Ever since getting my GTX 960 a few weeks back, I have found myself worrying about temperature and noise. It is my first "proper" GPU purchase, cause I previously had a PCIE-powered GTX 750.
 
I have been looking at reviews on the Internet, and the GTX 960 consistently ranks the lowest in terms of the card temperature and noise produced, when compared to products like the R9 380 and GTX 970.
 
So I've been wondering, am I just being unrealistic in my temperature and noise expectations, coming from a GTX 750? I have the GTX 960 running at 45% fan speed (1750RPM) at 80C. I hear people saying they run their cards with the fan % set to equal the temperature, but I tried it and at 65% the sound gets worryingly loud to my ears.
 
I do usually game at nights, when it is almost pin drop silent as well. During the day, if the TV is on or the ceiling fan is on medium speed, I can't tell when the fan is blowing at 45%.
 
Maybe it is because I have grown up over the years thinking that whenever you hear a loud fan from your PC, things are about to fail. When I used to play RollerCoaster Tycoon 10-15 years ago, my PC used to sound like a jet taking off. One fine day, the entire system just shut off and failed.
 
So anyway, long story short, how loud is your GPU when under load, and is there a need to worry about it?

GTX 480..
 
'nuff said.
 

Zuhl3156
Relax, you're going to worry yourself to death about nothing.

This is pretty much true...
 

You didn't say exactly what version of 960 you have, but some of them have a QSD BIOS (Quick Switch Dual BIOS) switch near the 6-pin/8-pin power connector/s that either runs the fan in Low RPM Mode when the GPU is below 60C, or 0dB Mode when the GPU is below 60C..Low RPM Mode can help keep GPU temp down..Otherwise, if you have one without QSD BIOS, the fan will turn off when the GPU is below 60C, but you can use EVGA PrecisionX or MSI Afterburner to set up a custom fan speed profile to balance temperature and fan speed/noise more to your liking..As-is, without any software fan control, your card will use the VBIOS programming and GPU Boost 2.0 algorithms to maximize performance while minimizing noise..Cards with ACX Cooling also will exhaust more hot air into your case, making good case ventilation more important, as opposed to a blower-style card which exhausts hot air out the back which helps keep case temp down..As long as it's not making any strange noises like ticking, buzzing, squeeking/chirping or anything and it's just air rushing sound, don't worry about it as everybody above said.
 

I set my own fan profile to increase steeply on my 980 Ti, From 0% 35c to 100% 75c. I frequently game with headphones(kids, dog, wife) and never notice it. My case has so many fans unless I adjust it while just browsing I can't even hear it.
 
Find a balance you like. Try out a few speeds and see what you can ignore after about 15 min of gaming. The fan is not made to run at 100% the whole time (nothing is that I know of) but those can be replaced easily. You want loud? Look up the Scythe Kaze fan...I used to own one.