ATI cards too loud?

[Dark Sun]

This is becoming a great concern now. I'm thinking about getting an ATI card but loads of people are complaining about the noise levels produced by the ATI cards.

Is it as bad as people make out? Are Nvidia cards any better? I know they generally run cooler and use less power.

In my personal opinion I feel I shouldn't have to spend more money on an after market cooler just to get a civilised noise level.


Any thoughts?

 

[beefybarn]

Used ati and nvidia cards, both have models that make a certain amount of noise but none that are really bad.

 

[daryll]

I cant speak for the 4890's as I havent owned one, but the Asus 4850 I had was unusably loud (in my opnioin), I now have the XFX 260 and the difference is like night and day.

Admittedly you can manually adjust the fan speed in CCC, 20% was much quieter but creating different profiles for windows and gaming does seem a bit of a faf compared to the NVIDIA just working.

The Asus doesnt use the reference cooler so im not sure how it compares to others.

Mine could have been a one off, but after hearing the ATI card im happy to pay the extra for an NVDIA.

 

[CK61938]

my 4870X2 only got noisy cos I turned up the fan 70%. But I have since now gone watercooling on it...and its so much quieter

 

[arc@css]

At idle my X2 is fine. I tend to have it set to around 45% for gaming, which I find is the best balance overall. Temps at that speed rarely go higher than the high 60's.
Must agree though, the recent ATi cards are a bit too noisey.

Also, will mention that at idle the only fan I can really hear is the 250mm case fan on my Antec Skeleton.

 

[Fenris]

My 4890 at 30% fan speed (i.e the max it ever needs to be) is barely audible, I have no problem gaming/watching movies etc wth it sitting 2 feet from me.

My mate recently got a 260 and it is nearly exactly the same as my 4890 in terms of fan noise.


Moral of the story? Sound is relative, it is impossible to give objective advice on it and as such never take peoples advice on it.

Buy the card you think is better because of money/performance, don't get caught up on subjective opnions.

 

[reflux]

Having had one 260, two 280s, two 4890s and an HD4870X2, the 4890s is the loudest card I have ever used. It sounds like a hairdrier on full load. The 4870X2 was quite loud too, but not too bad.

It really depends on the noise the rest of your PC makes. My old case had a big grille in the side panel and only a few fans so it was very quiet already...but that said, I think I'd still hear one over the din my current five 12v fans make.

Out of all of them, the 280 was the quietest.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Just get a good case. Can't hear my 4870X2 through my Cosmos S...well anything with fanspeed less than about 60%...of course the noise is because of the sheer amount of air it can shift. I remember some of my other noisey Nvidia cards...the 7950GX2, 7900GTX...they were both very noisy at times.

 

[kkbigal]

Yes they are noisy at higher speeds - in normal temps, I usually set my 4870 fan speed to 35% and I can't hear it.

For hot weather, I usually push it up to 50 - 60% and put up with the noise

 

[roadie]

One thing to remember is that noise is extremely subjective and is massively dependent on other factors. For instance, the ATI cards might not be noisy if one is used to the noise a 2000rpm 120mm fan produces.

My computer is heavily overclocked, but is built for low noise. The loudest thing is the exhaust fan, which is a 120mm Yate Loon that runs at under 900rpm when the system is idle. From my experience, the stock 4890 cooler is loud even when the card is idle. That's why I replaced it with an Accelero S1 with a speed selectable 120mm fan. Silence, speed and cooling

 

['Wes]

As long as it works, i don't care, i just want eye candy.

 

[iamTakeo]

my ATI 4890 is lower pitched than the whine of the 8800GT, I just hear the air moving mostly.

 

[AMG]

if over 50% than yeah HD4890 is quite loud

 

[CaptainRAVE]

As long as it works, i don't care, i just want eye candy.

My feelings exactly. I just go for whichever card is fastest . Noise certainly isn't a factor for me. I can certainly understand if you want a silent system...especially if it is in your bedroom. My two 7950GX2s certainly kept me awake at night!

 

[AMG]

I game with headset so I don't care too much ethoir, I turn my PC off at night when I m trying to sleep as the whirr of the fans sends me crazy

 

[mmj_uk]

Just buy a 3rd party cooler if noise is a concern as do most ATi owners.

 

[adren]

It begs the question why so few cards have really good cooling as stock, I think most of the enthusiast market would pay an extra £15 for a card that already had a great cooler on it. I know I would anyway....

 

[pieman109]

I've got a BFG gtx 260 and a powercolor 4870 here and the 4870 is way louder than the 260. Its ok when not gaming (idling), but with the fan on auto you can hear it spinning up and down. Anything over 30% manual fan speed setting and it sounds like a hoover. The 260 is on the hand is virtually silent.

 

[Fenris]

I've got a BFG gtx 260 and a powercolor 4870 here and the 4870 is way louder than the 260. Its ok when not gaming (idling), but with the fan on auto you can hear it spinning up and down. Anything over 30% manual fan speed setting and it sounds like a hoover. The 260 is on the hand is virtually silent.

Hence why you should set it to 30% AND NEVER TOUCH IT AGAIN.

 

[pieman109]

Hence why you should set it to 30% AND NEVER TOUCH IT AGAIN.

Well that would be fine if I was happy with load temps of 92C which I'm not! the only way to get it's temps down are to run at about 40%-50% max speed and its like a hair dryer.
Thats the reason I've ordered an "akasa neo vortex" cooler for it. This'll be about 5th akasa I'll have fitted to these ati cards (two 4870 in Xfire and two 4850 in Xfire). the only way to keep 'em quiet AND cool. Even using a a fan adapter to drop the voltage and run the fan at a slower speed still does a better job than the stock coolers.

Thing is, with the GTX 260, its just plug it in and away you go, and the fan at 50% fan on one of those (when set in the "EVGA precision tool), is still way quieter than any 4850/4870 I've owned when running at 30%-40%