Fatawan Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 If you value your ears, avoid this card. I bought one for my HTPC because of the HDCP compliance and the multitude of TV-out options. This card even comes with BeyondTV. Well, the fan is a noisy piece of junk, with fan speeds at either 20% or 100%. Opening nearly any application sends it to 100%. It is by far the noisiest component fan I have ever heard. There is no control possible via Rivatuner, ExpertTool, nTune, etc. The BIOS will not allow it. You can hack the BIOS to turn it down to some fixed percentage, but that will void warranty. EVGA tells me I am SOL, that they use only the NVIDIA reference design, and that they will not offer a different BIOS. They suggested I buy a quiet after market cooler. WTF! Thus ends my relationship with EVGA. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleDavid218 Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 No offense, but this is NOT EVGAs fault. ALL 7950GTs (and 7900GTs) run with their fans on 100% by default. Like EVGA said, get another cooler if you don't like it. Unlike most companies, EVGA allows you to use aftermarket cooling without voiding the warranty. So if anything, they're your friend at this point. EVGAs service is also awesome. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pikachinks Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 EVGA has the best customer service support ever. =) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldMike Posted December 13, 2006 Posted December 13, 2006 UMMMMMMMMMMMM, not to defend EVGA but I bought mine after reading the reviews at Newegg and the recomendations there to get a Zalman Vf900 cooler. I'm quite happy with my quiet setup. Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyboy14295 Posted December 13, 2006 Posted December 13, 2006 I just purchased this board and will report back when i get it runnin. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatawan Posted December 13, 2006 Posted December 13, 2006 Yes, this is a review. Some people care about excessive unbearable noise from their equipment. When a company touts a product as suitable for a HTPC, and includes media center software in their bundle, and adds in component, S-video, and DVI connections for TV linkage, one would assume it does not have a 50 or 60 decibel fan that starts with every app. Reviews did not indicate this fact--the only ones I saw were comparison types, and nothing was said about actual noise levels, only relative levels. It IS EVGA's fault. Is there no technology out there that EVGA could use to make this a quiet product? Plenty of manufacturers seems to have found a way to put quiet coolers upon their cards. Why is EVGA immune? One of the higher ups called today--I will give them points for actually calling. He was of no use, of course. "Yes we know it is loud. Yes you are right that you can't control the fans in any manner short of hacking BIOS. No we have no plans to make a new BIOS to include fan control. No we will do nothing for you." The end. EVGA is not my friend. The bottom line is tough luck, go spend even more money if you want your EVGA product to perform as intended in the application it was marketed for. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbeaver Posted December 13, 2006 Posted December 13, 2006 i control the fan on my evga using rivatuner... works fine....... and whats so hard about running nibitor, set the fan speed, then flash the card? if u wanna rma it, just make sure u have a backup copy to copy the original (altho evga has a list of bios's on their site, and mvktech too), and evga wont know... they maybe suck according to ur standard, and i respect that, but no other company allows such waRranty like theirs and to have somebody from Cali to call me up here in Canada a couple of times to help me around... thats top notch on my book. ps: if u flash the bios, and send it back wit the bad bios, it wont damage ur warranty. the only thing that will void ur warranty is 1. hardware damage 2. selling it to other people hope that helps. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleDavid218 Posted December 13, 2006 Posted December 13, 2006 Seems to me that other cards from other manufacturers are equally as loud. For the record -- I own 2 Zalman VF700CUs and 1 Zalman VF900CU -- I value quietness. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splave Posted December 13, 2006 Posted December 13, 2006 What videocard with a fan is quiet? Certainly not an x1900 or 7--- series, thats why you get a vf900, you cant hear the fan and it keeps the card cooler. Personally I only use 120mm fans in my case because I hate the noise as well, I didnt think the stock 7950gt was that loud compared to other cards, using a vf900 now and it is silent. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatawan Posted December 13, 2006 Posted December 13, 2006 I read that review. What it doesn't say in there is that the fan spins up to 100% when virtually any application is opened. It talks about noise levels at full load. I know I will not have Futuremark 3DMark05 running in a loop all the time to stress my GPU. read what it says, ...."Only from EVGA's 7950GT we noticed that it changed its fan speed when temperature started to rise." One would assume it rose as temps rose. That is not the case at all. It's 100% under any load, however minor that may be. Another thing --"The single slot cooling is quite compact, but this also means that the fan is rated to spin quite fast in order to dissipate all the heat once the GPU is under full load." Once again, this is untrue. The fan is rated to spin quite fast BEFORE any load is placed upon the GPU. The EVGA tech admits it spins up with no need, no actual load. People should know this fact before making a purchase. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleDavid218 Posted December 13, 2006 Posted December 13, 2006 If you insist. It's not going to prevent me from buying EVGA cards. The arguments in this thread are empty and lack any tangible evidence. -Thanks Splave Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbaxm2 Posted December 13, 2006 Posted December 13, 2006 I have one and the noise doesn't bother me at all. Just my own opinion as was your review. I always thought it was a givin that if you wanted to build any sort of high end pc and still have it quiet then you better be prepared to spend money on aftermarket cooling. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts