looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

They make noise, too.

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kater
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looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by kater » Fri Apr 08, 2016 10:13 am

Log time no see guys :)

I'm looking at some 960 cards and, obviously, want one that is at least v v quiet in idle. Yeah, I know the safest bet is MSI Gaming, GB WF, Asus Strix, EVGA AS, along with Palit Jetstream.

But let's just assume I have to work with a v tight budget here - think "every 10 USD counts", seriously.

I'm specifically looking at GB GV-N960OC-4GD and GV-N960IXOC-4GD.

So far I'v learned that GV-N960IXOC-4GD spins its single fan at 600-700 RPM when idling in a regular, closed case setup. Fine with me, this is what I could live with.

Now, the beefier looking (more promising, huh) GV-N960OC-4GD has had isssues - users were reporting erratic fan behavior, going up & down; but this is, as those same users claim, easily fixed with a bios updated; problem is nobody never mentioned the RPM

I assume neither of these cards goes fanless in idle - but I can live with that, provided that the fans stay civil (< 800 RPM should be OK I guess); also, I understand not all fans are created equally, but let's just say they're all average, horizintally working 80-100 mm low height fans.

Any info, especially from users of these cards, is much appreciated!

lodestar
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by lodestar » Fri Apr 08, 2016 10:14 pm

kater wrote:Now, the beefier looking (more promising, huh) GV-N960OC-4GD has had isssues - users were reporting erratic fan behavior, going up & down; but this is, as those same users claim, easily fixed with a bios updated; problem is nobody never mentioned the RPM
Well they are mentioned in this thread on the Gigabyte forums, in brief 965 rpm at 23% duty cycle with instability issues. The BIOS fix increases the duty cycle to a minimum of 40%, measured speed at 46% duty cycle was 1382 rpm. But as the same thread already mentions if fan noise is an issue for you why not consider the EVGA 4GB FTW ACX 2.0+ which keeps the fans off until while the GPU temp is under 60C.

I take your point about cost. From my local supplier here in the UK the Gigabyte GV-N960OC-4GD costs £167, the EVGA 4GB FTW is £196. The EVGA does has a backplate which goes part of the way to explaining the £29 price difference. But it's the usual story, if you want quiet components sometimes there is a price premium involved.

Abula
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by Abula » Fri Apr 08, 2016 10:33 pm

I own an MSI GeForce GTX 960 100 Million Milestone Edition (i believe the standard gaming has the same behavior), and its passive below 60C from what i remember, ill check down tomorrow what its the starting RPMs reported on HWMonitor.

You should check also the SPCR Asus GeForce GTX 960 Strix OC Edition.

TechPowerup did review some GTX960s including a couple of gigabyte in case you are interested,
MSI GTX 960 Gaming OC 2 GB
Gigabyte GTX 960 OC 2 GB
Gigabyte GTX 960 G1 Gaming 2 GB

Also take a look into CA_Steve GTX 960 review compilation thread
kater wrote:But let's just assume I have to work with a v tight budget here - think "every 10 USD counts", seriously.
If the above is really meant, consider 2gb models to save more, the GTX960 is not meant for high resolutions, you should be fine with 2gb unless you do have games, like skyrim that benefits from a lot of vram.

kater
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by kater » Fri Apr 08, 2016 11:11 pm

Thanks guys. As I said, I know which 960s have fanless mode, and there are plenty of them - point is, they're almost as expensive (new ones, obiously) as second hand 970s. So it's all really about budget - for now I don't want to exceed it, simply. I'm hunting for the cheapest possible 960 4G (Abula - modded Skyrim being the exact reason, my 660 Ti pulls it fine framewise, but lacks memory), also second hand.

In the meantime, I've found a comment in local store's "forum" section on GV-N960OC-4GD that after applying the new bios, the fans spin at 1200 RPM. Way too much for me if it's true. I'll keep digging about it tho.

quest_for_silence
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by quest_for_silence » Sat Apr 09, 2016 1:36 am

kater wrote:So it's all really about budget - for now I don't want to exceed it, simply.

