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Hi all,

Any suggestions on a good videocard? I'm considering upgrading.
I'm ok with a very small amount of noise from the card in a game but in Windows I want basically as close to silent as possible, if this means partial underclocking that's fine.
I'm currently running a Sapphire Radeon 7750 low profile. I got it for running 3 monitors / 2D only. Surprisingly it does 3D ok, I use a Nanoxia Deep Silence 4 case. The 7750 is definitely acceptably quiet in Windows - in game it's also very quiet, I'm ok if it's a little bit louder even - but it really is bloody quiet

My previous card was this.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Powerco ... n&tbm=isch
It was AMAZINGLY QUIET considering it's performance at the time.



I'm looking at the 780 series of cards, someone tells me the AMD / ATI cards are running kind of hot at the moment, any thoughts? - was the 5850 an anomaly of quietness?

If you can afford a 780, go for it? If you strongly prefer a blower to exhaust heat the 780 is obviously top tier in performance too. But in general the MSI Gamer series of cards seem to be *extremely* quiet at both idle and load for their performance. Just check out some reviews here: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/?cat ... order=date where there are lots of variations of cards with different coolers.

I'm seriously considering this fan design / style from MSI.
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=23962

It's well reviewed at HardOCP and I did find one post on Ananadtech pretty positive for it

MadManOriginal wrote:

If you can afford a 780, go for it? If you strongly prefer a blower to exhaust heat the 780 is obviously top tier in performance too. But in general the MSI Gamer series of cards seem to be *extremely* quiet at both idle and load for their performance. Just check out some reviews here: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/?cat ... order=date where there are lots of variations of cards with different coolers.

Seems you're also into the MSI card too....... maybe this is the way to go.

If low noise/power is a major concern I really recommend waiting a few months for more Nvidia Maxwell cards. The 750 Ti is a very promising sign of what's coming later this year.

NovusBogus wrote:

If low noise/power is a major concern I really recommend waiting a few months for more Nvidia Maxwell cards. The 750 Ti is a very promising sign of what's coming later this year.

From what little reading I've done (and considering the lack of competition at the moment - especially since the new consoles are good but not AMAZING) - I get the impression the mid to high end of the 8xx series won't be out for well over 6 months.

That's true too, large die Maxwell on 20nm looks like it will be a huge leap in every area. Considering the card you're coming from, maybe tide yourself over with an inexpensive card (relative to the 780 at least) which will still be a big upgrade - maybe a 750 Ti or a 760? Then replace it with a high end Maxwell when they're out and blow a big wad on that, unless you really *need* 780 level performance now.

AbRASiON wrote:

I'm seriously considering this fan design / style from MSI.
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=23962

It's well reviewed at HardOCP and I did find one post on Ananadtech pretty positive for it

I have the same cooler in the form of the MSI GTX 760 Twin Frozr, and it is indeed very quiet, even at full load. But don't just take my word for it, read the instrumented tests:

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/msi_gtx760_twin_frozr_gaming_review,9.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GeForce_GTX_760_TF_Gaming/26.html
http://www.eteknix.com/msi-geforce-gtx-760-twin-frozr-gaming-oc-edition-2gb-graphics-card-review/14/
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_760_msi_gaming_review,7.html
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/57545-msi-geforce-gtx-760-twin-frozr-gaming-series/?page=10
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-760-review-gk104,3542-6.html

Asus Direct CU II coolers are extremely quiet. I can't ear my 280X on desktop at 30% fan speed, I can set it lower than that if I want to also. You will need a big case for these beasts though, they are huge.

MadManOriginal wrote:

That's true too, large die Maxwell on 20nm looks like it will be a huge leap in every area. Considering the card you're coming from, maybe tide yourself over with an inexpensive card (relative to the 780 at least) which will still be a big upgrade - maybe a 750 Ti or a 760? Then replace it with a high end Maxwell when they're out and blow a big wad on that, unless you really *need* 780 level performance now.

It's a long way off :/
Thanks to others re: MSI - seems they are the best quiet option in a stock card you don't have to mod yourself - cheers

HIS has made some quiet cards over the years. I have a hd7750 i cooler and it's super quiet even at full fan speed. You might want to check out the HIS i cooler turbo x2 line of cards. From what I have read in reviews they are very quiet and with some voltage and fan speed tweaking would make them even quieter.
But you have a lot of choices out there. I would stick with a card that has the same connections availible that you are using now on you milti monitor setup so your install goes easier.

The MSI cards with the twin frozr type cooler

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/R9_270X_Gaming/

edit
Sound test
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/ ... ng/23.html

edit 2 - nvidia cards
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/ ... Ti_Gaming/

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/ ... Ti_Gaming/

I'd have to recommend avoiding HIS cards as their fan and cooler get-ups are sort of cheap. I bought an HIS from a fellow gerbil, and while it was a great card for over 4-5 months the fan started to make a rattling sound that I soon found out was famous for that particular card.

Instead of buying a new fan for it, I instead purchased an MSI Twin Frozr 7850 2GB and haven't looked back. Its quiet, runs very cool and overclocked very nicely even using their stock Afterburner software. This is the second MSI card I've owned in my main rig throughout the years and I have to say MSI has not disappointed.

AbRASiON wrote:

MadManOriginal wrote:

That's true too, large die Maxwell on 20nm looks like it will be a huge leap in every area. Considering the card you're coming from, maybe tide yourself over with an inexpensive card (relative to the 780 at least) which will still be a big upgrade - maybe a 750 Ti or a 760? Then replace it with a high end Maxwell when they're out and blow a big wad on that, unless you really *need* 780 level performance now.

It's a long way off :/
Thanks to others re: MSI - seems they are the best quiet option in a stock card you don't have to mod yourself - cheers

It's probably a handful of months, yeah. Then you have to wait additional time if you want something better than a stock reference cooler. You could potentially be looking at towards the end of the year.