980Ti reference

Dawelio

Active member
Hey guys,

So I can't believe I'm seriously actually asking this... But do any of you know how to optimize a reference cooler to be as quiet as possible?.

If I remember correctly, barnsley mentioned that they are quieter than aftermarket coolers... I may be wrong here though, but if that is the case, then how is that achieved?...

Thanks,
Chrazey
 
the only way to get the card to be quieter is to put down the fan speeds, which involves letting the card run hotter (which i do not recommend).

The Nvidia cooler is at it's limits with the reference GTX 980Ti (I do own one), which is a real shame. I actually tend to use my fury X while gaming more often because it has a near silent cooler.
 
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Other than using a custom fan curve to ease it in slowly there isnt really anything you can do as there is no way for the same cooler to remove the the same amount of heat with less cooling.
 
You could remove the Dulux One Coat TIM that most manufacturers apply to the GPU and apply some thing better and less of it, that may net you a few degrees.

Another thing you could do is down dial the GPU speed so it's not working as hard but that would be like putting a 70mph cap on a Lambo!

As said before, a less aggressive custom fan curve to run the card at the raggedy edge of thermal shutdown, but at the risk of GPU throttling and shortening the life of the card.

Then there's my idea of both water block and reference cooler (see build log below) but the air turbulence with the water block fitted actually increased noise levels i.e 50% sounds like the fans are at 70%. Thankfully I never run the fan higher than 45% at full load.

Remember, Nvidia employs a lot of people to design the cooler to be as quiet as possible - but that's not to say you shouldn't try ;).
 
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