Saphire 6970 too loud, buy another cooler or another card?

[Ali]

I just got my Saphire 6970. While mining it is as loud as a jet engine.
Since I'm living in the same room this is unbearable.

My question is whether I should invest another 44€ to get this cooler http://geizhals.at/a567463.html or buy another card?

Up until now I used a HD 6850 which is perfect loudness-wise but only does like 220 MHashes/s.

[fitty]

I just got my Saphire 6970. While mining it is as loud as a jet engine.
Since I'm living in the same room this is unbearable.

My question is whether I should invest another 44€ to get this cooler http://geizhals.at/a567463.html or buy another card?

Up until now I used a HD 6850 which is perfect loudness-wise but only does like 220 MHashes/s.

Do you use both cards at the same time? How much are you overclocking? How hot is the 6970 getting?

[Ali]

I only use the 6970 which is not overclocked.
It gets up to 80 °C.

Now I'm back to the 6850 OCed to 940 MhZ which runs at a steady 250 Mh/s. The 6970 is three times as loud as the 6850. I never heard anything like that.

[fitty]

I only use the 6970 which is not overclocked.
It gets up to 80 °C.

Now I'm back to the 6850 OCed to 940 MhZ which runs at a steady 250 Mh/s. The 6970 is three times as loud as the 6850. I never heard anything like that.

They do get loud. That cooler is expensive but it should do a much better job and be quieter. Be sure you have to room because it adds almost 2 inches to the length. Here's the comments for it from newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186043&Tpk=6970%20cooler

I'd get MSI Afterburner and lower the memory clock speed and use manual fan control. See if you can run it at 50% under-clocking the memory. Also use -f60/-f166/-f266 to slow it down to keep the temp down. You might be able to under-clock it and still get 350m/s without it sounding like a jet engine.

You can probably even use -f500 to reduce the gpu load to 70-80% and run the fan at 40%. 80C sounds really hot for just 1 card in a system. I run 3 of them and the bottom one which gets the best airflow runs at 63C under full load with the fan at 60% (400 mhs). I could easily underclock that to 350 mhs and probably have the fan at 40%.

If your fan is running 60-80% and still 80C you have an airflow problem if it's a single card setup.

[User-name]

I believe any 6970 you buy is going to be rather loud on load. That Accelero heatsink would work fine. The only downside is, I believe the heatsinks with the Accelero are premanent. So you will void your warranty. Could try lining your case with sound deadening material too.

[Ali]

I recorded some sound of the 6970 for you. You can preview it here http://www27.zippyshare.com/v/38606086/file.html
At the beginning the fan is running at 40%, then I set it up to 80% and back down to 40%.

Underclocked to 610 MhZ the fan speed is at 37% and temperature at 65 °C. It now does the same 250 MHashes/s as my 6850 does but is still very much louder.

This card was already expensive (6970 = 280€) and the cooler is another 44€. I'm thinking whether that's worth it or better getting a 6950 or something similar.
What do you recommend?

[fitty]

I recorded some sound of the 6970 for you. You can preview it here http://www27.zippyshare.com/v/38606086/file.html
At the beginning the fan is running at 40%, then I set it up to 80% and back down to 40%.

Underclocked to 610 MhZ the fan speed is at 37% and temperature at 65 °C. It now does the same 250 MHashes/s as my 6850 does but is still very much louder.

This card was already expensive (6970 = 280€) and the cooler is another 44€. I'm thinking whether that's worth it or better getting a 6950 or something similar.
What do you recommend?

Under-clock the memory not the core.

Run it at 880/400. Run the fan at 50%. Use -f166 and tell me how hot it's running and how much mhs.

The 6950 is the same chip. It's going to run almost as loud.

[Ali]

With these settings I get around 330-335 Mhashes/s and the fan (auto) running at 38% and temperature at 67 °C.

[fitty]

With these settings I get around 330-335 Mhashes/s and the fan (auto) running at 38% and temperature at 67 °C.

