SPCR

I really love the 7600GT silent Rev.3 Gigabyte card I purchased. It has been a quiet and solid friend going on a year.

I haven't seen the Gigabyte GV-NX96T512HP card anywhere yet. Maybe it is too new??

http://www.gigabyte.us/Products/VGA/Pro ... NX96T512HP

The Sapphire Heatpipe 3850 will likely interfere with my processor cooler and the ECS 8800GT will be way overkill for my rig.

I've just ordered one. It ought to give great (inaudible) bang for the buck.

product page
http://www.gigabyte.eu/Products/VGA/Pro ... NX96T512HP

"CPU3D Preview: Gigabyte GV-NX96T-512HP Silent Graphics Card"
http://www.cpu3d.com/content/view/4320/67/

The strange thing is that it's the cheapest 9600 GT in Sweden, and in stock.
The other manufacturers want more money for a silent cooler.
But I really wonder why fins in the two heatsinks have different directions.

bomsy: Please tell us about it when you get it.
Like how much airflow it needs to work properly when gaming.

Well at least I know it is out there. The preview in the link would indicate to me that it should hit American market soon *crosses fingers*.

Now I see on Newegg that ECS has this as well:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814134040

Decisions...decisions

Mats, well the store here in sweden with that low price now raised it 16$. I probably caused that by emailing and asking if these gigabyte cards where slower than a standard 9600 GT (I also found the price strangely low). The store verified that it's a standard card BTW, but with a heatsink. The good thing is that I ordered mine before this price increase.

I will report back after getting and testing it.

Anywhere in the UK?

*double post*

bomsy: Any news about your card?

@mats: I'm no expert at either gaming or graphics cards so I can just give some subjective impressions, so take them with a grain of salt. My subjective impression is that this card is awesome!

It is normally inaudible. When under full load gaming I think I at some times can hear a buzzing sound like mentioned in another SPCR thread. But I game with a headset on so I haven't been paying attention to that. I have been playing Crysis at 1280x1024 without any noticeable problem. No graphics related system instability. I have one 120mm in the front (set to lowest possible speed) and one in the back of the case at normal speed. And a 120mm fan in the PSU that runs when needed. I also have a scythe CPU heatsink with a 90mm fan (I think it's 90mm). That seems to be enough to keep the system stable. I haven't measured any temperatures yet, will do that later, but the case is noticeably hotter compared to when I previously used the GPU on the MB.

the CPU3D site have their review up now:
http://www.cpu3d.com/index.php?option=c ... 53&limit=1

Thanks! It' seems like one of the best 9600 GT's right now, especially since the price is so low. I don't care if it's buzzing while I'm playing.

bomsy - thanks for the hands on information.

My PC sits in the living area of my home and quiet performance is the key with me. I'm a little put off by what I keep hearing about with "coil-whine" with video cards as of late. What is the sense of having a silent cooling solution when the card itself is making noise.

Hopefully by the time it gets to the manufacturers in the states that will be a non-issue.

bomsy wrote:Mats, well the store here in sweden with that low price now raised it 16$. I probably caused that by emailing and asking if these gigabyte cards where slower than a standard 9600 GT (I also found the price strangely low). The store verified that it's a standard card BTW, but with a heatsink. The good thing is that I ordered mine before this price increase.

I will report back after getting and testing it.

It's actually faster than a stock 9600GT!
GPU: 720 MHz (Stock 650 MHz)
Memory: 2000 MHz (Stock: 1800 MHz)
Shaders 1800 MHz (Stock: 1625 MHz)

I've had two duds on the Gigabyte passive 9600GT.
With two 120mm fans (system and power supply) it would overheat in about 20 minutes. (large case, little airflow impediment.) Adding a 90mm fan on the front didn't help - I had to shift the 90mm fan right next to it. Even so, it often crashed (possibly damaged by running it before I got the 90mm fan?) I sent it back and the replacement locked up my computer after an hour. (But this was clearly a 'repaired' card, not a new one.)

I'm sorry to hear about 2 failed Gigabyte cards. I ended up with the Sapphire Ultimate HD3850 for my e521 and not one heat issue. If I remember correctly I've never seen it above 60c after hours of gaming. My 5400+ never EVER gets above 30c no matter what task. I "upgraded" a relatives rig with the Gigabyte 7600GT I mentioned in the post and it's still humming along no problem.

I still think that the GPU makers have some serious power envelope issues that have yet to be resolved. I think that the 4670 is a good example of what is possible - boy if that thing had a 256mb memory bus. As many die shrinks as we've seen the last few years it still amazes me that people really "need" a PSU greater than 600w and 2 6pin power connectors for their video card. That's just crazy.