Cheap silent GPU recommendations?

boxmonkey · Post by **boxmonkey** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 5:00 pm

Hello,

I'm looking for a cheap PCIe card that will run modern games (I don't care if I have to turn down the settings a bit as long as it's still playable). I'd like it to be as cheap as possible. I'm getting mixed reviews about what kind of power I'd need. The 7600GS seems to get a lot of good reviews but I can't tell if it's overkill for my situation, and I sure wouldn't mind getting a card about half the price if it'll work for me. Vista compatible would be nice, as would 64 bit driver availability.

Any recommendations?

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 6:01 pm

What games do you play? Will give a good indication of the power you need.

boxmonkey · Post by **boxmonkey** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 7:23 pm

Considering that my current card is a Matrox G450...I don't really play any games. But I would like to. I generally enjoy RTS games, apparently not coordinated enough with the mouse for FPS.

trudodyr · Post by **trudodyr** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 8:14 pm

i wouldn't go lower than a 7600gs if you plan on playing any recent games.

kater · Post by **kater** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 12:16 am

asus makes nice & passive 7600gt - should be ok; msi also has some 7600gt cards w passive cooling

7600gt gigabyte passive - tend to get awfully hot (not warm - hot!)

maybe get a 7600gt with standard cooler and swap for thermaltake schooner or zalman sandwich or zalman semiflower - still v queit and good temps

galaxy 7600gs come with zalman semiflowers and offer good OCability

7900gs get cheaper & cheaper - can also be had with zalman coolers - no hassle, good temps, v quiet

there are some passive 7900gt and 7950gt cards but these might be a tad to expensive (whatever your budget is) and will require v good airflow (meaning high rpm case fans)

what games exactly do you want to play? some rts might be heavy on your gpu, but i think 7600gt should be ok

keep in mind that 1) prices keep getting lower because of 8800 cards 2) will go even lower after x-mas (if you can wait - wait after the madness is over)

maybe hunt for a 2nd hand card auctioned by sb who switched to 8800? (this way i got 7900gtx awfully cheap!)

here's a nice gpu roundup - keep in mind it's not super accurate
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html

adent · Post by **adent** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:20 am

kater wrote:asus makes nice & passive 7600gt - should be ok; msi also has some 7600gt cards w passive cooling

7600gt gigabyte passive - tend to get awfully hot (not warm - hot!)

Ah, you just answered my question I asked in another thread. Did you try the Gigabyte card yourself? The problem with the Asus card is that it only works with the standard HSFs, not with tower coolers (such as the Scythe Ninja). What about the MSI card? Is it more efficient in cooling that the one from Gigabyte?

kater · Post by **kater** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:59 am

my bro and my pal HAD gigabytes. v hi temps, no OCability whatsofreakingever (10 mhz at best), but they were cheaper - true. there are better manufacturers. also, my local pc store folks tell me lots of rma w gb cards & mobos (i trust them, honest folks) (on the other hand - lots of ppl are happy with gb here in poland - i read lots of forums on that) - judge yourself

why asus wouldn't work with ninja? oh, the swinging arm! yeah, i remember now. but can't you just swing it or keep it far away from your tower? i dunno...

no such problem with msi - it's v flat, OCs nicely

i have ninja and had gainward 7600gt with thermaltake schooner and there still was sizeable clearance (on asus a8n-e). temps were 60/74 - not bad for OCed vga and almost passive ninja nearby. msi w factory passive heatsink should run cooler, i think

search my posts is general gallery - some pics showing the assembly w 7600gt w schooner (maybe try that? 2nd hand schooner is cheapo)

adent · Post by **adent** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 6:57 am

kater wrote:my bro and my pal HAD gigabytes. v hi temps, no OCability whatsofreakingever (10 mhz at best), but they were cheaper - true. there are better manufacturers. also, my local pc store folks tell me lots of rma w gb cards & mobos (i trust them, honest folks) (on the other hand - lots of ppl are happy with gb here in poland - i read lots of forums on that) - judge yourself

I don't care about overclocking. But if it gets too hot in normal mode, it's not good either.

kater wrote:why asus wouldn't work with ninja? oh, the swinging arm! yeah, i remember now. but can't you just swing it or keep it far away from your tower? i dunno...

