What sort of GPU loads are you talking about? In a GPU-only load test using FurMark, my 5870 Vapor-X gets to about 78-80C, vs about 72C in combined GPU/CPU load testing using FurMark and Prime95 (I think Prime95 starves FurMark of some necessary CPU cycles to really run full out - I intend on re-trying the CPU/GPU loads with one less Prime95 thread to see if this makes a difference). For normal gaming, I don't think it gets much above 70C, if at all.Moffasin wrote:I'm getting around 43c idle and 80c load during which the fan spins like crazy, I think it might be because my Asus Xonar D2X is 0.5 cm below it.
I'm thinking I might replace the stock fan with a
Noctua NF-B9 fan or maybe that doesn't have enough air throughput?
The Vapor-X fan is a PWM 4-pin fan, so the Noctua will not easily work as a fan swap unless you connect it to your motherboard instead.
Check what rpm your stock Vapor-X fan is producing. Like WR304 said, my Vapor-X seems to idle at lower rpm than his (1,050rpm vs 1,455rpm), despite being the same Rev 2 blue PCB card with identical BIOS numbers. From memory, around 2,200rpm is my fan speed at full FurMark GPU load. If your fan speed is much above WR304's at idle and too much above 2,200rpm at load, it's likely that your soundcard is too close and limiting air intake to your GPU.