GTX 460 silent?

sdpate · **Joined:** Sat Mar 19, 2011 11:49 am **Posts:** 5

Can a GPU with a fan be quieter than a fanless card?

Yesterday I upgraded my i7 860 ASUS mobo computer with a GTX 460 video card. It was the only card in stock at Future Shop that looked decent.

It was replacing an ATI Radeon 4350 Silent which has a big heat sink but no fan.

The computer is used in my recording studio so I've sweated every component for noise - like slow speed Noctua fans and SSD drives to replace HDs.

I measured the ambient sound in the room at 33.1 dB with the computer off, and 41.5 dB with the computer on running Sonar and everything turned on (preamps, ADDA, muted speakers, etc)

After I swapped out the Radeon and installed the GTX 460, the sound meter read 35.1 dB.

I checked it over and over again and that was the number. 2 dB above the ambient room noise.

Is it possible for a card with a fan cooler to be quieter?

quest_for_silence · **Posted:** Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:08 pm

sdpate wrote:

Is it possible for a card with a fan cooler to be quieter?

? The system is noisier or quieter than before?

sdpate · **Joined:** Sat Mar 19, 2011 11:49 am **Posts:** 5

Quieter.

A possible explanation is that the GPU fan is exhausting heat from the case and allowing the case/cpu fans to run at a lower level.

It's possible that the fans are creating some sort of resonance that cancels out each other.

The reading at the GPU is 47 dB which is the normal reading for the card. With the case on, the 1 meter reading at 15% cpu is 34.5 dB. Amazing,

quest_for_silence · **Posted:** Mon Mar 21, 2011 10:42 pm

sdpate wrote:

Amazing,

But too good to be true (providing also that currently the 460s are among the noisiest cards in the wild).

silentplummet · **Joined:** Wed Feb 28, 2007 4:55 pm **Posts:** 33

I can imagine a scenario which could explain this. I have noticed that under Linux my ATI card does not idle properly until I engage the proprietary drivers and start the X server up. It generates a great deal of heat, which means it is drawing power from the PSU. It is conceivable that the noise produced with the ATI card was being generated by your PSU fan. Are you certain that it was idle at the time you measured it?

quest_for_silence · **Posted:** Tue Mar 22, 2011 10:47 am

silentplummet wrote:

It is conceivable that the noise produced with the ATI card was being generated by your PSU fan.

OTOH it should be unlikely, providing that the GTX 460 at idle draws almost twice the DC power of the HD 4350 at full bore.

sdpate · **Joined:** Sat Mar 19, 2011 11:49 am **Posts:** 5

I measured the sound at idle at 15% utilization which is the level it achieves running Sonar DAW.

The GPU actually measures about 47 dB inches away from the card itself.

The P183 is heavily soundproofed so all the sound comes from the back exhaust fans, where it appears to be dampened by the case.

GTX 460 silent?

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