X1900 XT, just HOW noisy ?

[bigblue]

I've had a bit of advice from people that this is the card I want, over the 7900GT.

However, everyone recommendation usually ends with words to the effect of "...bloody noisy though"

My girlfriend works all sorts of shifts and is quite often in bed while I'm using the PC. The pc is right through the (plasterboard, houses today, tch!) wall from the bed.

Seems a kinda bizarre worry I know, but there's nowhere else to put the PC and if I dared to wake her... well, Alex Fergusons "hairdryer" technique has nothing on this lady

[Smokey21]

It's not. On startup of the PC, it spins up at 100%, for about 5 seconds.

[Stoo]

Yup, the PSU fan makes more noise tbh..

[TheAnimus]

what horrific PSU are you running?

I just helped a friend with a build and its by far the loudest component. However, it shouldn't be *that* loud as to disturb someone through plasterboard.

If your really worried, water cool

[Stoo]

My point was that it's not very loud..

[bigblue]

Ta much for the reassurance.

[Smokey21]

Id say in an average gaming machine with a decent number of case fans, it won't be loud, you shouldn't hear it over anything else.

Ive changed the cooling on my X1800, as i wanted a better cooler, but i really don't understand everyone saying how noisey they are?

Maybe there cases aren't ventilated enough, and the fan is having to spin up a lot more?

[EtheAv8r]

You can always add an Arctic Cooling Accelero X2 - cooler and quieter! but for a price.

[kempez]

Mine I hardly hear. Wel...I only hear it when the PC's firing up. Other than that it never goes above the noise of my PSU

[ExceededGoku]

Lol, i have the fan controlled manually cos otherwise it gets to the 80s and the fan is still idling... so I use ATitool to control it, basically in games it sounds like a hair dryer.....

[Barkotron]

It gets very annoying once it spins up - it's a raucous, whiny noise. I ripped off the stock cooler and replaced it with the Thermalright V1-Ultra within a couple of days of getting mine. You'll need to be happy to do things to their RAM sinks with pointy tools though, or wait until they release a version they say is "compatible" .

Not only is the fan much quieter now, but it's also taken 10-15 degrees off the temperatures and I can get a stable (RTHDRIBL fullscreen/1600x1200 w 4xAA for about 10 hours before I stopped it - if anyone can suggest a better way of testing the card's stability, please tell) overclock of 680 core, 790/1580 mem .

I'm very, very happy with it.

[kempez]

3DMark05/06 + gameplaying usually shows up artifacts...but I luff RTHDRIBL

[MSIC]

You can always add an Arctic Cooling Accelero X2 - cooler and quieter! but for a price.

Agreed. I'd always suggest people consider adding an aftermarket GPU cooler (Arctic Cooler, Zalmans etc) unless it already comes with a fantastic one (I think a number of Saphire ATI cards came with Arctic Coolers as standard).
For a £200, £300 or £400 graphics card, £10 - £15 for a quiet fan should be a requirement, whether you want to overclock or not.
Then again, you could argue that the manufacturers should be doing it for that price themselves!

[Barkotron]

3DMark05/06 + gameplaying usually shows up artifacts...but I luff RTHDRIBL

Arr, I suppose, but I only have the free versions of 3DMark05/06 - is there a constant looping option with them that doesn't stop every minute to load a new scene? I don't see the point in running a stress test that lets the card cool down constantly...

Re: RTHDRIBL - I know, it's so purdy!

[Smokey21]

There's really not a lot to go for with aftermarket coolers for the X1800XT. The Zalman has some very mixed results, and the new X2 cooler, is pure ****.

I do with ATI would copy Nvidia, and use a largeer fan, which would solve the problem, insteady of a ****ty 70mm fan or however big it is.

[Couger]

Nah there not noisy at all lol, with the GPU fan spinning at 60% which gives me load temps around 40 - 50 degrees I can still here my raptors seeking etc,
honestly you get used to it as already stated in this thread the only real noise is on bootup it spins 100% but i guess thats the card going through some sort of self test prior to bootup

Noise what noise
If ya have FEAR or another game going through a surround sound setup or headphones your not gonna here anything else lol