The Zotac GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition that formed the heart of our Quiet SLI Gaming Guide had an excellent cooling solution with a surprising weakness: A high minimum fan speed. An updated BIOS that addresses the issue, so we take another look at its new and improved acoustics.
April 5, 2015 by Lawrence Lee
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Product
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Zotac GeForce GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Ed. (ZT-90107-10P) Graphics Card |
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Manufacturer
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Zotac |
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Street Price
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~US$400 |
In our most recent of gaming build guide, I assembled a Quiet SLI Gaming PC with a pair GTX 970 graphics cards which proved to be extremely well cooled. Under normal gaming conditions, it managed to keep GPUs under 80°C with stock cooling while maintaining a noise level of just 23 dBA@1m. Achieving such a low noise level with a high-end configuration would have been unfathomable just a year ago, at least not without some serious aftermarket cooling. A few different elements played major roles in attaining this result: the impressive airflow provided by the SilverStone Fortress FT05 case, the superlative energy efficiency of Nvidia’s Maxwell 2 architecture, and the heavy duty heatsink/fans of the two GTX 970s.
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The Zotac GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition I used has a few things going for it including a sizable heatsink/fan combination, high clock speeds, and better physical compatibility than most 970s. The PCB measures 26.6 x 10.6 cm with the heatsink/shroud expanding its footprint to 30.0 x 11.1 cm (11.8 x 4.4 inches), making it narrower than many competing models. The board extends just 1.0 cm past the corner of the I/O bracket with the board overhanging it by 0.5 cm and the illuminated name plate on the side jutting out by another 0.5 cm. Many variants of the R9 290/290X and GTX 970/980 have wider dimensions due to larger PCBs, heatsink covers, or heatpipes sticking out, all of which can make them incompatible with smaller enclosures.
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The stock cooler is formidable, featuring five copper heatpipes, a sizable portion of aluminum fins, three 92 mm fans, and a metal plate cooling all the memory chips, VRMs, and other necessary circuitry on the PCB. However, when I put together the SLI rig, the cooling solution proved to be a double-edged sword. Its minimum fan speed was a whopping 1450 RPM, so while I didn’t have to speed up the fans to keep the cards adequately cool on load, the system produced the same level of noise regardless of what it was doing. This is a far cry from cards like the Asus Strix GTX 900 series which can shut its fans off completely. However, recently Zotac informed us of a BIOS update that addresses this issue, so I thought it was worth a second look.
The BIOS and update tool isn’t available from Zotac’s site but can be downloaded from the links below:
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The BIOS update process is fairly straightforward. Before beginning they advise uninstalling previous loaded drivers and cleaning out any remnants using a third party tool (I prefer Display Driver Uninstaller). Then put the update tool and BIOS in the same folder and navigate to it using the Command Prompt (running with Administrator rights). A simple command and confirmation later, and the firmware updates in less than 30 seconds.
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GPU Tweak reveals the fan profile has been recalibrated with the minimum setting now at 30% (~1060 RPM) compared to the previous 60% level (1450 RPM).
TEST METHODOLOGY
Test Platform
- Intel Core i3-2100 processor, Sandy Bridge core, dual core 3.1 GHz, integrated HD 2000 graphics, TDP of 65W
- Scythe Kotetsu CPU cooler – Scythe
Slip Stream 500RPM 120mm fan - MSI Z77A-G43 motherboard, Z77 chipset, ATX
- Kingston HyperX Genesis memory, 2x4GB, DDR3-1600
- Kingston HyperX 3K solid state drive – 120GB, 2.5-inch, SATA 6 Gbps
- Kingwin Lazer Platinum
power supply, ATX v2.2, 80 Plus Platinum, 1000W total output, 83A on +12V rail - Fractal Design Define R5 case – ATX, stock 140mm fans
- Microsoft
Windows 7 Ultimate operating system – 64-bit
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Measurement and Analysis Tools
- Prime95 stability test to stress the CPU.
- Resident Evil 6 Demo standalone benchmark for stress testing.
- FurMark
stability test to stress the GPU. - GPU-Z to
monitor GPU temperatures and fan speeds. - SpeedFan to monitor system temperatures.
- Asus GPU Tweak to monitor GPU temperatures and adjust fan speeds.
- Media Player
Classic – Home Cinema to play H.264/VC-1 video. - Mozilla
Firefox with Adobe
Flash Player to play Flash video. - Extech
AC Power Analyzer 380803
AC power meter, used to measure the power consumption
of the system. - PC-based spectrum analyzer
SpectraPlus with ACO Pacific mic and M-Audio digital
audio interfaces. - Anechoic chamber
with ambient level of 11 dBA or lower.
Testing Procedures
Our test procedures are designed to determine the power consumption, noise, and heat produced by the card/cooler with the system in various states. In addition to testing under “normal” conditions, we also perform a torture test consisting of FurMark running in conjunction with Prime95 to stress both the graphics card and processor simultaneously. This combination is more demanding on the CPU and GPU than any real gaming session. This final result is not indicative of a real-world situation, but rather a worse-case scenario; If it can cool the card and its components adequately it means there will be some degree of thermal headroom when deployed in a more conventional situation.
