsnipes]

Thanks for al the tips and advice I feel a little smarter about it all.. But I honestly still don't know what to get. Here is one that looks quiet/powerful but is missing the bios switch..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127562&cm_re=6950-_-14-127-562-_-Product



I'll definitely considering replacing my heatsink.. But curiosity has struck me and I'd like to see a specific recommendation if possible

 

[jyjjy]

Yeah, I would just get a reference model if you are looking to unlock the card.

 

[rhsnipes]

Best answer selected by Rhsnipes.

 

[rhsnipes]

I'll just try that msi afterburner software you mentioned. That sounds interesting.

 

[jyjjy]

It is very nice. It can also give you an onscreen display while gaming that shows things like frame rate, gpu usage/temperature, fan speed, etc.

 

[rhsnipes]

used the msi afterburner like you said VERY nice!

Turns out it's not my Graphics Card that's noisy(GPU fan speed/temp never changed)... must be the stock heatsink on my cpu.

 

[jyjjy]

The one component you didn't mention that can also be noisy/has a fan is the power supply.

 

[rhsnipes]

i figured my psu was a safe bet its a corsair tx 650w
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&Tpk=corsair tx 650

I looked at reviews for my CPU and saw lots of others with the same dilema. Thank goodness my case opens in the back. It gives a small amount of access to the back of the CPU, just enough to allow installation of a new heatsink(i hope) without taking everything apart

be nice to have software to monitor my cpu/fan usage