SPCR

Hello!

I have up to now used a reference GTX 480 (a hand-me-down from a friend) that is dying, so I'm looking for a new graphics card. After listening to the 480's fan for a while, I really would like a quiet solution (though everything is quiet in comparison). I game on 1440p, but most of the games I play are fairly light: Terraria, Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, etc.

Ideally I will also be downsizing my case soon, from a matx to an itx (<= 12L probably), so smaller cards are preferred. So above all, I'm looking for something:

1) That can handle the games listed above at 1440p ~ 60 fps
2) Quiet
3) Small

Where small counts as both short or low profile. I do realize that low profile is generally at odds with being quiet.

I was looking into the Galaxy 750ti Slim. Most people have subjectively said it is quiet, but I haven't seen any objective data for this.

Any recommendatoins? Thanks!

Welcome to SPCR. Here's a vague review at alienbabletech that focused on overclocking

Even with overclocking further, temperatures generally stayed below 75C and the fan rarely exceeded 55%. Because of it’s custom fan design, the Galaxy GTX 750 Ti GC Slim is a quiet card, even quieter than the very quiet reference version.

failedturingtest wrote:Any recommendatoins?

Where you live also matters.

CA_Steve wrote:Welcome to SPCR. Here's a vague review at alienbabletech that focused on overclocking

Even with overclocking further, temperatures generally stayed below 75C and the fan rarely exceeded 55%. Because of it’s custom fan design, the Galaxy GTX 750 Ti GC Slim is a quiet card, even quieter than the very quiet reference version.

Thanks! Somehow I missed that review -- you're right, it is a bit vague, but certainly better than nothing.

quest_for_silence wrote:Where you live also matters.

I live in the United States.

failedturingtest wrote:

quest_for_silence wrote:Where you live also matters.

I live in the United States.

So those Galaxy cards should be available to you (just for example, in southern Europe it isn't so).

Well, personally I am not inclined to believe in this sort of miracle: IMHO 60W with such a tiny heatsink mean "fast spinning fan" (smaller than the reference one), so IMVHO that card cannot be really that quiet.
Moreover, inside a very diminutive enclosure, the heat build up is a relevant factor, likely speeding up furtherly that fan.

Which enclosures are you thinking of?

quest_for_silence wrote:So those Galaxy cards should be available to you (just for example, in southern Europe it isn't so)

Galaxy are certainly available in other parts of Europe under the KFA2 brand name.

lodestar wrote:

quest_for_silence wrote:So those Galaxy cards should be available to you (just for example, in southern Europe it isn't so)

Galaxy are certainly available in other parts of Europe under the KFA2 brand name.

Unfortunately, actual availability is rather random, lodestar: just for example, the only italian e-tailer does not have any single KFA2 videocard (even better, officially they say they do not sell KFA2, unlike what Galaxy/KFA2 claims). But that's rather off topic, sorry to the OP.

quest_for_silence wrote:
So those Galaxy cards should be available to you (just for example, in southern Europe it isn't so).

Yep.

quest_for_silence wrote:
Well, personally I am not inclined to believe in this sort of miracle: IMHO 60W with such a tiny heatsink mean "fast spinning fan" (smaller than the reference one), so IMVHO that card cannot be really that quiet.
Moreover, inside a very diminutive enclosure, the heat build up is a relevant factor, likely speeding up furtherly that fan.

Which enclosures are you thinking of?

On the extremely small end, I was looking at the Lone Industries L2. Of a more reasonable size, I was thinking of the Silverstone SG06, SG08, Lian Li PC-TU100, or others. I'm open to suggestions here, as I haven't really picked out a case.

failedturingtest wrote:On the extremely small end, I was looking at the Lone Industries L2. Of a more reasonable size, I was thinking of the Silverstone SG06, SG08, Lian Li PC-TU100, or others. I'm open to suggestions here, as I haven't really picked out a case.

If the Lone box is your current favourite, what about the Ncase M1?

Anyway, about the TU100, I just think it has below average thermals, so I'd prefer it with an IGP setup, rather than with any discrete graphics.
The two Silverstones look like, on the contrary, way bigger, if you may like horizontal enclosures the ML05/06 are more similarly sized to the Lian Li/Lone ones: about Silverstones, I would advice the freshly reviewed Raven Z/Milo 7, but all in all it's just a slim mATX tower (they have similar height and depth of enclosures like the Antec NSK-3480 or the Silverstone SG03/04).

As a suggestion, give a look to the Jonsbo enclosures: in U.S.A. they are sold under the Rosewill brand (Newegg, I suppose).
I would think also to the EVGA Hadron Air: it's not as tiny as a TU100, therefore it sports less limitations (but you can't use Picobox and the like with it).