I'd generally avoid auto. I'd try -f60, set the fan to 45% and see how that runs. How is the sound with the fan set at that level? If you're under 75c, drop it to 40% fan.

[User-name]

You might be better off just picking up a 6970 that has a nonreference cooler by the manufacturer.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125381
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121430

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131394
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127581

At least you could keep your warranty if anything goes wrong.

[Ali]

@fitty:

I get 345-350 with that settings.
I've got the fan running at 36% which is already damn loud but bearable.

Good idea User-name, the ASUS one looks good.
This 6950 might be good as well since it has the same cooler as the 6850: http://www.amazon.de/Sapphire-HD6950-Grafikkarte-GDDR5-Speicher/dp/B004JU0A70/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1309016323&sr=8-7

[fitty]

@fitty:

I get 345-350 with that settings.
I've got the fan running at 36% which is already damn loud but bearable.

Good idea User-name, the ASUS one looks good.
This 6950 might be good as well since it has the same cooler as the 6850: http://www.amazon.de/Sapphire-HD6950-Grafikkarte-GDDR5-Speicher/dp/B004JU0A70/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1309016323&sr=8-7

The dual fan ones do tend to do a little better. But anything you push hard is going to be pretty loud. If you can improve your case air flow that can also help. Just be sure to read newegg reviews to see what people are saying about the noise.

The problem with the 6950 is you won't hit 350 mhs unless you can unlock the shaders which is impossible on a lot of those non-ref cards. So you'd be running 250-280 mhs clocked down for noise.

In terms of performance/noise you're better off with the faster card running a little slower. I'd work on your airflow, see if you can help that enough to run the fan in the low 30% range.

[Ali]

The problem with the 6950 is you won't hit 350 mhs unless you can unlock the shaders which is impossible on a lot of those non-ref cards. So you'd be running 250-280 mhs clocked down for noise.

Isn't the Saphire 6950 I've linked to a refcard where I can unlock the shaders?

It's difficult to improve the airflow in my mini-tower. The 6970 barely fits in it. I also don't want to buy a new one (yet).

After observing for a while I fixed the fan speed at 35% and the temperature is at a steady 72 °C.

Are there other cards you can recommend which match my desire for performance and quietness?

[fitty]

That's not a ref card. All the two fan cards are non-ref. This is what the ref cards look like.

http://www.amazon.de/Sapphire-Radeon-HD6950-Grafikkarte-Speicher/dp/B004FVZDY8/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1309018902&sr=1-3

So you're not going to get a ref 6950 card with two fans. You could exchange that 6970 for a non-ref 6970 which will have better cooling and the same performance.

I'm fairly sure the problem is your mini tower. Even with two fans the hot air has to go somewhere. If it just ends up in your small case it's not really going to help your heat problem much.

Open up the case, put a fan on it like this

http://www.amazon.com/Lasko-3520-20-Inch-Cyclone-Pivot/dp/B000VZRUIO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1309019194&sr=8-3 and put it in the corner of your room. =)

Maybe if your case has places you can add some 80mm fans, help get the air flow going, but you're jamming an extremely powerful card into a small box even a non-ref is going to get hot. If your case has fans pulling air in AND pushing air out that should help quite a bit.

[computerparts]

Not sure why you think the 6970 are loud, unless your fan is defective. They are pretty quiet until going past 50%. Even at 100% they are much quieter than the earlier ATI cards lol. Anyway, if the temps decrease when you remove the side of the case, then your case does not have proper airflow. Get a case with better airflow and your temps will go down and the fans won't have to work as hard.

[Ali]

The case is open. I'm currently sporting 420 MHashes/s @ 980 MhZ (400 MhZ memory).
The fan is running at 36%, temperature is 79 °C.

The fan is very noisy though. Couldn't sleep in the same room, even if it was running at 33%.

[MrGaSp]

Mine runs at 45% idling(just my settings) and its dead quiet, why is yours so loud?

[Ali]

you got the one with the ref-cooler or another model?