MOST POWERFUL VIDEO CARD?

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MGP
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MOST POWERFUL VIDEO CARD?

Post by MGP » Sun Dec 29, 2002 11:25 pm

hey everyone,

i was wondering if you guys know what is the most powerful video card that can be cooled with a heatsink. for example, some of the geforce 4 mx, ati radeon 9000, and geforce 3 ti200 cards come with only a heatsink. i was thinking of just slapping on a zalman heatpipe cooler to my geforce 4 ti4600 but i think that i dont have enough space to set up a fan bracket to cool the card down (i heard its unstable if you dont). so i guess im just gonna have to compromise! :(

Rusty075
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Post by Rusty075 » Mon Dec 30, 2002 12:26 am

Who says you need to comprimise? Sapphire ULTIMATE RADEON 9700 ATLANTIS PRO

9700Pro and fanless

danielbroad
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Post by danielbroad » Mon Dec 30, 2002 2:40 am

I'm using a GEForce4 Ti4400 quite happily with the Zalman fanless GPU heatsink (the large one). My case temperature sits at exactly 32 degrees (thermostatically controlled) and the GPU Heatsink temperature never goes above 48 degrees when playing games, sits at around 42 normally.

I believe the other user who was posting a lack of success with the Ti4400 was running 3D benchmarks in a loop, i think this will heat up the card far more than any real world game where the CPU will have to do a lot of work hence slowing down the GPU access.

Dan.

MGP
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Post by MGP » Mon Dec 30, 2002 9:13 am

first of all, i cannot even find a retail sapphire radeon 9700 pro ultimate. secondly, i dont think i can use zalman's fan bracket to help cool my ti4600 unless the bracket would work with one of those thin fans (like 1-u) because i dont think i have enough space in the case. anyways, does anyone know the best type of gfx chipset that can be found with just a heatsink?

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Post by Rusty075 » Mon Dec 30, 2002 1:52 pm

The Sapphire fanless 9700's aren't quite out yet. Should be soon though.

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Post by SungHyun7 » Thu Jan 02, 2003 11:53 am

i'm 99% sure that sapphire's quiet 9700 card is just regular 9700 (which is currently available) + zalman zm80a (currently available for $29.99 at frys).

i don't know how much expensive the quiet 9700 card by sapphire is going to be but, if you want the fastest now (and for another month or so), getting the normal 9700 pro + zm80a won't be any compromise over the sapphire's 9700 pro with the heatpipe cooling.

MGP
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Post by MGP » Thu Jan 02, 2003 6:35 pm

http://www.sapphiretech.com/VGA/9700proult.asp

sunghyun, i think that the fanless card is indeed a radeon 9700 pro...however, i have heard that the card is gonna run for about $380 U.S. this sounds like a great deal considering that the card comes with both Soldier of Fortune II and Return to Castle Wolfenstein...but sadly, i dont have another 400 bucks to dole out on a vga card. i think im gonna just install the zalman ZM80A-HP on my gainward ti4600. btw, does fry's carry the ZM80A-HP? in addition, does is carry the Zalman NorthBridge heatsink (ZMNB32J)? thanks!

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Post by SungHyun7 » Fri Jan 03, 2003 1:30 pm

yep frys still has them... and oddly, can't seem to get rid of any of them... it's probably no one knows what it is for... i can see four year old girls thinking it's kinda cute to have on top of the monitor (zm-80a) but otherwise, there's just no market for it...

whatever it is, i go to frys 1-2times a month and the zm80a just gets moved around from the showcase, to the wall, now onto one of those shelfs with other computer 'misc.' category. and yes, it's zm80a. they had it printed zm80 but if you actually look at the print on the product, it says zm80a. best part is it's only $29.99 with no shipping and of course tax which isn't much @ 29.99.

i haven't seen any northbridge heatsinks at frys (and i would've noticed it if they had one).... if they don't have it now, i don't think they'll ever have it in... i think frys's realizing there's not much demand at the retail level for quieter computing... although what they spent on few hundred of those zm80a's was probably a spare change.

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Post by Dru » Mon Jan 06, 2003 7:30 pm

Which Fry's do you go to? I used to live in San Jose, CA... so.. I've been to most of the Fry's in the Bay Area (Campbell, Sunnyvale, San Jose, Fremont..). Fortunately, my move to Arizona kept me happy because there are 2 Fry's Electronics stores in metro Phoenix (woohoo)!

Anyways, this past week's visit to Fry's (yes, I'm a geek going about once a week), I barely noticed a few of the Zalman products.. I was impressed and surprised. But, just like you, I noticed they were moved around. I think "some" are buying the products because there was only one ZM80a left but it was taken off the shelf and misplaced down half the isle.

My guess is that the Sapphire will cost over $400. I think it would be best to buy the parts separately and do the hassle of installing it yourself. Of course, if you use money as toilet paper, then wait for the Sapphire. :roll:

MGP
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Post by MGP » Mon Jan 06, 2003 8:45 pm

dru,

I'm almost certain that the sapphire board will retail at $380 and not over $400 -- 9700 PRO AIW cost $400! :D to a certain extent, i would agree with you BUT the sapphire DOES come with convenience and two excellent games, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Soldier of Fortune II. If you did intend to buy these games, the zm80a-hp, and a big-brand 9700 pro (retails around $310), the $380 price tag actually sounds reasonable. that is, if you dont want the fuss installing the zm80a-hp and would buy the games. :D

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Post by Beyonder » Tue Jan 07, 2003 12:44 am

Dude, I'm all about the ATI 7500 AIW.


It ain't no gamer, but.......werd to the AIW remote and fanless stock.

Dru
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Post by Dru » Tue Jan 07, 2003 7:14 am

WantMyPCToBeDellSilent.. I hope you are right. If it sells for around $375 or less, I'll take it! I would like the RTCW but have no knowledge about the SoF 2 game. I "plan" to build a system within the next quarter. Obviously?... I want it to be a near silent system. I can't wait to read reviews about the Sapphire w/ZM80.

Beyonder, I thought about going with a less than state-of-the-art video card but why if you can get one of the best cards today without a fan? As noted in other threads, it seems the best would be to have mostly passive components with good heat sinks but have a good case airflow system.

MGP
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Post by MGP » Tue Jan 07, 2003 7:32 am

good news, dru: there already are reviews on the sapphire 9700 pro. both of the reviews ive seen show that this card is one of the best performing cards out, but also show that it can be oced A LOT if provided a well-ventilated case environment.

here's one review: http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/ ... te_review/

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