NVIDIA GeForceFX: Brute Force Attack Against the King

The Cooler, Continued

A further problem is the noise level. The fan produces an incredible racket on par with a vacuum cleaner - there's simply no other way to describe it. You can hear the card even if you're in another room of the house.

2D Desktop Mode clock settings.

3D Performance Mode clock settings.

The GeForceFX 5800 Ultra recognizes three different operating modes. In 2D Desktop Mode, the chip and memory are clocked at 300/ 600 MHz. Here, the fan runs at a limited rpm and makes less noise. When you start up a 3D application (3D Performance Mode), the clock speeds increase to 500/ 1000 MHz, and the fan runs at maximum rpm. A third mode, Intermediate Mode, has not been integrated into the driver yet. This mode is meant to relieve the PC's power supply unit as well as the user's eardrums. NVIDIA strongly recommends using a PSU of at least 300W!

Additional voltage connector. The FX consummates up to 75 watts! The Radeon 9700 Pro has 54 watts.