Recommend a good quiet (fanless) video card

JPS · Post by **JPS** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 9:09 pm

So far all I can find are the Radeon 9200 series. What else is out there?

Cosine · Post by **Cosine** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 9:53 pm

There are passive 9600pro cards available

sbabb · Post by **sbabb** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 10:30 pm

Many of the lower-end Nvidia cards are fanless, too. Check out the GeForce4-MX 420 and the FX5200 cards.

You didn't mention what you'd be doing with your system, though. If you want a fast, fanless card for gaming, maybe the Radeons would be a better idea. I really don't know. I'm working on water cooling an All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro, so I haven't kept up on card speeds in the fanless area lately.

hsdhman · Post by **hsdhman** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 10:43 pm

Or you could make one fanless.

Zalman's fanless video heatsink is great. It cools my geforce4 Ti 4400 just fine.

grandpa_boris · Post by **grandpa_boris** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 10:51 pm

sapphire makes several ATI based videocards with passive heatsinks. one notable one (and it's on my list of possible upgrades) is a 9800 pro card with a zalman heatpipe. newegg has them. reviews i read say it is likely to overheat if it doesn't get enough air flow. that isn't surprizing and shouldn't be much of a problem if you are already planning to have a front end fan.

ljs1987 · Post by **ljs1987** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 12:11 am

Can a cooler card like a 9600XT with Zalman heatpipe be run without case fans?

MGP · Post by **MGP** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 1:21 am

for a reasonable budget if you're not a hard-core, everything-flipped-on gamer, go with the Radeon 9200. I heard that the newer 9600SE is even faster but only a bit more expensive (the one I have seen, an ASUS, has a fan, but I'm sure you could use some heatsink like a lower-end Zalman video graphics fanless cooler to easily keep it nice and stable).

efcoins · Post by **efcoins** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 4:42 am

Matrox P650 is good

hyperslug · Post by **hyperslug** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 11:12 am

There's an Nvidia Quadro2 over at surpluscomputers for $60. Not exactly a gaming card, but still good and fanless. Just got one.

//edit: it's the equivalent of the mx440's i think. the quadro line is tweaked for 3d rendering just like Ati's FireGL's vs Radeons.

Inexplicable · Post by **Inexplicable** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 11:52 am

JPS wrote:So far all I can find are the Radeon 9200 series. What else is out there?

I've got a Sapphire Radeon 9700 Pro ultimate edition. Fast, fanless, and hot enough to fry eggs on.

grey · Post by **grey** » Thu Dec 18, 2003 12:00 pm

I have a Quadro XGL380 which is fanless and works fine for CAD work (the primary role of this computer). It also works on the latest Homeworld 2 game, though not with all the effects that require a fast graphics card.

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 12:47 am

JPS,

what features are important on your card:

- high 3D performance (esp. games)
- artifact free image (no rolling lines, ghosting, blurring, etc)
- price

If you want high 3D speed, then 9600XT (passively cooled version) is a decent choice.

If you want superior image quality, then Matrox G550 is a good choice.

regards,
Halcyon

Katowski · Post by **Katowski** » Sun Dec 21, 2003 9:24 pm

halcyon wrote:If you want high 3D speed, then 9600XT (passively cooled version) is a decent choice.

What 9600XT card has passive cooling? The 9600XT cards I find all have active fan cooling :\

Trip · Post by **Trip** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 2:23 pm

Katowski wrote:
halcyon wrote:If you want high 3D speed, then 9600XT (passively cooled version) is a decent choice.
What 9600XT card has passive cooling? The 9600XT cards I find all have active fan cooling :\

Correct me if I'm wrong, I believe each of these are fanless:

sapphire 9600XT Ultimate
sapphire atlantis 9800pro Ultimate
sapphire ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 PRO ULTIMATE

Halcyon, what screen would the higher image quality of the Matrox be noticable on? Would a really high resolution screen be needed or would a regular LCD, HDTV, or CRT produce a difference?

grandpa_boris · Post by **grandpa_boris** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 3:20 pm

Trip wrote:what screen would the higher image quality of the Matrox be noticable on? Would a really high resolution screen be needed or would a regular LCD, HDTV, or CRT produce a difference?

my experience with matrox cards has been on 1600x1200 and larger CRT desktops. i found matrox's text character generation be superior to just about all other cards: the text is crisp, the antialiasing and smoothing is noticeably better than other vendors' cards, decent signal strength, which seems important when dealing with a long VGA cord to an analog display.

i hadn't tried a matrox card with an LCD display.

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 11:57 pm

Trip,

I agree with boris.

At higher resolutions (signal frequencies) like 1600x1200@85Hz you will easily notice a significant difference, when using a high quality CRT display (calibrated/tuned) and good quality properly terminated VGA cable.

If one uses purely digital signaling, like DVI-D, I think the question becomes irrelevant.

I have no experience on TFT/LCD panels using the analog side of DVI-I connections.

regards,
Halcyon

Recommend a good quiet (fanless) video card

Recommend a good quiet (fanless) video card

Re: Recommend a good quiet (fanless) video card