Silent PC build - RTX 2070 Super vs. undervolted 2080 Super?

[Guppycur]

If sound is your issue why not go water cooled and eliminate sound entirely?

[Fox]

If sound is your issue why not go water cooled and eliminate sound entirely?

Because water cooled can sometimes make more noise than air cooled? Water cooled has just as many fans + it has the pump which most of them make noise / vibrations. But I guess if you're only liquid cooling the GPU and you plan ahead for the pump placement and use sound / vibration dampening materials on it to make it quiet, it'd probably be quieter than default GPU fans overall. But expensive and risky to set up though, not to mention the tedious maintenance.

 

I'm building a new PC where quietness is paramount -- I'm aiming to reduce even a single dB where possible. For various reasons, I need to build a multipurpose PC with a good GPU rather than build a second, truly silent system with a weak, passively-cooled GPU. Thus, I'm looking for a powerful GPU that's as quiet as possible, and I'm willing to sacrifice performance and spend more to achieve this.

 

Which would be quieter / more power efficient: a 2070 Super, or a 2080 Super undervolted/underclocked/power-limited to 2070 Super performance levels? The main difference between the two seems to be the extra cores in the 2080 Super -- would that affect noise/thermals positively or negatively when the extra cores are undervolted/underclocked?

 

I know the 2070 Super route will be significantly more cost effective, but I'm willing to overspend on a 2080 Super and decrease its performance if it means better noise levels.

 

In other words, which option would run more efficiently in terms of power consumption / heat, given the same performance?

 

Thanks!

This is a great question and is often overlooked when ppl build new PCs. There are cases out there that help dampen most of the sounds created by fans. For example, instead of front fans, they're located on the side / back panel. Instead of aluminum, buy one made of steel, instead of small fans, get one with large fans (the bigger they are, the quieter they are). If your case is extremely well vented, your GPU shouldn't ramp up in heat nearly as much as a poorly vented case, thus allowing for a quieter environment. Try to get equal airflow in the case or a slightly positive air pressure which causes the air to find other routes to vent out. ACX style fans on a gpu is far quieter than blower style. Some manufacturers make their GPU heatsink much bigger taking up 2 1/2 slots (sometimes even 3 slots) instead of 2 allowing for even more passive cooling and they typically overclock them a bit, but you could always just set them back to normal clock speeds and just enjoy the quietness.

 

No matter which card you get (2070 vs 2080), the heat will pretty much be the same since the cards are all built to allow a certain amount of heat. So undervolting would help, but why would you do that when there's other options?

 

As far as CPU goes, I'm sure you know this already but pretty much any aftermarket cooler with 120mm fan(s) will be quiet. Noctua makes some really nice quality coolers, the fans are ugly, but they work really well and I've yet to hear any of the bearings wearing out on them.

 

Eco mode also helps reduce a tiny bit of fan noise from a PSU, but you need to get one that is rated much higher in watts than the PC requires so that it isn't under stress causing the PSU fan to turn on and go high speed. So if your PC requires roughly 500 watts of power, get something rated for 750 watts or higher. And get bronze rated or better, just because quality matters.

 

Some mechanical drives make a lot of noise when doing stuff. Either go with SSD or just be careful which drives you buy.

[Guppycur]

I've zero problems with my water cooled system, from noise to risk to "maintenance".

 

I just wish I had a water cooled PSU. =)

[Fox]

I've zero problems with my water cooled system, from noise to risk to "maintenance".

 

I just wish I had a water cooled PSU. =)

lol, they do make water cooled PSUs, though I have no idea why or why anyone would want to mix water with high voltage.

 

Linus Tech Tips showed noise levels from air cooled to AIO liquid cooled and proved that liquid cooled isn't quieter or even cooler than air. But for GPU usage, I guess it could make sense since GPUs can get pretty loud. But like my previous post suggests, there are other options to minimize sound.

 

reference:

[Beelzybub]

The quietest air cooled graphics card are the ones with 3 fans. With more fans, you can spin them slower which is quieter than 1 fan spinning fast.

Also with air cooled cards the fans will be off at idle. Whether air or water cooled, the fans are what are making noise, so buying quieter fans and slowing them down seems the path to follow.

 

Also, a quiet case helps of course.

 

edited: Deleted link because I misread 2080/2070 as 1080/1070 and posted an irrelevant link.

[Fox]

The quietest air cooled graphics card are the ones with 3 fans. With more fans, you can spin them slower which is quieter than 1 fan spinning fast.

Also with air cooled cards the fans will be off at idle. Whether air or water cooled, the fans are what are making noise, so buying quieter fans and slowing them down seems the path to follow.

 

According to this ariticle, the 2080 consumes a little more power than the 1070 under load. At idle they are the same.

 

https://www.anandtech.com/show/10325/the-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-and-1070-founders-edition-review/30

 

Also, a quiet case helps of course.

Forgot about that, and yes I completely agree, but to a point. Yes if it was built correctly, no if they nickle and dime on dumb stuff like inadequate thermal pad sizes or quality (ex:

), or bad contact to the GPU die, etc... Number of fans can definitely help, yes, but it isn't always the entire equation.

 

As always, do research before buying anything.

[meganoth]

From a strict hardware perspective a 2070 super and a 2080 super have exactly the same GPU-chip on their boards, a TU104. Just that the TU104 on the 2070 super has some cores intentionally deactivated and the TU104 on the 2080 super was tested to be able to handle the higher frequencies. And the RAM on the cards is different, the 2080 super has faster RAM put on the board.

 

So if you tune the 2080 super for the frequencies of the 2070 super you effectively have a 2070 super with some additional cores. Nothing more, nothing less. Since both cards seem to differ by about 10% in benchmarks, the actual speedup of the 2080 super will be somewhere inbetween, the power draw/noise too.

 

The less power you convert to heat in the PSU, the less there is to cool and the less noise you produce.

 

I would select a PSU that has the best "80 PLUS" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_Plus) power efficiency at the usual power consumption when you are playing a game. PSUs are rated with bronze to titanium according to their power efficiency at specific points, and the best power efficiency is demanded at 50% of rated power. So at the right power bracket buy a PSU with at least gold rating (while also comparing some reviews which PSUs are really silent), at higher power brackets gold and up isn't really expensive

 

Example: If a 2070 super draws 215W, CPU about 100 Watt, motherboard 60W, we are at 375W which would suggest a 750W power supply. But the 215W is maximum rating, not sure you typically reach those values playing a game. Maybe a 650W PSU will better fit your typical gaming power draw. Check benchmarks, some have listed actual power draw of the PC for the games they test.

 

If you think the power efficiency steps of the ratings are negligible, between bronze and platinum at say 350W the bronze rated PSU will convert up to 53W into heat while the platinum will convert half, up to 25W