Quiet cooling solutions on MSI's new RADEON X and GeForce 6 series VGA cards? Which is quietest?

Question

Hi.
I am, like many people are at the moment I'd imagine, trying to find the ideal graphics solution for running Doom 3. Say what you will about it, but I've played it, and I for one want to get my hands on it in a bad way.
The problem is that my PC doubles as a crude workstation for digital recording, and my condensor mics tend to pick up even very faint sounds. My current system configuration is: P4 C 3.2GHz, ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe mobo, 1GB DDR400 in dual channel, WD 3.6GB Raptor SATA HDD for OS and apps, and two 120GB Maxtor drives in RAID 1 for audio data storage, and the weak link as I call it, my gaming-inept Matrox Millenium 64MB. (Great for work...terrible for games, as expected). All this is running in the Antec Sonata case, and boy is it ever silent. I have to turn off my supposedly silent air filtration system across the room just to hear the PSU fan lol. It's been very good to me.
Doom 3 is the only game I intend to run on this system, simply because, call me crazy, but I am an old school Doom level editing addict, and I actualy like the tight narrow repetitive cooridor style gameplay it lets me enjoy. Furthermore, using editors feels alot like tinkering with my audio software, a feeling I very much savor.
I was going to go for a HIS Excalibur X800 IceQ II because they are supposedly extremely quiet, but darned if I can find one for sale anywhere on the planet. Lol.
So, I have decided to turn to MSI, who have never let me down with respect to near-silence in the past with their VGA cooling solutions.
So my questions are:
1) The NX6800 128MB (non-ultra, non-GT variety) is very quiet from what I hear, when the fan is set to the (default) lowest setting. Does the NX6800GT or Ultra feature the same cooling solution, and is it just as quiet, nearly as quiet, or noticeably louder than the plain variety?
and
2) I have heard in general that the new RADEON cards are much quieter than the GeForce 6 series cards. Does this hold true for MSI's X800 cards as well, and is the RX800 XT as quiet or quieter than the NX6800 or NX6800GT, etc. ?
Note that I care more about silence than performance. I would be perfectly happy running Doom 3 at 1024x768 at medium or even low settings, as long as I can keep the framerate smooth. I'm not very picky.
I would be truly grateful for anyone's assistance in this matter. Thanks very much in advance.

Answer 1

Thanks for the reply and the info.
Yes, they do run much quieter in 2D. But are there any decible readings anywhere on the net for the stock X800 PRO cooler (in 2d or otherwise)? I ask this because, let's face it, most reviewers tend to focus on the performance rather than the decible levels (as long as the noise level is tollerable to them, they usualy give scores without going into much detail about how loud or silent something is), and being quieter than the competing products doesn't neccesarily mean it's truly quiet.
Basicaly, by quiet, I mean so quiet that it would be hard to hear it unless I get closer than two feet to the tower, and even then, rather faint or even inaudible unless I actualy put my ear up to the tower. My mics are that sensitive. Is the X800 Pro that quiet with the stock reference cooler? I'm thinking it probably isn't, but I could be wrong. The Toxic Pro of course is more than quiet enough, but I have some concerns there.
I would prefer the X800 XT or, at the very least, the plain 6800 128MB, as they both (even the 128MB normal 6800) score higher consistently in Doom 3 benchmarks than the normal X800 Pro (not overclocked). While I'd prefer a 256MB card over a 128MB one, and Sapphire using the VGA Silencer on their Toxic Pro is a nice touch, that card overclocks the memory freq, which is a no-no with Doom 3 from what I've heard. Doom 3 doesn't like overclocked cards, as John carmack said, and that seems to be true given that I've heard lots of people complaining of artifacts with even moderately overclocked cards, be it the memory or core frequency. I could, of course, just not use the "A.P.E." functionality, and run it at stock X800 Pro speed, and with the silence on the Toxic Pro it would be great...but then why not just get the higher performing 128MB 6800 for roughly the same price or less?
See my dilema? Lol.
Idealy, I'm hoping MSI's X800 XT or their GT or Ultra versions of the 6800 will have quiet cooling solutions. If they do, then it would save me alot of work making up my mind. No overclocking, guaranteed stability, total (or near total) silence, and guaranteed to handle Doom 3 (atleast fairly well... like I said, I'm not too picky), and I wouldn't feel short changed on performance either. As it stands now though, unless I can confirm whether or not they do, I'm going to have to settle for their standard (but extremely quiet) 6800 128MB.
Any further thoughts (anyone?) given the above considerations? Thanks again. I really appreciate it. Good idea on the Toxic Pro, just perhaps not ideal for my situation.