Ultra-quiet GeForceFX from Gainward

[Julio Franco]

The Inquirer is reporting that Gainward is hard at work on their GeForceFX videocard that will be equipped with an "ultra-quiet cooling solution" opposed to the hardly criticized ‘dustbuster’ that NVIDIA is using for showing reference samples.

I wonder how many of the card manufacturers are also working on a better cooling system, perhaps you will be better off waiting for a second batch of more elaborated cards instead of pre-ordering FX's that will most likely resemble the reference design.

Gainward engineers in Taiwan, before they get their deserved week of vacation for Chinese New year, have been busy to making a low noise cooling solution. They were able to reduce the cooling system noise to only 7dbs. They claim the rest of the Nvidia reference design cards could be as high as 70db that is "the same level as a domestic vacuum cleaner". We don’t need to say more.

This should come as great news for all of us that were expecting a bit more from the NV30, though the 7 db vs. 70 db noise level comparison sounds a bit too radical, but something down to usual noise levels and room for overclocking should be good enough IMHO (if possible).

 

[Vehementi]

7dba? That's so quiet! That's like silent PC quiet. I'm sure alot of us will appreciate that!

And is it the same two expansion slot design of the reference models?

 

[Per Hansson]

Post on Hardocp.com:

GeForceFX Reborn:
I know what you are thinking, "Already?" We were lucky enough to put our hands on a revamped GeForceFX 5800 Ultra on Monday and I can say that NVIDIA has moved their GFFX flagship in the right direction.

While physically identical in the picture above, except for the coloration of the ducting system, these are two very different GFFX Ultra cards. This new GFFX cooling system does not run in 2D operation, making it quieter than any other 3D cards in this current generation while not being used in a gaming capacity. When the GFFX Ultra is utilized in a 3D application, the fan system spins up and is still about as loud as it was before. NVIDIA reports it to be around 5dBa quieter than the models we saw Web reviews based on last week.

I gamed for around five hours on Monday with the card installed in my own case and I left the side cover off. The case sits at my feet. I found game play in UT2K3, MOHAA, Wolfenstein, and NFSHP2 to be very playable at 12x10 with 4XAA and 8XAF turned on. BF1942 was acting up on my card but after talking to NVIDIA, I am not sure if it is a driver glitch on their end of a system glitch on my end. Still, it is said to be working great at the NVIDIA labs in Austin, TX. I tend to game with the sound turned on, so I did not find the cooling system on the GFFX Ultra to be an issue at all, but we can all argue about that later.

Now that the noise is gone in 2D, and if it ends up on the shelves this way, there are going to be a lot more folks buying the GFFX Ultra and keeping it. Still, if you are used to a very quiet computing environment, the GFFX is most likely not for you.... but then again those games listed above probably are not either.