PNY nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256 MB - is it "noisy"?
 

I currently have a BFG 5900 FX Ultra graphics card, and it runs pretty
quitely.

I am considering UPGRADING to the --

PNY nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256 MB card

How "noisy" is it? Anyone with comments?

M. B. wrote:
I currently have a BFG 5900 FX Ultra graphics card, and it runs pretty
quitely.

I am considering UPGRADING to the --

PNY nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256 MB card

How "noisy" is it? Anyone with comments?


I'm not sure of the noise, but I wouldn't buy PNY for other reasons. In
my experience with 2 cards (G4 ti4200 and ti4800), the build quality is
lacking and the image quality is only fair. I gave up overclocking ages
ago. The 4200 blew out some capacitors and power transistors.

My PC not just for gaming (I wish!) but for other "office" tasks as
well. The 2D desktop images aren't too crisp - a bit blurry with grayish
horizontal streaks with black text on white.. This is on the same
monitor that was driven with a Hercules Geforce256 DDR - text,
constrast, black/white levels were crisp.

PNY sells cheap if you are short on cash; I recommend paying the extra
$$ for a better brand.

I just bought and returned a PNY 6800GT from Compusa in 1 day.

It was to be a replacement for my trusty ATI 9700 pro which has
served me well.

Colors seemed a bit washed out and then while playing a pretty easy
(on the card) game Crimson Skies....all the writing in the game menus
turned to colored blocks (temps were still fine and the graphics were
there)....back it went to CompUSA. It also "felt" slow in 2d????

Funny since the PNY 6800GT is supposed to be built by Nvidea. No more
PNY stuff for me as I had some memory with trouble as well a while
back.

Will probably wait now before replacing the card. No one else around
here has the GT and I am not in the mood for mail order. Lots of plain
6800's around though! I will guess that after Xmas, prices will drop
and supplies will be back!

PNY nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256 MB card

How "noisy" is it? Anyone with comments?

PNY uses the reference design and I've never heard anyone characterize the
reference design as quiet. For great accoustic properties, check out the
Gigabyte line of cards that use heatpipe coolers.

I have a PNY 6800 GT.

I have read that it uses the nVidia reference design, so I'd expect it to be
similar to many 6800GTs.

As for noise, the card's cooling fan ran at full speed when the PC started
up, but it dropped back and became inaudible (over the PSU and case cooling
fans) after Windows (XP) finished loading. The 6800's fan didn't noticeably
speed up when it ran flat out in a benchmark (like RTHDRIBL) for a while.

I've since replaced the stock cooler with an Artic Cooling Silencer NV5
(http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=40). It reduced the peak load
temperatures by as much as 10C, but mainly I like that it removes the card's
heat from the case. (I assume that the warranty is dead, of course.) In
practical terms, the NV5 is silent. (I purchased it from
http://www.3dcool.com/Details.asp?cid=288&id=1028.) I run the card at 410
MHz core/1100 MHz memory, although it'll go above that without artifacts or
lockups.

The main complaint that I read about PNY is that their "lifetime warranty"
means for the *production* lifetime of the card. Once it's out of
production, the warranty may die. They also have been reported to use
refurbished cards to fulfill warranty repairs. (Some other vendors do that
as well, particularly after the product has been out long enough that they
have refurbs available.)

HTH.

Bob Knowlden

Address may be scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

"M. B." wrote in message
news:pWqqd.3580$_E3.1713@trndny06...
I currently have a BFG 5900 FX Ultra graphics card, and it runs pretty
quitely.

I am considering UPGRADING to the --

PNY nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 256 MB card

How "noisy" is it? Anyone with comments?

The main complaint that I read about PNY is that their "lifetime
warranty" means for the *production* lifetime of the card. Once it's

For the 6800 cards, at least, the PNY warranty is 1 year + 2 additional
years if you register the card.