Gigabyte 7970 Windforce OC - quiet or loud?

A

Ajiki-kun

Limp Gawd
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Reviews say one thing; owners say another.

The [H] review itself talks about how quiet the card is, but the ones that actually post db have them draw even (or close to even) with stock fan cooled models, and the majority of people who own them talk about how loud they are or even how they returned them.

What's the deal? Did the reviewers get different models?
 
There's no reason to run the fans at an audible level, so the noise level at x% fan speed is irrelevant. It cools like a beast at 25-30% fan speed (~60c max OC [1220 core / 1.274v on mine] at load).

While the fan is silent if you only run it as hard as it needs to be run, the coil whine can get annoying. Thankfully the coil whine from mine is dampened by my case so it's not really an issue.
 
Zomoa said:
There's no reason to run the fans at an audible level, so the noise level at x% fan speed is irrelevant. It cools like a beast at 25-30% fan speed (~60c max OC [1220 core / 1.274v on mine] at load).

While the fan is silent if you only run it as hard as it needs to be run, the coil whine can get annoying. Thankfully the coil whine from mine is dampened by my case so it's not really an issue.
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I agree with this post. I currently own the Gigabyte 7950 Windforce (Same cooler as the 7970). From my experience, when I first installed this video card, it was very loud with automatic fan speed settings, however, the temperatures were just over 60 deg C. So I lowered the fan speeds to 20% and left them there. Max temps were were just over 70 deg C at stock voltages with no noticeable noise. The noise didn't really bother me until I brought the speeds up to 35% and above. You could even get away with increasing the voltages by 10% and lowering the fan speed to 30% and still be running under 75 deg C.
 
I studied all the reviews on this card and decided to buy it on the grounds of being quiet and fast compared to the reference card.
I have always bought Sapphire cards but there twin fan one seems to have been designed for looks rather than airflow. The gigabyte had dropped a little in price making it more attractive as well but you must bear in mind you do not get any Eyefinity stuff in the box as you do with the Sapphire one.

The fan is quiet at normal speeds and say up to 50% but at 100% (you should not need it at that in normal use anyway) it is loud, but low-pitched.

I had HD4870 reference design before the Gigabyte and that made harsher noise mostly when the PC booted up though.

The Gigabyte Windforce, it should be noted does not exhaust all of its heat out of the case. Normally I would think this is a bad thing but as graphics card get faster and create, more heat there is not enough space in the mounting plate grill to exhaust all the hot air. That is why mounting plate exhaust cards are so noisy because they have to force air through a small grill.

It is early days yet but so far, I would recommend the card as the design seems good.
 
I don't hear my fan at 40%, and it stays cool. Coming from an XfX reference 5870 which I never heard either though. This Gigabyte 7970 feels lighter, and a little more flimsy compared to the 5870, but its an open card with a bolt on cooler, kind of like putting an accelero cooler on an older card. The fans and shroud seem light duty, almost cheap. Of course when the fans get up over 50% they can be heard, there's 3 of them. There is no coil whine on this one, don't know if other Gigabyte 7970 owners have any problems. To sum up, lock the fans at 40% and monitor temps during stress testing. If it stays below 70C you are set.
 
LanPirate1 said:
This Gigabyte 7970 feels lighter, and a little more flimsy compared to the 5870, but its an open card with a bolt on cooler, kind of like putting an accelero cooler on an older card. The fans and shroud seem light duty, almost cheap.
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Just in case, any readers take the comments in this message as negative please bear in mind the shroud does not need to be heavy to do its job since once it is installed who touches it anyway.

The fan blades do look light, however that does not matter since they only have air to move. Light blades means the bearings take fewer loads and may last longer; this assumes Gigabyte has made them correctly.

The fan system as LanPirate1 says is open bolt on design, but that is not a bad thing if the result is good. An open design should be more efficient since there is no restriction to moving the air over the cooling surfaces.


If your case fan system is not good then you do need to think about buying the reference card since the reference card exhausts all of its heat out of the case.
 
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