Galaxy GTX Hall of Fame?

They make noise, too.

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quickrabbit5
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun May 16, 2010 3:39 pm
Location: NY

Galaxy GTX Hall of Fame?

Post by quickrabbit5 » Sun Sep 01, 2013 3:31 am

Does anyone have any experience with the Galaxy Hall of Fame series of cards? I'm trying to purchase a decently silent GTX 770 (or equivalent from AMD ie 7970 GE) and I'm not too particularly keen on installing my own aftermarket cooler. My previous card was the Galaxy 580 with the Arctic Accelero so I've had a good experience with Galaxy previously but the Galaxy HOF cards dont seem to use the Accelero coolers anymore. Does anyone know how they are in terms of noise/fan profiles?

Another option I was looking the Gainward Phantom's but since they're not sold in the US I'd have to buy it from a third party on Amazon that ships it overseas. I'm a little bit concerned about how the return policy/RMA system would work though if I got a dud.

Any help would be appreciated.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: Galaxy GTX Hall of Fame?

Post by Abula » Sun Sep 01, 2013 6:08 am

I also had Galaxy GTX580 and came with Artic Cooling Accelero III from factory a nice silver backplate and frontplate that cover all the vram and motets, really nice card, had such a good experience that decided to go with stock galaxy gtx780 (no custom coolers were out) and bought Artic Cooling Accelero III Extreme, temp wise its still amazing, i idle at 25C on ambient of 21C, really good cooler, on LOL i dont go over 32C on 6 hours of playing (the GPU doesn't stress much, the most i seen on GPUz is 55% gpu utilization on all max 2560x1440), i have ran furmark and the highest temp i saw was 68C. But not all is good, something is weird with GTX780 PWM design, and while i can control the fan on the Accelero III, the fan fluctuates to max speed every 10 sec or so, i though it was not reading cause they were too low and bumping the fans... but not the case, i took the base speed to 40, 50, 60, 70 and no change, the fans always ramp up and down every 10sec. I also had a friend that just took out a Prolimatech MK-26 out of his GTX680 and borrowed me the PWM fan adaptor that it comes with, that allows you to connect any standard 4pin PWM fan, so i tested it, and here is worst, no control at all, the fans are always at 12V, MSI afterburner and EVGA precision were not able to change the speed (the acelero III could), i still think its more a Nvidia design change or setup on the vbios, but neither of the best aftermarket coolers work on the GTX780. There is even a thread on it on OCN Arctic Cooling Accelero Extreme III installation on GTX780, gives me a little piece of mind that im not the only one, for now im using the Accelero III at 7V, and its ok, but not what i was expecting.

Now you are going into GTX770, here might be different, but i personally wouldn't recommend gambling unless there are no good manufacturer options with custom coolers. From what i read the Galaxy Hall of Fame are really good cards, but more like the MSI Lightning, with custom PCB/Cooler and specially power delivery, that can go higher than what Nvidia allows on their stock design, imo is more meant for OCers and benching fanatics than for people looking for quiet gaming.

For a quiet GTX770 i would just consider 2,

1) MSI Gaming N770 TF 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 770 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card
Seems by the comments of most gaming websites and user reviews, this gen of twin frozr cards are the quietest of all the coolers, with very good idle noise and very low increase on load. No SPCR review to back up that claim, but if i knew what i was going into with gtx780, i would waited for the MSI N780.

2) ASUS GTX770-DC2OC-2GD5 GeForce GTX 770 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Given that the GTX770 is a GTX680 with faster vram, SPCR did review the ASUS GeForce GTX 680 DirectCU II OC, got the editors choice but this is triple slot card not the same cooler that comes with the GTX770 DCUII, SCPR did test the dual slot DCUII, ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II, and also got the editors choice, i believe this is the same cooler that comes on the GTX770.

