Hello all, I have questions I need you to answer/give advice.

I am torn between the 7870 and the GTX 660

Both offer similar performance for similar price. I know the 7870 is a little bit higher, but as long as the gtx 660 reaches around 60 fps, I don't care. What I look for is NOISE.

So here goes,

ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Direct Cu II 2 GB (Is the Quietest 660, 23 idle and 26 on load)
MSI GeForce GTX 660 HAWK 2 GB (second most silent 660, 26 idle 27 load)
PowerColor HD 7870 PCS+ 2 GB VORTEX II (quietest 7870, 24 idle 28 load).

So which would you choose ?

Or maybe should I get a simple non expensive reference card and put a third part cooler on it like the arctic s1 for even lower noise ?

Thanks for any info on this

Where are the noise numbers from? How accurate do you think they are? Have you heard one of these cards yourself. I personally find VGA coolers to be much louder than the numbers say because I find the smaller fans, higher pitched noise more annoying.

I would go for the aftermarket route. An Accelero S1 Plus with a little airflow will outperform any of these coolers and be much quieter too. It does depend upon how your case is laid out in terms of size and where current fans are for how effective this may be.

numbers are for techpowerup website.

and the numbers come from all the reviews.

All of the reviewers say that the asus card can't be heard when in a silent enclosure like the fractal R4

Never trust other sites when they say things like that.

Techpowerup is good in their noise measurement technique, though they rarely get into characterizing it -- ie, when the SPL is close, often, the lower number doesn't necessarily sound quieter due to tonality or other aspects of noise other than "level" or amplitude. They also measure the noise during gaming loop peaks. This might actually be more realistic than SPCR because we use furmark, which loads the GPU to the absolute max, higher than in games.

I agree, though, that if you want lowest noise, go for the cheapest card w/ the GPU of your choice & add a good aftermarket cooler.

I like the GTX 660 over the HD7870 in general for it's lower power use when using multiple monitors, watching movies, and at load. Asus DC II is a great, quiet cooler with the only downside being poor VRM cooling. MSI uses a front plate to help cool the VRM circuitry. The Hawk version is a little faster than PE OC Twin Frozr III, and has Twin Frozr IV cooler, but the additional power regulation they added uses 6-7W more at idle through load than the Twin Frozr III cards.

In any case, I'd opt for the Asus DC II or the MSI 660. I think either would be pretty quiet in an R4. You can always use MSI Afterburner to tweak the fan profile. Prices are so compressed between the lowest cost card and one with a decent cooler..like zero to $30 difference.

FWIW I have a Galaxy GTX660Ti "GC" card ( http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/ha ... msi-4.html ) that has the two fans on an accelero style heatsink. On idle it is subjectively VERY quiet with an open case. It has a tendency to develop some strange tones due to the RPM which can be mitigated with a chunk of foam being wedged near the power connectors between the shroud of the heatsink and the PCB.

Otherwise, depending on how noisy the rest of your system is, a reference GTX680 with a modded BIOS to unlock your minimum fan speed to below 30% to as low as 10% is not a bad option. Noise is there in an open case, but given a well dampened case that is placed on the floor I think this is a good option if you want powerrrrrrr.

thank you all for your input.

i owned an asus 7850 and msi 660, the msi is way better at noise, and run cooler

i'm talking about the asus 660