[Baby Jai]

I am looking for a very powerful yet silent grafix card, I have a 7970 and its very loud at 50% and up fan speeds, suggestions please, money is not an issue

 

[daydream99]

You could swap the cooler for an aftermarket one.

 

[Baby Jai]

yes i could, but i mean how difficult is it truly? I am running a nice graphics card but I want more out of it. And I think its not the best.

 

[Vonnis]

How difficult is what? Swapping the cooler for an aftermarket one? Not very difficult at all. Just takes some force to remove the screws the first time.

 

[Erisian]

I really can't stand a noisy computer either.

The only totally silent graphics cards I know of are water-cooled (expensive!) or passively cooled (generally not very fast--the fastest I found were Powercolor HD6850's) which weren't even fast enough for ultra detail on Skyrim.

The Asus DirectCUII triple-slot cards looked to have good factory heatsinks and a reputation for being quiet; I bought a GTX 680 DC2-OC because it uses less power than the 7970 version. It wasn't quite quiet enough for me, so I took off the Asus fans and fan shroud and attached two 100mm SilenX Effizio fans to the heatsinks with twist-ties.

It's not *totally* silent, but it's so quiet that my monitor backlight is louder when it's dimmed! I didn't even need to put the SilenX fans on the fan controllers that keep my case fans quiet.

GPU temps playing Far Cry 3 are about 60C max. I might even go SLI, now that I know how to keep the card quiet.

 

[Baby Jai]

yeah i was looking at getting http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DVI-I-SL-DVI-D-PCI-Express-11197-05-40G/dp/B0098HW0H2/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2P926OJKKAEHY&coliid=I34W1XY0D5L3BF I heard they are really quit compared to the XFX version I have. What would you recommend for ATI Crossfired?

 

[Baby Jai]

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga.html anyone have any experice with these?

 

[Erisian]

I don't know what would be good for Crossfire. I'd probably just look for cards with really big heatsinks from the factory and plan to put quiet, controlled fans on 'em if I couldn't find specific recommendations.

Silence and speed are hard to find together; good luck.

 

[Bit_reaper]

If you don't want to swap out the cooler on the 7970 you have then your best option is to go for a gigabyte windforce x3 cards (like a 7970 for example). The gigabytes aren't as good at overclocking as some other cards (duet to limited voltage control it I recall right) but what they lack in OC potentially the make up with cool dressing. The windforce x3 is a very cool and more importantly quiet cooler. Another advantage of the windforce x3 is that its a pure dual slot cooler making it especially well suited for crossfire.

However the stock fan profile is made more for cooling then silence so to get minimum noise the fan profile needs to be adjusted.

Quote:

For the card in a fully stressed status (in-game) 42 DBA, now that is audible yet not annoying. It means you can hear airflow, but that's it.

Now I do need to add a note here, up-to 60 degrees C the card remains very silent. Once it passes 60 Degrees C, the fans simply start spinning harder and thus start to make more noise.

If you'd be willing to let the card the run at say 70~75 Degrees C and if you grab software like AfterBurner, you can then make a fan profile making the card nearly silent while it remains very well cooled.

That's the flexibility you get with the WindForce cooler here.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_radeon_hd_7970_oc_windforce_review,9.html

 

[Baby Jai]

ok 2 questions

I have this card (THE LOUD ONE) http://www.amazon.com/XFX-Radeon-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-FX795ATDFC/dp/B00713RT62/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1361586126&sr=1-1&keywords=XFX+ATI+Radeon+HD7950

is this BETTER BY A LONG SHOT!?
http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-GeForce-Express-DisplayPort-ZT-60103-10P/dp/B007ZMTPN4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2P926OJKKAEHY&coliid=I2HNMVKWRS333V

then in comparison with that one what abotu this one vs the nvidia?
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DVI-I-SL-DVI-D-PCI-Express-11197-05-40G/dp/B0098HW0H2/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2P926OJKKAEHY&coliid=I34W1XY0D5L3BF

 

[Baby Jai]

i also want to point out my mobo supports 3.0 pci e but the card i currently have maxes out at 2.0 as the nvidia one i linked maxes out at 3.0

im trying to figure out if this board support 3.0?

GA-990FXA-UD3

 

[Bit_reaper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baby Jai

i also want to point out my mobo supports 3.0 pci e but the card i currently have maxes out at 2.0 as the nvidia one i linked maxes out at 3.0

im trying to figure out if this board support 3.0?

