Not really a new since it's a used 7970 GHz, but anyway.
The rumors about AMDs being noisy and hot weren't exaggerated... Though the card is probably a bit old and the fans might have lost some of their performance. Should I invest in some sort of an aftermarket cooling solution?
If the heat is an issue, then invest. You should consider upgrading in the near future if its a used card, never know how long till it will kick the bucket.
Have you cleaned it. Some times dust can be a big issue.
I did visually inspect it, and looks like the previous owner had cleaned it a bit.
Yeah, maybe I'll just suffer through this and buy a $600 Nvidia card when I can.
Maybe you should try replacing the thermal paste. That might help with the temperatures and noise levels.
You could also buy a Kraken and a water cooler and water cool it. That'd keep it nice and chilly while also keeping it pretty quiet (I have an H60 from Corsair and its pretty quiet, it'd be even quieter if you turned down the speed of the fans)
But yes, I can vouch for the dust thing. I had a laptop that couldn't play Portal 2 for more than 10 mins without overheating, and after blowing it out with a can of air it could play it on higher settings and not have any issues. Dust is EVIL.
wait and see how the 390x fairs, it's gonna be out in the summer. If all goes well the 390x should kill the 980.
AMD cards get loud just as much as nVidia cards. If you crank the fans up to 100% on a Titan it will scream.
The 7970Ghz shouldn't need to go above 55% on the fan to keep it cool enough to not crash. You can use Catalyst Control Center to set the fan speed manually. If at 55% the fan sounds like it's screaming, then there is possibly a problem with the fan itself.
Check out my modded 7970 thread where I replaced the stock fans with replacement fans for ~$25 and replaced the stock TIM with Arctic Silver (what I had laying around). My GPU now doesnt get over 64C under load. It is also pretty quiet. I think my H100i is louder than the GPU.
Check the temperatures, and the fan curve/RPMs. If the fans are set to run at 100% all the time, well, there aren't many cooling solutions that remain quiet when at 100%. If your temperatures are acceptable, then you should be able to find a way to modify the fan curve to be more pleasing to your ears.
Anyway, if the temperatures are, somehow, ridiculously high, then it's time to inspect the heatsink. You may have to check the thermal compound, and replace it.
Any pics of the mod? Did you just remove the stock bracket and attach new fans?
I have two 92mm fans laying around that might make an interesting mod.
Before you invest anything, I'd stress the card with something like Unigine or alike, monitor the actual temperatures and then try to create a coustom fan-control curve. Maybe the factory fan-curve is just crap and you can really make it quieter by preventing it from ramping up the fans too early. If it's a used cards, you might want to check on the thermal compound and maybe replace that.
Well, I adjusted the fan curve so that it stays at around 40% and really starts climbing at 70C and then tries to keep the temp at 80C max.
The noise levels while playing Cities: Skylines got significantly lower. However, it still sounds pretty painful for 40%. I'm suspecting that the fans could be a bit worn out. Since it's an AMD card, it has probably been abused with crypto-currency mining for the past few years.
Well, if you still want to invest in that card, maybe try the Arctic Accelero Xtreme IV. It's very powerfull, quiet and still affordable.
@Calculatron Sorry, I just realized I wrote pretty much what you wrote in your post. Didn't see that.
I removed the entire heatsink since in order to access the shroud, I had to remove the heatsink. I wouldnt use just any 92mm fans laying around. Get some from Amazon for cheap and get some good TIM and swap them out. Makes a BIG difference.
No problem. :) (Great minds think alike?)
+1 to the Accelero Xtreme IV.
Just a thought, did you make sure your cables where connected correctly to both the GPU and the PSU?
Sometimes, when both cables aren't connected correctly, it can sounds like that. The fans just run full blast.
@HelloMrOwl
Yeah, everything should be connected OK.
Alright, that Acceleron Xtreme might be a good purchase and it would probably outlive many of my GPUs to come.. But that'll have to wait since it wouldn't fit in my Node 304 case.
See if you can pick up a cheap 2nd hand AIO cooler then buy one of the G10 or equivalent gpu AIO brackets. (Just that everything you get is compatible.) Would work out about the same price as an A/Cooling heatsink.
You may even be able to find burn out miner gpu's that came with a good cooler - dcu2's, twin frozr's, etc for next to no $$$ at all. Worth a hunt anyway I reckon.
My GPU actually has a Gigabyte Windforce cooler, so it should be a decent cooling solution. Maybe the bearings are just busted from the years of mining or something.