Would someone please help me find a new suitable (silent) videocard for a good price?
You see, my computer sounds like a leafblower at times when playing Fallout 3 or NV.
When it has to load the world for example, but when I open a container or go to the main
menu it sounds 'normal' again. A friend of mine did a 'benchmark test' and found at that
it was the cooler on my video card. So I'd like to get one that doesn't make that much
noise, it's really annoying. Cleaning the fan hasn't helped. Here are my specs:

http://www.sonataarctica.nl/specs.jpg

According to my friend I currently have a PCI express, though I know for a fact it says
Nvidia on it somewhere, but I don't know a thing about it to be honest...

Thanks in advance!

Kind regards,

Gelmir

Edit: Or would placing a different cooler on the videocard be sufficient/possible?

The harder the GPU works the more the fans have to spin up to keep the card cooled off. This is pretty normal. Some cards have louder fans than others, but reviewers don't always note that in reviews.

To remedy this:

You could get a liquid cooling setup (expensive and not really for novices to build or replace).

You can try to find a similarly spec'd video card with a passive cooling system that might (or might not) work in your PC depending on the layout of your case and how well it is cooled overall.

You can get a utility to control the speed of your fan directly, but this is also not for novices.

You could put the PC on the floor. The sound from fans doesn't travel that far.

You could get some sound-proofing material for your case. Typically this does not make the big difference that manufacturers claim / imply.

Or..

The easiest and cheapest thing for you to do (aside from moving the PC) would probably be to wear over ear headphones.

Do you have airflow in your case? If your case is locked up tight and it turns into a heat box, maybe opening the case a bit to get some air movement would make it cooler, take your case off and then try it for a bit.

Case off is a louder fan, but if its cooler, it won't spin as much.

If you do get a utility to tweak the fan, play with the speed settings in 1% increments and you can find a right fan tone that can match your power supply fan or any other fans and helps to turn it into white noise, when its fluctuating is when it gets noticeable.

Thank you

Edit @ Layman: I'm not sure about the airflow, I'll try to open it up and will give it another shot

Would this be a good (more silent) card for F3 and FNV?

http://www.salland.eu/product/304238/gigabyte-geforce-9800-gt-1024-mb-gv-n98tsl-1gi.html

http://www.pcarena.pl/uploads/images/XFX_GeForce_9800_GT_01.jpg

Core click is a little lower (600 mhz) than my current 625 mhz, will this be a problem with NV?

If you don't want to update your video card, you can get an aftermarket cooler. They are normally about 40-60 dollars Canadian. The proper one from http://arcticcooling.com/catalog/main.php?cPath=2 for your card will fix your noise issues once and for all.

But if I'd have the money to update my card, that'd be best?

I dont even know where to begin with the poor advice being given here...


1. Skip Liquid Cooling. Unless you want to pay for professional installation, it is not something anyone can do. You need to know what you are doing and it is very expensive.
2. Any passive cooling version of the card will require toning down settings a lot. Passive coolers are not as good as active ones, so it is required that you already have great airflow in your case.
3. Not suggested. If the fan is speeding up, it means the card is working and is thus producing a lot of heat. Toning down the fan is dangerous as you might fry the card.
4. That is a valid option. Also a blanket over the case can help dampen the sound. Just be careful not to cover any vents or intakes for the fans.
5. Not worth it.


Opening the case is not the best idea. Cases are designed for create a wind tunnel by drawing in air in the front, and releasing in the back. Opening the case disrupts this flow of air and can actually increase the risk of something frying.

And again, messing with the speed of a fan is not advised. If it is simply for sound control, you are risking overheating and burning out your video card.


Nearly all 9800 cards have the same fan. Any alternative you may get is just a waste of money.

The core speed is moot. Little difference between a 600 and 625 MHz core. It if were something like 600 vs 670 or 700, then yes, that would be better.



Depends. If the rest of your computer is up to par, then there isn't really much of a downside. If not, then you are throwing money away by causing your new card to under-perform and can actually hold your entire system back.

The most efficient computer isn't the one that has all the best parts.

Thanks, though I'm not sure I fully understand. Looking at my specs, what would you do?
What would you advise me to do? As I'm not that technical... Thanks!

Well your system is prty good, so upgrading video cards wouldn't be a problem, however, since you want a quieter card, then that is.Anything better then what you have currently will be the same or louder when under stress.


The real questions to be asking is, do you think its worth it to upgrade? And how much are you willing to spend?

