I tried fucking around with rivatuner but it just won't shut the fuck up. It also kind of sucks, which makes me loathe to waste any more time trying to drop the fanspeed from whateverpercentageIseefit% to 55%. However it does run every game I want it to, at whatever settings I want it to, absolutely fine.
Then again, putting my money into savings is about as much use as a chocolate teapot since interest rates are like 3% in the best accounts. So I may as well spend it amirite!?
So the question is: are there any good, quiet graphics cards out there? I've been looking at this:
However since I don't have a dB meter of my own and I don't know what method they used to measure the noise anyway, I can't be sure it will be quieter than what I have already.
Essentially what I'm looking for is a graphics card that is innately cool and probably with a fuck-off heatsink that allows for more passive cooling. These HAWK TWIN FROZR MONSTERKILL cards seem like they could just be snake oil.
5800 series are nice and quiet. Nvidia's cards are just so damn noisy. All my past cards were either 4800's, 6800's or 8800's and since switching to ATi I can hear myself think over the fan.
What you could try doing is fitting it up with a different 3rd party heatskink / fan. Stock coolers are pretty shite.
I have 2 8800gts 512s (same card yours is just stock oc'd and a different model number) and they're only loud during bootup before windows loads the drivers. Maybe the fan speed is higher with the stock OC. It doesn't look like the cooler is any different. I'm on my laptop for the next few months so I can't tell you what my fan speeds are on them.
HD6850 cards seem overall pretty quiet compared to everything else (check SINGLE card results, not CrossfireX).
My other PC has a HD5670 in it, wich is dead quiet even in gaming. Everything else in that computer is passivly cooled (apart from PSU), so it really is quiet. According to that review the HD6850 is even quieter.
The problem is pierow, under load it just hits 80-90 degrees (in real temperature measurements, not your joke scale) and just goes absolutely mental (100% fanspeed).
I've tried cleaning it before Danny but it's made no difference. Also, if you think it would increase the fanspeed then that's totally the opposite of what I'm after anyway.
I'll have a look at those ATI cards. However, do they have the same problem with NS that previous iterations have had? Although I doubt I'll ever play NS again...
If you feel confident enough to do that then go for it, should sort you out proper good in the end. NS uses an old version of opengl that the new cards don't get on with so well now days. But like you said, you ain't gonna play this SHIT GAME anymore.
Great idea. Thermal compound should be chanced around every 3 year or so. When you open the card and look at the manufacturer's thermal grease it can be so dry that it falls of when you just touch it. If you have cleaned the card from dust that would be my next best guess.
No what i meant was that because of the dust (assuiming there is, and is affecting the temp) then the fan is spinning way higher than it needs to cool it down. But you say youve cleaned it already without it making any diffrence so im probably wrong :)
Well yes and no Danny. The cooler is such a piece of shit you can barely get into it with cotton wool buds etc. Pretty sure the fan was clear though... dread to think about the heatsink
Will take a picture for the lulz when I open it up