Based on techpowerup reviews on both card, similar noise levels at idle, but the MSI seems quieter at load, so i would prefer the MSI,

TechPowerUP MSI GTX 770 TwinFrozr Gaming 2 GB
Image Image

TechPowerUP ASUS GTX 770 DirectCU II OC 2 GB
Image Image

birthdaymonkey
Posts: 37
Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2011 7:30 am
Location: New Brunswick

Re: Galaxy GTX Hall of Fame?

Post by birthdaymonkey » Tue Sep 03, 2013 8:05 pm

I would second the MSI. I recently bought the Gaming series 760, which has the same cooler as the 770. It is inaudible at idle in a Fractal Define XL R2 with two Noctua 140mm fans running at 5v. If I try to hear the GPU under a heavy load, I can just make it out in a silent room with my head close to the case.

My previous NVIDIA card was an Asus DCII 670, which is known to be one of the quietest cards of all time and was approved enthusiastically by SPCR. I would say that the new MSI TF4 cooler is just as quiet.

quickrabbit5
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun May 16, 2010 3:39 pm
Location: NY

Re: Galaxy GTX Hall of Fame?

Post by quickrabbit5 » Thu Sep 05, 2013 2:34 pm

Abula wrote:I also had Galaxy GTX580 and came with Artic Cooling Accelero III from factory a nice silver backplate and frontplate that cover all the vram and motets, really nice card, had such a good experience that decided to go with stock galaxy gtx780 (no custom coolers were out) and bought Artic Cooling Accelero III Extreme, temp wise its still amazing, i idle at 25C on ambient of 21C, really good cooler, on LOL i dont go over 32C on 6 hours of playing (the GPU doesn't stress much, the most i seen on GPUz is 55% gpu utilization on all max 2560x1440), i have ran furmark and the highest temp i saw was 68C. But not all is good, something is weird with GTX780 PWM design, and while i can control the fan on the Accelero III, the fan fluctuates to max speed every 10 sec or so, i though it was not reading cause they were too low and bumping the fans... but not the case, i took the base speed to 40, 50, 60, 70 and no change, the fans always ramp up and down every 10sec. I also had a friend that just took out a Prolimatech MK-26 out of his GTX680 and borrowed me the PWM fan adaptor that it comes with, that allows you to connect any standard 4pin PWM fan, so i tested it, and here is worst, no control at all, the fans are always at 12V, MSI afterburner and EVGA precision were not able to change the speed (the acelero III could), i still think its more a Nvidia design change or setup on the vbios, but neither of the best aftermarket coolers work on the GTX780. There is even a thread on it on OCN Arctic Cooling Accelero Extreme III installation on GTX780, gives me a little piece of mind that im not the only one, for now im using the Accelero III at 7V, and its ok, but not what i was expecting.

Now you are going into GTX770, here might be different, but i personally wouldn't recommend gambling unless there are no good manufacturer options with custom coolers. From what i read the Galaxy Hall of Fame are really good cards, but more like the MSI Lightning, with custom PCB/Cooler and specially power delivery, that can go higher than what Nvidia allows on their stock design, imo is more meant for OCers and benching fanatics than for people looking for quiet gaming.

For a quiet GTX770 i would just consider 2,

1) MSI Gaming N770 TF 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 770 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card
Seems by the comments of most gaming websites and user reviews, this gen of twin frozr cards are the quietest of all the coolers, with very good idle noise and very low increase on load. No SPCR review to back up that claim, but if i knew what i was going into with gtx780, i would waited for the MSI N780.

2) ASUS GTX770-DC2OC-2GD5 GeForce GTX 770 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Given that the GTX770 is a GTX680 with faster vram, SPCR did review the ASUS GeForce GTX 680 DirectCU II OC, got the editors choice but this is triple slot card not the same cooler that comes with the GTX770 DCUII, SCPR did test the dual slot DCUII, ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II, and also got the editors choice, i believe this is the same cooler that comes on the GTX770.

Based on techpowerup reviews on both card, similar noise levels at idle, but the MSI seems quieter at load, so i would prefer the MSI,
Wow! Thanks for all the info! I guess I'll be looking at the MSI TF cards. Just curious though, would you happen to know the minimum fan speed on the MSI N770 TF?

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