Which GPU to avoid too much noise?

[Growltiger]

I have a machine at the moment with an ATI 5770. This is fairly quiet. But the 5770 is only a middle performance card as I understand it.

I've been advised to buy a GTX 460 for my new machine, as it is a lot more powerful, and not very much more expensive.

My question is this - is the 460 much noisier than the 5770? In fact are Nvidia cards generally noisier than ATI ones? Should I be buying a better ATI card instead? Which?

My priority is quietness rather than power. But I want a reasonably powerful card to "future-proof" the new machine at least to some degree.

 

[HMFC_Riley]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3810/nvidias-geforce-gtx-460-part-2-the-vendor-cards/6

Gives idle and load noise

 

[PCS]

At the moment Nvidia are a little noisier and run hotter than ATi, the the GTX 460 is a very popular card when you consider the "bang for buck". Riley's response above should show you how the GTX460 sits in comparison with other cards.

 

[Growltiger]

Thanks. I've studied that but I'm a bit confused. Different manufacturers make the GTX 460, there are several entries in the tables. One is very quiet (EVGA), one about the same as the 5770, and one, Zotac, presumably sounds like a 747 taking off.

So what I don't understand is this - which GTX 460 do PCS install?

 

[HMFC_Riley]

Thanks. I've studied that but I'm a bit confused. Different manufacturers make the GTX 460, there are several entries in the tables. One is very quiet (EVGA), one about the same as the 5770, and one, Zotac, presumably sounds like a 747 taking off.

So what I don't understand is this - which GTX 460 do PCS install?

Well a telephone dial tone is around 80dB. A jet engine is more like 140-150dB

 

[Matt]

Thanks. I've studied that but I'm a bit confused. Different manufacturers make the GTX 460, there are several entries in the tables. One is very quiet (EVGA), one about the same as the 5770, and one, Zotac, presumably sounds like a 747 taking off.

So what I don't understand is this - which GTX 460 do PCS install?

One thing i can say is the Ati 5850's they are selling are super quiet with custom cooling solutions.

 

[Sleinous]

PCS use Palit cards, very nice quality btw mine's just humming smoothly in the background. my GTX 470 on idle isnt audible, its the fans on the HAF 932 that are.

 

[PCS]

The Nvidia cards will more than likely be palit, for ATi the chances are PowerColor but we sometimes buy in other brands, such as XFX, etc., when we've sold out of PowerColor