By adequately cooled, we mean cooled well enough that no misbehavior
related to thermal overload is exhibited. Thermal misbehavior in a graphics
card can show up in a variety of ways, including:
- Sudden system shutdown, reboot without warning, or loss of display signal
- Jaggies and other visual artifacts on the screen.
- Motion slowing and/or screen freezing.
Any of these misbehaviors are annoying at best and dangerous at worst —
dangerous to the health and lifespan of the graphics card, and sometimes to
the system OS.
Aftermarket coolers are installed on an ASUS GeForce GTX 680 DirectCU II OC, a factory-overclocked single GPU card that draws 225W by our estimates. The stock VRM heatsink is left on if possible. The cooler’s fan(s) is connected to the motherboard (if possible) and its speed is changed to various levels to represent a good cross-section of its airflow and noise performance.
Ambient Noise Level
For noise measurements, our mic is positioned at a distance of one meter from the center of the case’s left side panel at a 45 degree angle.
Our test system’s CPU fan is a low speed Scythe that is set to full speed at all times while the two Fractal 140 mm case fans are connected to case’s integrated fan controller. Three standard speed settings have been established for testing.
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GPU Test System:
Anechoic chamber measurements |
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Case Fan Setting
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System SPL@1m
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High
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24 dBA
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Med
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15 dBA
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Low
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12~13 dBA
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When testing video cards and coolers with active cooling, the low setting will be used. For passive cards and heatsinks, all three settings will be tested to determine the effect of system airflow on cooling performance.
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Estimating DC Power
The following power efficiency figures were obtained for the
Kingwin LZP-1000
used in our test system:
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Kingwin LZP-1000 Test Results
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DC Output (W)
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22.2
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41.9
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65.5
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90.7
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149.0
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199.6
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251.2
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300.3
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400.9
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AC Input (W)
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35
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56
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81
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105
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166
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211
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265
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322
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426
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This data is enough to give us a very good estimate of DC demand in our
test system. We extrapolate the DC power output from the measured AC power
input based on this data. We won’t go through the math; it’s easy enough
to figure out for yourself if you really want to.
TEST RESULTS
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System Measurements: GPU Test System with
Zotac GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core (Updated BIOS) |
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State
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Idle
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Prime95
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RE6 Demo (Peak)
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Prime95 + FurMark
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Prime95 + FurMark
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GPU Fan Speed
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1060 RPM
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1510 RPM
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1570 RPM
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1120 RPM*
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CPU Temp
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29°C
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40°C
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45°C
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57°C
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58°C
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MB Temp
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27°C
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27°C
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38°C
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39°C
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40°C
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GPU Temp
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28°C
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29°C
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63°C
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64°C
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71°C
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GPU Core Clock
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135 MHz
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1404 MHz
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888 MHz
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888 MHz
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System Power (AC)
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40W
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78W
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216W
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228W
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228W
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System Power (DC)
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27W
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63W
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204W
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216W
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216W
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System SPL@1m
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14 dBA
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19 dBA
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19 dBA
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14 dBA
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*manually adjusted fan speed
CPU fan at 500 RPM, system fans at 580 RPM. Ambient noise level: 10~11 dBA System noise level (on int. graphics): 12~13 dBA Ambient temperature: 21°C |
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With a single Extreme Core Edition installed in our less demanding GPU test system, the machine measures just 14 dBA@1m with the updated BIOS. This is only an increase of 1~2 dB compared to the same rig running without a discrete video card. The rest of the components are barely audible so adding this card barely makes a noise impact.
Leaving the fan control on the stock/automatic setting, the GPU fans kick up to 1510 RPM during the most demanding portion of the Resident Evil 6 Demo Benchmark. This, along with some faint coil whine (which sounds mostly like innocuous white noise close up), results in a noise level of 19 dBA@1m, which is still fairly quiet. Our most stressful test, Prime95 + FurMark, only draws 12W more from the wall before the card hits its power limit, so only a slight increase in GPU fan speed is required, though this more prolonged and stable heavy load generates enough hot air to greatly affect the CPU area.
By default, the fans try to maintain a GPU temperature of 63~64°C which is a fairly aggressive goal in my opinion. Overriding the fan, I found that the minimum speed (which is a bit higher than at idle) is more than acceptable, even with this most taxing test. The GPU heats up to 71°C while the noise level returns to 14 dBA@1m, a superb result.
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The GPU fans have a lower pitch with a rougher character than our system’s case fans but its not acoustically unpleasant, especially at lower speeds. In any event, the side panel of the case sufficiently dulls the noise it produces such that it sounds more or less inconspicuous. At 1510 RPM, it emits an even-keeled turbulence that is unlikely to bother any but the most noise-adverse.
