How much does the cooler on a graphics card matter?

[Bolokov]

So I'm kinda lost here. This is my first time actually buying a graphics card, and I'm really lost over the coolers. There are TONS of variants of the same card (in this case I'm looking at the RX 570), but they all have different cooling solutions. So my question is, how do I go about choosing the right card? Should I just go with the cheapest one I can find, or should I spend extra for a card with better cooling? How do I even tell the difference between them if I can't find reviews lol. My biggest concern about this is getting a card that will throttle under load, since it can get quite hot here. Also, if anyone could tell me how good the MSI armor rx570 is in terms of cooling I'd be really happy.

[RadiatingLight]

get the cheapest one you can find, as long as it's made by a reputable company, and isn't a blower style.

some cards still have bad thermals though, so check the thermals of the model you want to buy before buying.

[Max_Settings]

As long as it is not a blower style reference card it will not throttle, yes some coolers are better than others, look up reviews to see which ones are good. But yes that MSI card is fine. Any of the dual fan cards should be perfectly fine, not as big of a deal on lower end cards, than on high end cards that put out tons of heat.

[Bolokov]

@RadiatingLightAlright, thanks man. What companies do you consider trustworthy?

Edited May 31, 2017 by Bolokov

[Spuriae]

Only one in recent memory that wasn't good was the MSI Armor 1080 Ti (which is a shame, since it has the cleanest 1080 Ti VRM too). Everything else should avoid throttling fine. 

 

With cooling the question is really usually "how quiet can it be without throttling?"

[RadiatingLight]

2 minutes ago, Bolokov said:

@RadiatingLightAlright, thanks man. What companies do you consider trustworthy?

EVGA (not relevant cuz no AMD cards)

ASUS

Sapphire (keep in mind they only make AMD cards)

MSI

Gigabyte (although their AMD Polaris stuff kinda sucks AFAIK)

Zotac (also no AMD cards, not relevant)

Have I missed any?

 

[RadiatingLight]

4 minutes ago, Bolokov said:

@RadiatingLightAlright, thanks man. What companies do you consider trustworthy?

 

Just now, RadiatingLight said:

EVGA (not relevant cuz no AMD cards)

ASUS

Sapphire (keep in mind they only make AMD cards)

MSI

Gigabyte (although their AMD Polaris stuff kinda sucks AFAIK)

Zotac (also no AMD cards, not relevant)

Have I missed any?

 

 

I recently bought a sapphire pulse RX 480, which is their budget line, and it doesn't throttle, but is too loud for my liking.

[Bolokov]

@Nimrodor It was actually the comments on that particular card that made me wonder if the armor cooler was any good. Of course, the 1080ti is miles ahead of the rx 570 but it still left me concerned.

[Bolokov]

2 minutes ago, RadiatingLight said:

 

 

I recently bought a sapphire pulse RX 480, which is their budget line, and it doesn't throttle, but is too loud for my liking.

How loud is it? I usually don't mind noise, and the Pulse card would fit right into my budget, although I wouldn't mind going a bit over the budget for a quieter model.

[RadiatingLight]

18 minutes ago, Bolokov said:

How loud is it? I usually don't mind noise, and the Pulse card would fit right into my budget, although I wouldn't mind going a bit over the budget for a quieter model.

audible through a headset when OC'ed