GA-990FXA-UD3

There is no single GPU in existence that will max a PCI-E 2.0 x16. Well I haven't see tests done with a titan but is highly doubt full that even it needs more bandwidth than a PCI-E 2.0 x16 can provide. So there is really no need to worry about the PCI-E port.

See for your self all the 2.0 vs 3.0 results for a GTX 680 are within the margin of error http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/07/18/pci_express_20_vs_30_gpu_gaming_performance_review/2#.USgqpTA6CIw

 

[Baby Jai]

ty so much for helping me there, any ideas with the post before last for advice?

 

[raghu78]

HD 7970 with good coolers are Sapphire HD 7970 with dual x cooler, Gigabyte HD 7970 with windforce3x cooler. these also have good price. gigabyte has locked voltage. sapphire has unlocked voltage. but even at stock voltage 1.1 - 1.15 ghz should be easy.

Sapphire HD 7970(1 ghz)

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=AT-H7970CB
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DVI-I-SL-DVI-D-PCI-Express-11197-03-40G/dp/B009B6Y01Y/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008

superbiiz has the best price of USD 400 with $10 OFF your order over $100 w/code: MELTDOWN, ends 02/25. USD 380 after mail in rebate.

Gigabyte HD 7970 (1 ghz)

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=67547&vpn=GV%2DR797OC%2D3GD&manufacture=Gigabyte&promoid=1302

if you are willing to spend a bit more go for the HIS HD 7970 iceq x2 ghz . good cooler. unlocked voltage. dual 8 pin power connectors. more power phases than reference HD 7970. allows better stability and lower temps with voltage overclocking. but check if your case can fit this card. its 31.1 cm long.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161431

 

[Baby Jai]

and this ( http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-GeForce-Express-DisplayPort-ZT-60103-10P/dp/B007ZMTPN4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2P926OJKKAEHY&coliid=I2HNMVKWRS333V ) compared to the 7970s

 

[raghu78]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baby Jai

and this ( http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-GeForce-Express-DisplayPort-ZT-60103-10P/dp/B007ZMTPN4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2P926OJKKAEHY&coliid=I2HNMVKWRS333V ) compared to the 7970s

thats a reference GTX 680 cooler design. thats not the best of coolers. you have much quieter coolers like Gigabyte WF3, Asus Direct Cu II, MSI Twin frozr (Lightning) .

MSI GTX 680 Lighting

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=73224&vpn=N680GTX%20Lightning&manufacture=MSI%2FMicroStar&promoid=1393
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-DispayPort-PCI-Express-N680GTX-LIGHTNING/dp/B008D1JKF4/

ASUS GTX 680 Direct CU II

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=71118&promoid=1332
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121635
http://www.amazon.com/DisplayPort-Overclocked-Utilities-PCI-Express-GTX680-DC2O-2GD5/dp/B007ZT2E1C/

Gigabyte GTX 680

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125422
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GeForce-PCI-Express-Graphics-GV-N680OC-2GD/dp/B007ZUDOKG/

also you don't need more than 2GB for a single monitor unless you are a heavy skyrim modder.

 

[Baby Jai]

i run a dual monitor at all times, what would you recommend vs the Ati 7970 or the 680? I am an avid gamer, run dual monitor set up, not to much in OCing, but could if need be. I have burnt some cards on over voltage

 

[raghu78]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baby Jai

i run a dual monitor at all times, what would you recommend vs the Ati 7970 or the 680? I am an avid gamer, run dual monitor set up, not to much in OCing, but could if need be. I have burnt some cards on over voltage

with dual monitor you cannot play fps games because the crosshair will be blocked by the bezels. so i assume you will be playing on single monitor. the HD 7970 Ghz is faster than GTX 680 on average. it costs lesser and has an amazing game bundle. my vote is for the HIS HD 7970 iceq x2 ghz if you can fit it in your case. otherwise the sapphire hd 7970 oc.

if you like nvidia exclusive features like physx and want lower power draw go with gtx 680 . if you want gtx 680 my pick is the gtx 680 lightning.

 

[Faisal11iraq]

ASUS GTX 680 Direct CU II

super quiet.

 

[Alatar]

If money is not an issue go with Titan...

Otherwise a non reference 7970 board will do well.