Just got my STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5 and fired up the demo 3DMark benchmark. As expected, the fans are totally silent at low temperatures but they very quickly start to ramp up. About 1 minute into the demo they are really pretty loud. Not 100% loud but too much for me, I think. I fired up The Witcher 3 on ultra. Same - fans start to kick in and the noise seems more than it should be. I've played with asus gpu tweak 2 and afterburner - trying to set custom fan curves but it doesn't seem to help the noise levels while playing games.

I have an asus gtx 660 which is, in my opinion, completely quiet. Is there a way of tweaking the 970 to the same volume levels or should I give up on it?

There is also another issue with a kind of clicking noise during the 3DMark test. I am guessing this is the coil whine folk are talking about but I don't know.

Please give me a reason to keep this card - it's going back to amazon tomorrow if not 🙂

cheers.