Asus Introduces Strix Cards; Fans All Turn Off Below 65˚C
Asus' new Strix graphics cards can turn off their fans when running cool for zero noise.
Asus has introduced a new series of graphics cards – the Strix series. This series of graphics cards look a lot like the DirectCU II series of cards, though they feature one key difference.
At first, Asus is releasing two GTX 780 Strix graphics cards, along with one Radeon R9 280. The first GTX 780 variant will come with stock GPU and memory clocks at 863 MHz base, 900 MHz under boost, and with memory clocked in at 6.0 GHz. The second version, the GTX 780 Strix OC, will carry clocks of 889 MHz base and 941 MHz Boost. Memory will remain at the reference 6.0 GHz. Note that both the GTX 780 Strix cards will also come with 6 GB of GDDR5 memory, rather than the standard 3 GB frame buffer.
Then we have the R9 280 Strix OC. This graphics card comes clocked at up to 980 MHz, with memory clocks sitting at 5.2 GHz. One might expect the card to also carry double the GDDR5 graphics memory at this point, however, it doesn't.
The key feature that the Strix series of graphics cards seems to carry with them is that they have a supposed "0 Decibel Fan." In reality, this doesn't mean that the fan doesn't make any noise, but rather that it won't actually spin up at all until the GPU temperature rises above 65 C. Beyond that, the coolers on both cards are still based on the DirectCU II coolers that we all know and love. If all goes well, you shouldn't hear any GPU noise when using your desktop environment, and depending on your environmental conditions and airflow, you shouldn't hear too much on light GPU loads either.
Pricing for the units is still unknown, though hopefully we'll know more about that soon.
Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.
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Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.
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Plusthinking Iq have not seen any software that can turn off fans, at 17% fanspeed(800rpm) my gigabyte windforce cooler its very silent to 70c but whould be nice if fans stopped at 65c, less dust over the years.Reply -
RCguitarist Why is this needed? My GPU fans run at 30% until 50C and are silent at that speed. I can't hear them at all. I'd rather my card stay at 40C when in desktop use than running it at 60C all the time, seems like it would be better for the longevity of the card.Reply -
danwat1234 Longevity doesn't matter becuase it can handle 85C 24/7 for years. At 65C it's super happy. Shutting off the fans saves power.Reply -
rishiswaz This is just marketing in my opinion, below 65-70C most cards are whisper quiet if not inaudible due to case or CPU fans. The only reason to buy these would be 6GB VRAM, and that is really stretching it,Reply -
iam2thecrowe dont see the point, at 10-20% fan speet the fans are inaudible anyway. As soon as its under any load with 0% fan speed the fans will turn right back on again. Another flashy marketing gimmick for Asus to stick on their box.Reply -
Plusthinking Iq no fan rpm mean no dust in gpu, and newer pc can turn of case fans as well. then its a idle passive cooling pc.Reply
if some people cant hear the noise a pc makes, you live in a crappy noisy area and must move.