Graphics Card Fan Noise a Problem?

 
I was about to purchase a new HP 610 All-in-One Touchsmart and upgrade to Sonar X1.  But since the new computer (like my current one) will be all-purpose, not just a dedicated DAW, I planned to get it with a separate graphics card (for some gaming), instead of relying on the graphics card built into the motherboard.  But then I realized the new graphics cards have fans on them and some of them are reportedly quite noisy.  Does anyone know if this may be a problem during recording?  I am a small project hobbyist, and have not noticed fan noise on my current recordings (Sonar 6) despite the computer's fan being on.  I was wondering if graphic card fans would be much louder, and if there were ones on the market that are relatively quiet.  Thanks.
 
Greg

A) Because of the form factor of those AIO PC's I think you will have to use a fanless card. From what I can see the card you would go to is a 6550A or the GT450M, they will both have no noise, but you won't be able to play some games at Max settings B) If you had a standard desktop, there are things you can do for fan noise, like sound absorption foam on the interior, or silent fans and a fan controller, or, what I have, I have 4 fans, and the CPU has an internal cooler, and then everything is on a controller, so when I am recording, I can bring the fans down to near silent levels, and when I am playing a few games, I can bring everything up to speed. But with that HP AIO, I don't think fan noise will be an issue, but gaming performance may be.

I have plenty of games on my PC (well Flight Simulator and Couterstrike).
My performance is just as good as anybody else's DAW with a minimal install.

How could this be?

Dual boot i.e. install two operating systems on two partitions (I use Acronis Disk Director for this which has a boot manager:).
And make sure you do backups (I use Norton Ghost on the Games partition).

If you are lucky the graphics card specs will show how noisy they are, otherwise check out TomsHardware or other review sites. At the end of the day it's down to recommendation most of the time.

alex: nice reading .but i just dont see it..

Thanks for the info so far.  I know the HP 610 is far from an ideal DAW and the touch screen features are not that great (I would mostly ignore them), but my wife’s aesthetics values comes into the equation (not to take lightly!)  – a normal desktop is out of the question and I consider the 17 inch monitor size of the largest laptop too small – hence the HP 610 with 23 inch monitor is the only compromise computer I could come up with.  Also, I am not that computer savvy to set up a dual boot system.  So here are the graphic card options.  I can’t find info on which might be more quiet (or quiet enough):
 
Integrated graphics - Intel(R) HD (what I would rather not pick unless I have “no choice”)
1GB AMD Radeon HD 6450A
1GB ATI Radeon HD 5570
1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M
512MB NVIDIA GeForce G210
2GB Radeon HD 6550A
2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M
 
Recommendations?
 
Thanks again.
 
Greg

Replace wife (too noisy).

I just finished building a spanking new desktop for internet/gaming etc

It's got 7 fans in it.

I had half an idea to make it my DAW if it was quiet enough, but absolutely no chance of that!

So I've got a spanking new desktop

Those options are all fanless, not good for games, but will not add any sound.  I am not sure what they mean underpowered.  My work got one of the dell touchscreens last year that had a quad core AMD, with 4GB of ram.  I think it is a good option if not upgrading easily as not a big deal.  I like regular desktops though, personally.  I like that I can pop the case open and upgrade the ram, HD, video card, or CPU.  I don't think it is underpowered.  Just not future proof.

Thanks Insomniac and Freddie H.  Interesting, when I called HP, the tech guy said these cards all have fans, i.e. were not fan-less.  Nevertheless, these cards are designed for laptops (based on a review elsewhere) since the HP 610 is an all in one, I guess it does not have the space inside for normal desktop cards.  Still, per the HP tech guy, the fans on these cards are “small” (including my first choice card:  2 GB NVIDIA GeGorce GT 425M) and thus add negligible fan noise above the computer’s normal cooling fan.  Yet, I agree with Freddie that the performance of these cards are not that great (not for high end gaming), but that is OK since I plan to play mostly older games against the computer AI, so it is less of an issue.  Thanks again for the input. 
 
PS  I really value the advice I get from the Cakewalk Forum users like you all, as I am all alone in this with no friends who are into DAWs.  You guys are all I have.    
Greg

haskins02


Thanks Insomniac and Freddie H.  Interesting, when I called HP, the tech guy said these cards all have fans, i.e. were not fan-less.  Nevertheless, these cards are designed for laptops (based on a review elsewhere) since the HP 610 is an all in one, I guess it does not have the space inside for normal desktop cards.  Still, per the HP tech guy, the fans on these cards are “small” (including my first choice card:  2 GB NVIDIA GeGorce GT 425M) and thus add negligible fan noise above the computer’s normal cooling fan.  Yet, I agree with Freddie that the performance of these cards are not that great (not for high end gaming), but that is OK since I plan to play mostly older games against the computer AI, so it is less of an issue.  Thanks again for the input. 
 
PS  I really value the advice I get from the Cakewalk Forum users like you all, as I am all alone in this with no friends who are into DAWs.  You guys are all I have.    
Greg

Chears!
 
Even though the fanless/heatsink perfom less then its brother, the performance are still adiquate and excellent in a DAW environments.
 
 
Best Regards
Freddie

Thanks again for all the input.  Just a clarification, as I mentioned above already, I would never, I repeat never plan to use the touch screen feature for Sonar - just the keyboard and mouse.  I agree that the computer costs more for similar performance in another package, but my wife's aesthetic values plays a large role and other factors too.  Bottom line - using this computer as a DAW is only one of multiple criteria I need to consider- but its a heck of lot better than the computer I am using now for Sonar 6.  Thanks again for your support!

Greg