Then what about a Radeon? Like an Asus Radeon STRIX-R7370-DC2OC-4GD5-Gaming? Obviously not as fast as a 960, but a semi-fanless Strix (0dB at idle/low loads) with 4Gb Ram.
Or wait for Pascal/Polaris, if possible (end of summer, I mean).

CA_Steve
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by CA_Steve » Sat Apr 09, 2016 6:37 am

quest_for_silence wrote:Or wait for Pascal/Polaris, if possible (end of summer, I mean).
This.

If budget is king, then wait. Next gen cards should provide GTX 960 performance or better at GTX 950 price point.

Abula
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by Abula » Sat Apr 09, 2016 6:43 am

CA_Steve wrote:
quest_for_silence wrote:Or wait for Pascal/Polaris, if possible (end of summer, I mean).
This.

If budget is king, then wait. Next gen cards should provide GTX 960 performance or better at GTX 950 price point.
The question goes more into when will a Pascal GTX960 replacement will be released, the past gens have gone with high end first, GTX980/GTX970, probably see X80/X70 in May/June, retail probably July. My guess is we will see a GTX960 repleacment, X60 around october, retail probably before christmas, with probably a X80Ti around February.

lodestar
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by lodestar » Sun Apr 10, 2016 9:59 am

kater wrote:...So far I'v learned that GV-N960IXOC-4GD spins its single fan at 600-700 RPM when idling in a regular, closed case setup. Fine with me, this is what I could live with...
Yes, having looked further at my local supplier's listings I see that this is the compact version of the Gigabyte GTX 960. And there is an EVGA ACX 2.0 equivalent, the 04G-P4-1962-KR model. This seems to be the cheapest 4GB EVGA GTX 960, and as it is ACX 2.0 it does keep its single fan off under 60C GPU temperature. In the UK the two are priced within a few pounds of each other. How does the EVGA model compare pricewise with the Gigabyte in Poland?

edh
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by edh » Sun Apr 10, 2016 11:22 am

If you want the card to be really quiet then swap the cooler. I use an Accelero S3 with a 120mm fan that does little more than 300rpm at idle and around 800rpm at load. That's much quieter.

quest_for_silence
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by quest_for_silence » Sun Apr 10, 2016 12:11 pm

edh wrote:If you want the card to be really quiet then swap the cooler.

That's not possible due to tight budget, I guess.

edh
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by edh » Sun Apr 10, 2016 12:52 pm

quest_for_silence wrote:That's not possible due to tight budget, I guess.
The price difference between different manufacturers versions of the same card may well be larger, and for what? A slightly quieter cooler, a tiny overclock, some Z-list games and some snazzy rendered graphics of a heavily armed robot/spaceship/scantily clad asian lady on the box?

I'd think if you can stump up the cost of a GTX960 you can afford to replace the cooler.

quest_for_silence
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by quest_for_silence » Sun Apr 10, 2016 1:01 pm

edh wrote:I'd think if you can stump up the cost of a GTX960 you can afford to replace the cooler.

Maybe: my guess was different
kater wrote:I have to work with a v tight budget here - think "every 10 USD counts", seriously.

kater
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by kater » Sun Apr 10, 2016 10:45 pm

If I had gold for an aftermarket cooler, I'd rather spend it on an MSI Gaming or EVGA, really*. Years ago I had an Accelero S1 and I bet it would fare great with a lowly 960. But it's long gone now.

* and this is what I'm actually going to do, I've already spent too much life obsessing on the very cheapest VGAs. I simply though that I could get a super cheap 960 that is also quiet. So I'll probably go with the short EVGA lodestar mentiond - 04G-P4-1962-KR. EVGA's warranty seems to be a bonus, too.

Also, waiting for the new gen cards is not an option - if I were to bet money, I'd go with Abula's predictions, at least half a year of wait. Too long.