Thanks again for the info. I was planning on spending 100-150 Euros on a new card, but if you are saying that
it will be the same or louder when under stress, I guess it's not worth it at all, is it?

Hi Gelmir,

Could you anser a few questions, it seems no-one else has noticed it. Can I ask why you have down-clocked your CPU? From your screenshot it's showing you're running your CPU at half the default speed, is there a reason for this?

As for your GPU (Graphics card) it should be perfectly acceptable to run the game with faily decent settings without causing too much stress/heat and noise from your card.

What setting options are you running at? What temperatures does your card idle and load at? Do you have the latest drivers for your card?

If you are running your settings at the max of your card, this will cause it to heat up quicker and thus run the fan speed faster to keep it cool, which causes the noise. If you don't have any problems playing games and are just annoyed at the sound of it, you have a few options.

You can alter the amount of fan speed based on the temperature of the card, based on a graph that you can adjust, using a program called MSI AfterBurner.
You could also try an aftermarket cooler, if the above doesn't work for you.
You could look at a sound proof case, some on the market these days are cheap and very effective at cancelling noise. Fractral Design Define R2, R3 and XL are good choices to look for example.

Try any or all of the above first, if non of these work for you, then think about getting a new card, before then save yourself some money and try my examples and let me know how you get on.

Magnum.

Its hard to really say. For 100E (Sorry, US keyboard) the only thing that would fit that range is a GTS450. It would have a noticeable boost in performance, but sound output is hard to tell.

@Magnum: Its common for the CPU to scale itself back when not in use.

Your choice, I personally want the max power all the time, I don't want to have to wait while it lags while speeding up the CPU.

Can you answer my other questions?

Well its just a matter of increasing the power to it, so you get that speed back nearly instantly.

To be honest, I don't have a clue. A friend (we are no longer in touch) built the system for me and I'm
a-technical so I don't know the first thing about it. Does changing the clocking of the CPU affect the
video card?



Most of the time it's okay, but at times it gets really annoying, especially when plundering in F3.
Whenever you're walking around it's causing stress, but whenever you open a container with items,
it 'relaxes'. So when I'm going through a building opening every container it's stress-relax-stress-relax
and that's what annoys me.



I have no idea about the temperature, how can I find out? As for drivers, probably not; the system has
never been used for internet so I've never updated anything. I'm always like, if something works, don't
touch it.



Thank you, I'll look into it

Thanks, I'll download OCCT and will let you know the outcome.

I'm not sure if changing the draw distance would help, as the 'stress' also occurs in (for example) my Megaton House.

You can always download EVGA Precision (http://www.evga.com/precision). It's an excellent (and free) video card overclocking and fan control tool. Just install it, run it, and manually set the fan speed to a comfortable volume level. Set it to load the settings on Windows startup, and you're done.

As the OP stated, he is not proficient with computers. I would never suggest a tool like that to someone like the OP.

It's the simplest program to use. All he needs to do is change the fan control slider.

The game itself will have selected appropriate settings, and the fan control is just responding to the amount of work that setting creates, so the simplest fix of all is one setting, the screen resolution. If it's medium now, reset it to low -- on a 4:3 display, go from 1280 by 1024 to 1024 by 768.

All by itself, the number of pixels juggled has the absolute maximum effect on performance, so the lower setting there will help th emost.

This shouldn't even be in this topic. I'm not sure why it hasn't been moved.

OP, you need to take just a couple days and read up about GPUs and computers in general. Coming here and asking for advice about video cards is the wrong thing to do. There is plenty of information on the net, and you are painfully ignorant in this field. Before you do anything at all, take the time to learn a little about the card you have now.

Don't try to get the information here, though. Most of these people don't know what they're doing themselves (i.e. mister "know-it-all" knocking down everyone's advice, opening your case can do WONDERS for all component temp as long as you are not using passive (no fan) heatsinks. There are rigs that are designed completely open and they don't "fry").

I'm sure Mr. Know it All will come and try to refute me. You're wrong and you know it.

I wouldn't get one of those myself.

I would consider the http://www.salland.eu/product/857556/xfx-hd5770-1gb-850m-dp-hd-577a-znfa.html. (Lifetime warranty rules!)

They are quiet cards that draw less wattage than comparable Nvidia cards. I have 2 5870s (5770's bigger brother.) and they are nice and quiet. It's my case fans that make all the noise on my rig.

Get a card with decent cooling upgrade out of the box... These are pretty quiet I have put 3 in customer pc's in the last week.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127519

Silent or fanless gaming cards always seem to die quickly.