5850's and their noise on full load

[Stuzul]

so im slowly building a bitcoin rig, and decided to go down the line of 5850's
i have an xfx non reference design (with the really small cooler) which makes a tiny amount of noise, and a reference design, which more or less sounds like a leaf blower, so loud D:

so wondering for those with sapphires/ toxic/ asus/ other 5850's, what is the noise level like?

edit: noise level is really important, i'm living in a really small room with free power, so its important that its quiet so i can sleep well and that its not suspicious.

[mrSprinkles]

I've got 3 of these guys http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?psn=0001&pid=1152&lid=1

Mining on and off for 2 years with them.

After bringing them out of a 12 month slumber to mine litecoin, the fan on one of the cards was making a very loud noise and was having difficulty getting up to full RPM, but after 2-3 days it seems to have no problems and is running full RPM like the other cards.

At 85% fan (cgminer's default max for auto-fan), they stay cool enough at 76.5C, 79.0C and 76.0C at their maximum stock voltage overclocks in an open-frame with an ambient temp of about ~15C. The fan's sound like any typical gaming desktop with case fans, power supply and graphics card(s) installed, definitely not out of the ordinary. Has an airy sound with a slight high pitched tone that is normal for a PC. Not really a problem being in the same room, but depending on the severity of how quiet you must be, you might benefit from going with a watercooled system. They are noticeable within a range of about 10-15 feet. Compare that to the reference blower design, and it's like a light gust versus a jet engine.

There are definitely better coolers with large copper heatsinks on them that will require less RPM's but I couldn't let these up at a sale price when I purchased them.

Maximum 24/7 stable OC on stock volts and scrypt hashrates that I've achieved for each individual card are:
915 GPU / Intensity = 19 / 386.7Kh/s
950 GPU / Intensity = 18 / 396.0Kh/s
955 GPU / Intensity = 19 / 400.8Kh/s

edit: Just realized there's an android app for measuring noise levels in dB, no idea how accurate it is, but if you'd like I can measure the value. I'll probably do it out of curiosity eventually, but currently have another rig in the room that is much louder (contains a 7950 with blower), but I can shut it down for a few minutes if you want the value.

[bcpokey]

Reference design blowers will always be loud loud loud. That's one of the main reasons companies went custom. You might consider picking up a box fan, to force air over/through the cards, which assists in alleviating the amount of work the GPU fan must do, lowering its RPM and noise level.

If you have a lil money and free electricity, you might look into water cooling, quiet as it'll get (you still need fans for the rads, but they can big bigger, and in a smarter config).

[Stuzul]

yeah, i am super interested in water cooling, but virtually have like sweet fa at the moment in terms of cash, and would rater get a few more 5850's. thanks for all the info, will definately take it on board. ill probably get 1 and see how it goes, i can always sell it if i find it too loud
out of curiosity, do you find any setup/ mining software/ pool has better performance for the 5850's mining litecoin? ive had mine consistently getting 367kh/s using give-me-ltc and guiminer scrypt at 870/880ish, mem at 1000 and stock voltage, with fan at 100% (might drop it a little) and temps of70

[mrSprinkles]

367 Kh/s for 880 sounds completely normal. I've only really mined on notroll.in but they have had many problems as of recent, so I switched to feathercoin mining for a bit.