Aftermarket GPU Coolers with 0db mode?

[slentthndr]

I accidentally bought the Founders Edition version of the EVGA GTX 1070 graphics card for a build that was supposed to be ultra quiet.  This FE card is hands down the loudest part of my machine, and I need to replace it! 

 

I'm interested in a semi-fanless cooler... something with a decent heat sync that can handle most of the heat and keep the fans off unless I'm actually using the card.  For the most part this machine will be used in a music recording environment so I want the GPU to be 0db silent unless I'm literally playing a video game, at which point I couldn't care less how loud it is. 

 

So... is there a super awesome cooler I can buy and just slap on the GTX 1070 I already have or should I put this FE card on eBay and buy a new one?  I'd appreciate recommendations either way!

[WoodenMarker]

Where are you shopping/located? Budget?

Have you tried lowering fan speeds? What are your graphics card's idle temps?

[slentthndr]

No budget, and I'm planning to buy online. I'm in Ohio.

I haven't tried lowering the fan speeds nor do I know the temps. How do I find that out/try that?  My Nvidia Control Panel doesn't show me any of that.

[Bcat00]

Perfect timing, i can help you.

 

The cooler you should look at is the Arctic accelero IV, that cooler will fit on any gpu if you are willing to forgo the backplate like i did for my older 760gtx. Now, if you are a super quiet freak like me, i would remove the 3 fans on it because mine came with a tiny rattling noise on the third fan.

With only the heatsink, you can mount any 120mm on it using some metal wire from the hardware store and a (Gelid PWN to VGA fan adapter) for the pwn fans because the GPU fan plug won't fit with the regular fans.

Right now, my fans run at 600rpm during load during all my games like Dark Soul 3 and Witch 3 and etc.

 

Oh, if you do ditch the back plate, you can grab some cheap copper heatsinks on amazon for the vrm but you will likely need to grab the expensive enzotech MOS-C1 heatsink for the mosfet because you don't want to risk shorting out your gpu.

[slentthndr]

25 minutes ago, Bcat00 said:

Perfect timing, i can help you.

 

The cooler you should look at is the Arctic accelero IV, that cooler will fit on any gpu if you are willing to forgo the backplate like i did for my older 760gtx. Now, if you are a super quiet freak like me, i would remove the 3 fans on it because mine came with a tiny rattling noise on the third fan.

With only the heatsink, you can mount any 120mm on it using some metal wire from the hardware store and a (Gelid PWN to VGA fan adapter) for the pwn fans because the GPU fan plug won't fit with the regular fans.

Right now, my fans run at 600rpm during load during all my games like Dark Soul 3 and Witch 3 and etc.

 

Oh, if you do ditch the back plate, you can grab some cheap copper heatsinks on amazon for the vrm but you will likely need to grab the expensive enzotech MOS-C1 heatsink for the mosfet because you don't want to risk shorting out your gpu.

Cool!  Thanks.  Will the fans actually stay off under a certain threshold or do they stay on but they're just really quiet?  I see the temp curve on their site but I'm unclear as to whether or not the fans are off under that temp:  https://www.arctic.ac/us_en/accelero-xtreme-iv.html

 

Also it says its compatible with GTX 1070, so maybe I don't need to worry about the backplate like you did for your 760?

[Bcat00]

The backplate will likely fit your 1070 because its a reference card. And yes, the fans can likely be turned off during idle having fans off is more of a software thing on the gpu then the cooler. Even if not, the fans are pretty quiet, just maybe half a decibel higher then the noctua NF-P12 fans i use in my computer.

As for temps, i remember my 760 stays around 65Cish at load with my noctua fans running at 600rpm, or 29% fan speed with the original 3 fans that came with the cooler.

To compare, the Asus 760gtx uses 170watt and that is higher then the 1070, so you will likely see lower temps then i did.

 

I tried putting my noctua fans to 300rpm before and it stayed at 79C, still lower then what i used to let my original asus cooler runs at, which is 84C to keep fans quiet.

 

[WoodenMarker]

20 hours ago, slentthndr said:

No budget, and I'm planning to buy online. I'm in Ohio.

I haven't tried lowering the fan speeds nor do I know the temps. How do I find that out/try that?  My Nvidia Control Panel doesn't show me any of that.

You can monitor temps and lower your fan speeds with software like Msi Afterburner. http://download.msi.com/uti_exe/vga/MSIAfterburnerSetup.zip

[LogicalDrm]

Is there reason why you can't return whole card and get some with aftermarket cooler? 0rpm mode is coded in GPUs firmware so changing cooler doesn't make it 0rpm just like that.

[mapegl]

On 14.4.2017 at 0:08 AM, slentthndr said:

I accidentally bought the Founders Edition version of the EVGA GTX 1070 graphics card for a build that was supposed to be ultra quiet.  This FE card is hands down the loudest part of my machine, and I need to replace it! 

 

I'm interested in a semi-fanless cooler... something with a decent heat sync that can handle most of the heat and keep the fans off unless I'm actually using the card.  For the most part this machine will be used in a music recording environment so I want the GPU to be 0db silent unless I'm literally playing a video game, at which point I couldn't care less how loud it is. 

 

So... is there a super awesome cooler I can buy and just slap on the GTX 1070 I already have or should I put this FE card on eBay and buy a new one?  I'd appreciate recommendations either way!

I would also suggest either the arctic accelero or an MK 26 with some noctua fans. Both solutions should be very quiet.  But you need the space for it. I used to have an HD7950boost cooled by the arctic accelero III and under load it was not audible while even being overclocked. If you have decent airflow, the arctic coolers are amazing.