Decided on an upgrade

[MountieXXL]

can u let me know about the noise on that Toxic Edition, Bloke? been meaning to trade in my 512mb X1950 Pro for one of those but its hard to find decent reviews that also mention/rate the fan-noise.

[dreamachine]

can u let me know about the noise on that Toxic Edition, Bloke? been meaning to trade in my 512mb X1950 Pro for one of those but its hard to find decent reviews that also mention/rate the fan-noise.

ive got a sapphire 4870 and they can be bloody noisy. tho for less graphic intensive games i just use CCC to lower all the settings down to minimum [500mhz gpu, 450mhz mem clock & fan speed 20%] and you can barely hear it, and that setting'll play most things with no problem tbh, it can max out doom3 and HL2 easily [and that obviosly includes TF2]

for your Crysis', Stalker's & Total Wars etc tho, just bang everything back up, but that also means increasing the fan speed as well to compensate and at 40/50% it can be annoying and loud. default settings are 750mhz gpu, 900mhz mem clock & 40% fan speed.

100% is like having a small hoover going off in your room but ive never needed to go that high, and you can always just up your volume to drown it all out. tho this all for the sapphire and not the toxic 4870

[BBloke]

The Card has arrived.. woohoooooooooo

@Sharp Dagger: The card width (stands high from the slot) 120mm - this is due to the heat pipes. Although it's only approx 40mm thick.

I'll report back on the noise but looking at it the fan is larger than the normal ventral fans supplied to standard boards. Here's hoping it spins slower but keeps it cool. I did read that when running fully taxed heat is reaching 85+!!!

I'll take some piccies tonight. Oh yeah.. Came with free Far Cry 2 too... bonus!

[BBloke]

No pics but it's in. Had to major rewiring and placing of drives to free up a couple of molexs and then take a soldering iron to the case so it would accommodate my HDD cables on the mobo.

@Mountie. It's worth getting if noise would bother you. I've changed it with a 3870 and the difference is very noticeable. Idle is quiet and 80% GPU is still quiet. I noticed the card on ebuyer for £165 so it's worked out brilliant. Eventually!