Of course, if you don't want to rotate the arm, you can also use it with a Ninja. But in this setup, the cooling is a lot worse.

kater wrote: no such problem with msi - it's v flat, OCs nicely

So you're saying that the MSI doesn't get as hot as the Gigabyte? That's strange, as the MSI heatsink looks a lot less elaborate than the Gigabyte one. In this case, I might go for the MSI.

kater wrote:search my posts is general gallery - some pics showing the assembly w 7600gt w schooner (maybe try that? 2nd hand schooner is cheapo)

I don't like the idea of fiddling around with a new video card (thereby voiding the warranty as well). I much rather get a card that is already designed without a fan.

wowimsocute · Post by **wowimsocute** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 3:58 pm

kater wrote:7600gt gigabyte passive - tend to get awfully hot (not warm - hot!)

how hot is hot? my gigabyte 7600gt idles around 40. (C2D idles 34, seagate idles 31) even on load, it doesnt seem to break 52 degrees.

boxmonkey · Post by **boxmonkey** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 1:03 am

Any reason not to get this one? http://www.buy.com/prod/XFX_GeForce_760 ... 00306.html

The price before rebate isn't great, but I can use google checkout and bring it down to less than I can find on NewEgg, and then hope for the best with rebates.

kater · Post by **kater** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 4:10 am

@ wowimsocute - you have great temps, really low for passive 7600gt - i guess you have v nice airflow. the bg cards i've seen would go up up to 90 degrees under stress - too much for my liking, but still within factory safety limits. it could be sample variance, it could be some other factors, dunno. also, i guess there are 2 version of gb 7600gt - maybe you've got the better one, i don't remember exactly what model they had... or maybe it's the sensor? (them gb cards scorched my fingers! i mean it)

@ boxmonkey - msi heatsink does look less capable, but performs ok - for all i know. all in all - ax wowimsocute what model exactly he's got and you'll be fine

don't get me wrong folks - i haven't played with thousands of gb cards - just a few, but what i've seen makes me sceptical about them.

the xfx is 7600gs - slightly slower than gt but if you get a nice price i'd say go for it

i think you can also get a gainward 7600gs with passive cooling

wowimsocute · Post by **wowimsocute** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 9:28 pm

kater wrote:@ wowimsocute - you have great temps, really low for passive 7600gt - i guess you have v nice airflow. the bg cards i've seen would go up up to 90 degrees under stress - too much for my liking, but still within factory safety limits. it could be sample variance, it could be some other factors, dunno. also, i guess there are 2 version of gb 7600gt - maybe you've got the better one, i don't remember exactly what model they had... or maybe it's the sensor? (them gb cards scorched my fingers! i mean it)

@ boxmonkey - msi heatsink does look less capable, but performs ok - for all i know. all in all - ax wowimsocute what model exactly he's got and you'll be fine

don't get me wrong folks - i haven't played with thousands of gb cards - just a few, but what i've seen makes me sceptical about them.

here's my build (shameless plug): viewtopic.php?t=35914
my gigabyte was the Gigabyte GV-NX76T256D-RH 7600GT. here is a silent card round up at anandtech.com http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2825 in the review, this page says the gigabyte 7600gt runs from 56-78 degrees.

i really have no idea why mine would be so low. i hope it stays that way and working for me

nightmorph · Post by **nightmorph** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 10:05 pm

kater · Post by **kater** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:45 am

like i said - i'm sahring my (indirect) experience w gb cards - there are many factors that can influence temps & readins. come to think of this - how about temp sensors not reporting correct temps? this could work both ways - up & down... it's the kind of variety one will always have to consider... my 7600gt w schooner idled at 61 and reached 75 when fully stressed for long time. tho when i touched the heatsink it didn't feel like that hot. gee, my hr-05 sli shows 35 at highest and feels much hotter... ninja is really cool to touch at 35

to sum it up -

rei · Post by **rei** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 10:06 pm

This is one more reason why you do not buy Matrox in this day and age.