Just to bring some new info on the cards I initially asked about, straight from some helpful owner:

GV-N960OC-4GD - around 1200 RPM in idle (way too loud in my book, even if these were some top notch fans, which they probably aren't, given its a super cheap card with a super simple cooler)
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kater
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by kater » Thu Apr 14, 2016 10:47 am

Boy, did the stars align yesterday!

A seemingly bad debtor (I'm a freelancer, self-employed, with few benefits, but all the risks) came clean. Having no better ideas for that money I ordered a Dell 2515H (WQHD makes my wokr easier) + EVGA 970. The only missing part of that equation is now a copy of Wiedźmin 3 :)

quest_for_silence
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by quest_for_silence » Thu Apr 14, 2016 11:24 am

kater wrote:The only missing part of that equation is now a copy of Wiedźmin 3 :)

Do you like badly coded games, don't you? :wink:

kater
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by kater » Thu Apr 14, 2016 11:54 am

C'mon, it's not that bad :E
Besides, as a Pole I'm really not in the mood to be objective about any aspect of this glorious game :P

Also, I'll have you know, good sir, that I remember it like today, the first ever short story featuring Wiedźmin Geralt, appearing in an S-F periodical in still hardcore red Poland in 1986 - thirty years, mind you. Since then I've been a great fan of the series - short stories at first, then the saga, then the PC games. They even made a TV series and a movie, but they sucked ghoul's balls sooooo hard. A nerdy teenage me re-read the saga at least a dozen times (not sure I'm so proud of this achievement now, but hey, at least I did read books).

Abula
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by Abula » Thu Apr 14, 2016 12:54 pm

Go with whatever you can afford, if its not quiet enough, save for Accelero S3 down the road.

Enjoy your gaming.

kater
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by kater » Thu Apr 14, 2016 1:15 pm

I chose EVGA GTX970 4GB ACX 2.0 SSC (04G-P4-3975-KR) - I guess I should be good with the noise :)

I'm just a little confused because the shop lists this as an ACX 2.0 cooler (middle), while EVGA's website says its a 2.0+ affair (right)

Image

Well, we'll see tomorrow.

lodestar
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by lodestar » Thu Apr 14, 2016 2:46 pm

My local supplier lists 04G-P4-3975-KR as an Active Cooling Xtreme (ACX) 2.0+ part, so I would not have any worries on that score. According to EVGA "... ACX 2.0+ adds to the features on the award winning EVGA ACX 2.0 cooling technology... The most significant changes are a Memory MOSFET Cooling Plate (MMCP) which reduces MOSFET temperatures by 11°C, and optimized Straight Heat Pipes (SHP) that are more efficient than the U and S shaped designs that other manufacturers use resulting in reduced GPU temperatures by an additional 5°C. ACX 2.0+ coolers also feature optimized Swept fan blades, double ball bearings and an extreme low power motor, delivering more air flow with less power, creating additional power for the GPU. EVGA's ACX 2.0+ fan turns off below 60°C, generating 0dB of noise..."

Abula
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by Abula » Thu Apr 14, 2016 5:14 pm

If the GTX970 is your choice i would wait for the GTX1070, contrary to the GTX1060, the 1070 has a lot of chances of being released on june, so its not such a big wait, and probably you will get around GTX980 performance.

Wild Penguin
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Re: looking for RPM readings of some GB GTX 960 cards

Post by Wild Penguin » Thu Apr 28, 2016 6:15 am

As an owner of the 3975, I can say it is quite quiet (even in non-silent mode, which I prefer since I'm folding when not gaming, which can be stressfull in the long term) :) .

There have been some reports on coil whine, so a bit of warning there. But I haven't noticed any - OTOH it may be setup dependent, like requiring 4K and / or 120Hz - I only game at 1080p and casually so don't care about 120Hz. OTOH, I have a gut feeling that some people are just more suspecticle to coil whine, and that the individual variance within a certain model and Q/A has more to do with the reports... so take this warning with a grain of salt.

I would also consider waiting for the next gen, though (I bought mine over a year ago), but YMMV...

p.s. If / when you buy it (or some other card), join the SPCR folding team! :D

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