Xfx 6870 with Silent cooling?

[falcon26]

Anyone know anything about this Xfx 6870?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150521

It looks like it has the artic cooling twin turbo pro on it. I wonder how quiet or loud it is...

[frenchie]

I don't think it is the Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo Pro (different heatpipes and fans)... IMO it almost looks like Gigabyte's windforce cooler with a different shroud...

[falcon26]

Screw it. I actually ordered one. I did just get a 6950, which is quite loud and hot. I can still return it for a full refund. I'll try both cards and see which one I like better. I know the 6950 is faster, but for the games I play and the resolution they are very cose. The only thing is the 6870 should be much much quieter and less hot. The main game I play is BC2 at 1920x1200 and at that res the 6950 gets about 10 fps more than the 6870. But I use vysnc so it really doesn't matter since my fps is capped at 60. I'll report back on the noise when I get it...

[falcon26]

Aw ok. So how good is the Gigabyte's cooler? Is it about the same as the twin turbo?

[livetaswim06]

There's 2 threads about this one card, I do not know the rules here, but generally the thread with more replies wins out. Anyway, I got the regular clocked version of this card from newegg. There are 2 an OC version and a regular one. The only thing that gives me some concern is that XFX has a 6850 with an identical looking cooler and people were saying that it was a little on the loud side. Of course maybe they changed the fans or something.

[falcon26]

I got the card installed today. It is much quieter than the stock fans on either the 6870 or 6950 cards. Even at load its quieter. Temps are also great much better than stock. Only thing is, the fans do have a bit of a whoosh to them. They are not as quiet as the artic cooling twin turbo pro that I had on my 5870, those were dead silent, where these are almost silent.

http://img145.imageshack.us/i/dscf0008mt.jpg/

[Rekonn]

Falcon26, do the fans change speed based on gpu temp?

[Shadout]

Can you turn down the fan speed even more in both idle and load? If the temps are low enough.

[falcon26]

Yes you can adjust the fan speed using the Ati CCC center. Just enable manual fan speed. And if you enable it the fan speed will stay at that speed regardless of how much load is on the card.

[Shadout]

Yeah, sorry will try to ask more precisely. What i meant was how low is it turned down by standard in idle? (in percentage). Are you able to slow it down even more than what it can slow down by itself?
For example if it is already running at minimum speed (lets say 20%) as standard, then it might not be able to go lower through software (this is the case with Asus DirectCu as an example).

[falcon26]

Aw ok I got yeah. No the lowest it can go in either auto or manual mode is 20%. The card is quiet, much more than any 6870 stock cooler, but again its not as quiet as the artic cooling twin turbo pro.