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Comparison: GPU Test System, FurMark + Prime95 @ 75°C
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GPU Model
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Est. Power Draw (DC)
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GPU Temp
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GPU Fan Speed
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SPL @1m
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Zotac GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core
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166W
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71°C
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1120 RPM
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14 dBA
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Asus GTX 960 Strix
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151W
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75°C
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1120 RPM
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14 dBA
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Asus GTX 680
DirectCU II OC |
226W
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75°C
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1200 RPM
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17~18 dBA
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Asus GTX 980 Strix
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198W
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75°C
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1140 RPM
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18~19 dBA
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Zotac GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core
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166W
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64°C
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1570 RPM
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19 dBA
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Zotac GTX 970 (vanilla)
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168W
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75°C
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2580 RPM
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28 dBA
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AMD R9 290X (reference)
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308W
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92°C
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2950 RPM
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39 dBA
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CPU fan at 500 RPM, system fans at 580 RPM.
Ambient noise level: 10~11 dBA System noise level (on int. graphics): 12~13 dBA Ambient temperature: 21°C |
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For a comparison, I present the load results from recently tested cards, with the fan speeds adjusted to achieve a GPU temperature of 75°C (if possible).
The GTX 970 Extreme Core’s cooling solution is so strong, its GPU temperature tops out at 71°C at the new minimum fan speed, generating the same noise level as the GTX 960 Strix, and it runs 4°C cooler despite using 15W of extra power. This is the best cooled graphics card I’ve handled in some time.
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Noise Level Comparison: Dual Cards (Idle)
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System
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GPU Test System
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SLI Gaming Build
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BIOS
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Old
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New
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Old
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New
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GPU Fan Speed
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1450 RPM
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1060 RPM
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1450 RPM
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1060 RPM
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System SPL@1m
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20 dBA
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15 dBA
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23 dBA
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19~20 dBA
(estimated) |
With dual cards, the acoustic difference between the BIOS’ minimum fan speeds is similar in our GPU test system. Reducing the idle fan speed by ~400 RPM results in a 5 dB drop.
As for our SLI gaming build, I estimated the new noise level rather than putting the entire system back together to check the results of this one change. I set the GPU fans in the GPU test system to 1450 RPM (old BIOS level) and increased the speeds of the system fans until the rig produced the same 23 dBA@1m result I achieved previously with the SLI gaming build. Then I simply put the GPU fan speeds back to normal (updated BIOS level) for the final measurement, which turned out to be 19~20 dBA@1m. This is a substantial reduction which could be improved further by lowering the CPU and system fan speeds as well.
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MP3 Sound Recordings
These recordings were made with a high resolution, lab quality, digital recording
system inside SPCR’s own 11 dBA ambient anechoic chamber, then converted to
LAME 128kbps encoded MP3s. We’ve listened long and hard to ensure there is no
audible degradation from the original WAV files to these MP3s. They represent
a quick snapshot of what we heard during the review.
Each recording starts with ambient noise, then 5~10 second segments of product
at various states. For the most realistic results,
set the volume so that the starting ambient level is just barely audible, then
don’t change the volume setting again while comparing all the sound files.
SPCR GPU Test System with Zotac GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core (New BIOS), CPU fan at 500 RPM, system fans at 580 RPM
— No GPU, idle (12~13 dBA@1m)
— idle/Prime95, GPU fans at 1060 RPM (14 dBA@1m)
— Resident Evil 6 Demo Benchmark, GPU fans at 1510 RPM (19 dBA@1m)
SPCR GPU Test System with 2 x Zotac GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core, CPU fan at 500 RPM, system fans at 580 RPM
— No GPU, idle (12~13 dBA@1m)
— New BIOS, idle, GPU fans at 1060 RPM (15 dBA@1m)
— Old BIOS, idle, GPU fans at 1450 RPM (20 dBA@1m)
FINAL THOUGHTS
Many products come through our labs that could be vastly improved by a simple change. The Zotac GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition is such a product, a formidable piece of hardware that was surprisingly unsuitable (in its original state) for quiet systems due to its high minimum fan speed. When a GPU is heavily taxed, you expect a certain level of noise to deal with all that heat but it shouldn’t be noticeable when sitting idle. This affected our SLI Gaming Build twice as hard, which is a shame as the stock cooler is superb when a greater demand is placed upon it.
The updated BIOS rectifies this issue completely, making it a suitable high-end graphics card for quiet machines. The change makes the Zotac GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition one of the more appealing GTX 970s on the market as it also has a high clock speed, an excellent cooler, and a narrow physique that makes it more compatible with compact cases. If there’s anything left to criticize, it’s the card’s maximum power target of 106%, which is low compared to most of its competitors. This limits how much further the card can be pushed in terms of overclocking, but aside from that, it’s a compelling choice for a high performance graphics card.
Our thanks to Zotac for the GeForce GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition video card samples.
Zotac GeForce GTX 970 AMP! Extreme Core Edition is Recommended by SPCR
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Articles of Related Interest
Quiet SLI Gaming PC Build Guide
Asus GeForce GTX 960 Strix OC Edition
Arctic Accelero Hybrid II-120 Liquid GPU Cooler
NZXT Kraken G10 Graphics Adapter
Asus GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II
Asus Radeon HD 7870 DirectCU II
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