Quiet(able) NVidia based card for gaming apps

scruzbeachbum · Post by **scruzbeachbum** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 11:23 am

First post since I re-registered

Hi all,

I'm planning out a new PC build and need to select a video card. Some restrictions are:
- has to be Nvidia platform due to game s/w needs
- has to be at least geforce 3 Ti200 perfermance, but more like Ti500. I would like to move up the performance chain, but refuse to spend > $200....
- has to be available for sale somewhere and of decent quality

- and of course, needs to either be quiet out of the box, or easily adaptable.

Any thoughts?

TIA,

Steve

shathal · Post by **shathal** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 12:03 pm

How exactly would you manage to spend $ 200 on a Geforce 3?

I'd thought we were beyond ... urr ... 2001, I think, it was?

If I recall correctly, you can still passively cool a Geforce 4 (or some models at any rate). They should be pretty cheap nowadays too, what with the 6xxx series being launched

.

wumpus · Post by **wumpus** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 12:13 pm

If it doesn't *have* to be a nVidia card (and I wonder why it would be-- can you explain this?) the Radeon 9600 series is the way to go, no question about it. Cheap, fast, full DX9, low power draw.. I struggle to find any weaknesses of this chip family at all. Yes you can get faster cards, at a 3-4x heat and power draw penalty, but the performance is quite good regardless.

I'm also a fan of nVidia from way back in the Riva days, but nVidia doesn't have an equivalent for the 9600-- in terms of high performance and low power draw. The 5700 would be the closest thing, but it draws substantially more power (requires PSU connection, etc).

scruzbeachbum · Post by **scruzbeachbum** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 12:38 pm

shathal: Well, I was setting some guidelines - need at least GeForce 3 performance and need something that is available today. I don't WANT to pay $200, I was just setting that as an upper limit for a completed/installed/quiet card.

Wumpus: Unfortunately the game that's my current addiction (Horizons) is poorly designed. They made it very dependant on CPU GHz and tuned it for Nvidia. Performance using a Radeon card is severely curtailed. Hence the need for a cheap, quiet NVidia card. BTW, I have a 9600XT on my current PC and it is great. Now that the rev 3 artic cooler blower is out, I plan to do the final quieting on that PC

shathal · Post by **shathal** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 1:08 pm

No worries. Your last post cleared up a lot of the confusion I was having.

You sure buying your gfx-card should be dependant on ONE game (I admit to not having played Horizons, so am blissfully ignorant)? Even to a game-o-phile like me this seems a tad peculiar

.

I guess the best you could do is get a Geforce 4 something rather in that case. They shouldn't be expensive, I've seen some floating around for £40-50 (and that was a shop).

Have you tried eBay? Or Google/Froogle/kelkoo?

Seems like the initial places for anyone to look?

wumpus · Post by **wumpus** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 2:49 pm

I wouldn't get anything in the GeForce 4 series. The FX'es will run faster and cooler for less money.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 14-128-188

At the <$200 price point, I recommend this 5700 ultra.. it has the new lower power consumption (and a few percentage points better in performance) GDDR3.

http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q1/ge ... dex.x?pg=1

Plus it's a gainward "golden sample" which I've always had GREAT results with. I just noticed it's dual DVI (with VGA adapters for each of course) which is also rather rare. PLUS IT HAS FLAMES ON IT!! AND IT'S RED!! All kidding aside, that's a great card model, if you must have nVidia at <$200, I don't think you can do better than that.