Is this true...

[Macsure]

I am trying to make my Hackintosh quieter. The most noise comes from the GPU unit when gaming. I only play one game really. So I was thinking if I up graded my GPU it won't have to for as hard, therefore wouldn't get as hot, therefore the fans won't kick in as hard and therefore i would have less fan noise.

Currently run a Asus 550ti was looking at Radeon HD6870 or even willing to go up to 7970 if runs on a Hackintosh.


Feedback and advice appreicated

 

[eelhead]

you can give the 3 fan Gigabyte 6870 a whirl
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814125357

The GPU is long though but it works OOB as it is a reference design.

And there is no support for the 7XXX cards yet and unknown when there will be.

 

[Macsure]

wow thanks for quick reply.

I have room in my Case HAF912 is a beauty.
The price is cheap too.
Benchtests suggests its a lot better than my 550ti as well

I just wonder if it would be quieter thou

 

[eelhead]

I have the Sapphire single fan one and its so so but I am pushing out to a 27" Apple cinema display with crazy high resolution lol. I play Star Wars on the highest settings with no real performance issues but it get some what noisy. I do plan to go 7XXX if and when we get support but for now loving the 6870.
I figure that 3 fan one will run quieter and cooler as well, just read through the reviews and what not.

 

[Macsure]

Yeah Thanks eelhead, Thanks for yr feedback. My 550ti works well at the moment. My whole build is and has been very solid and stable since day one. But as would know yourself, a genius mac is so quiet to any thing else. so coming back to a PC as a primary I really notice it, Yeah we are spoilt some times aren't we lol.

I think I will keep reading and deciding, you never know while i am doing that a 7970 is released and I will jump on that for sure

 

[Sasquatch00]

I opted to buy a GPU cooler(vga cooler) for my GTX480, instead of upgrading to a GTX580 which I heard was quieter, cooler, and faster anyway. I spent $40 instead of $500 plus and I am happy about that. My computer is quieter and cooler!

The one I got was a Zalman VF3000f. Even if you upgrade i'd recommend one, I can't even hear it over my case fans and the card is at least 25C cooler under load than it was with the stock cooler.

 

[Macsure]

Cheers Sasquatch,

Looks like it could do the job for $40

However now I have dielema, eellhead suggest this
"you can give the 3 fan Gigabyte 6870 a whirl ...." Here in Australia I can get this card for $200. So for $200 I get a better card, and x3 fans should equal cooler ruunning = fans quieter?

Or is my thinking a bit wonky

 

[Macsure]

Oh this i sway sad

The more I reveiw the sadder I get My GTX 500ti is an embrassment to both the GTX480 and the 6870.

Sasquatch: Reveiws I have read say yr vga cooler not only keeps the temps down but also the Noise from the fans is even quieter. Can you confirm this for me plz.

I leaning towards a vga cooler at this stage.

 

[Sasquatch00]

I can't answer for any other gfx cards because I've only had the GTX 480 from Zotac. It is known for being very hot and very loud, but I have my computer outside my office(I ran all the cabling neatly) so it's completely quiet! Point being, I got the cooler simply to cool, but it's nice that it is also much quieter. As I said it's now quieter than my case fans at the lowest setting, which is where i almost always have it(still keeps at 25-30C cooler than before at the lowest setting).

As quiet as my computer is at idle, it is no louder at full load while gaming or rendering. But since it is in another room, I turn it up to 25% or so when i do 3D gaming. The game is loud anyway so I just give it a chance to keep even cooler if it needs. At that point, if it was in my room, I would think it was loud, but you don't even really need that. I've tested games with it at different speeds, including the lowest, and I'm confident low is fine.

From my general knowledge, i'd say any card with 3 fans is probably very cool as well! Don't know about how loud that other card is you are talking about. Hopefully someone else can help compare.

 

[powerpcg5]

6870 Dual Fan XFX ... so quiet, I didn't even know it was running I accidentally stuck my finger to see if the fan was spinning (my case fan was louder vs. the 6870 dual fan)... and I'm running a quiet P183 case. Also using a quiet Noctua cpu fan.