Single-slot quiet Video card (>8600) recommendations?

jeffc111 · Post by **jeffc111** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:47 pm

I'm looking for a video card to meet the following specs:

required:
- takes up a single slot, doesn't overhang the slot on either side of it.
- quiet

preferred:
- rear exhausting
- 8600GT / equivalent or better

I presume this means an actively (fan) cooled card, given the space constraint.

I expect that quiet is a relative term in this case, I'm just looking to do the best I can.

Thanks!

sgtsmith · Post by **sgtsmith** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:21 pm

With a single slot configuration you won't be able to have it exhaust outside the case, so I'm assuming your just referring to exhaust to the rear of the case. In that case, I used an HD3850 for a little over a year. It ran a little warm under load (still within manufacturers specs but 80C and above) with the fan at 25% which was factory set. At that setting the fan was silent. You can turn up the fan with Rivatuner to 40-45% and it's still pretty quiet.

The one drawback is that it's a large card. You can get one for a pretty good price these days and the graphics performance is quite good. The only reason I replaced it was I wanted something that could be cooled passively with less effort.

I'll let someone else give you their opinion of the 9600GT as I've never owned or worked with one. But I think that would be another good single slot card.

Namheul · Post by **Namheul** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:27 pm

I reckon the 4670 would be nice.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:12 am

HD 3850 with reference cooler was dead silent, single slot solution that massacres 8600-series cards in games. Alright it was bit warm and in poorly ventilated cases it reached upto 90 degree's C in load.

I had 3850 CF in SLK3000B with modded with Nexus fans. I never saw 90 degree peaks there. You only could hear fans hurr fully when powered up then they quiet down and I never really heard stock fan. As SPCR also tested when they tested HD 38x0 cards.

Edit. SPCR's test on cards:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article811-page1.html

sgtsmith · Post by **sgtsmith** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:42 pm

The 4670 is also a good card, but the reference cooler is not nearly as quiet as the 3850. It is factory set at 50% and I didn't fool around with it too much prior to changing over to the Accelero. It seemed tolerable around 25% if I recall. It certainly doesn't take a lot to cool the card though. Mine never reaches above 60C at load with my case fans set at 700 RPM. It offers comparable graphics performance to the 3850. Hope this helps.

jeffc111 · Post by **jeffc111** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:35 pm

Thanks for your insights. It sounds like the ATI cards are generally favored - that's fine with me.

sgtsmith - you're right about rear exhausting - it seems like it would be better for my case to exhaust generally towards the back (not outside the case), but that certainly isn't a requirement.

Thanks again!

baconandeggs · Post by **baconandeggs** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:22 pm

out of interest what case do you have? i found putting a 9600GT into my case quite a mission due to the gfx card length and neighbouring hard drives/cables.

Munters · Post by **Munters** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:48 am

If you're in for an Ati card within the 4670 spec range, why not consider a passive version? For instance: Sapphire sells Ultimate versions (which do have passive cooling) of the 3850, 3870 and 4670.

jeffc111 · Post by **jeffc111** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 5:29 pm

Well, the case is actually a 2U rack-mount, with a PCIe / PCI riser to allow inserting full-height cards horizontally. I have another card that must go in the computer, so there's very little room.

To my knowledge, the passive cards all overlap the slot next to them. In any case, I had an ASUS 8600GT passive card, and ended up putting a Zalman on it because it was running so hot - it would pass 100 C with any load at all. It wouldn't surprise me if other passive cards worked better - that one had a heatsink with a really cheap feeling to it - almost plastic-like.

Arfa · Post by **Arfa** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:45 am

Just brought a Palit Geforce 9400GT graphics card. Single slot and passive. I've got a slim Silverstone LC04 case, where my soundcard will be sitting right next to it. Also it will be upside down to riser as well... I'll let you know how I get on in a few days. Got an 80mm Nexus case fan at same time, just in case. Eitherway it was pretty cheap, only Â£35.
Admittedly I don't play many games and it'll mostly be used for Linux desktop and video playback.

Arfa · Post by **Arfa** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 11:47 pm

Quick update now I have the Palit 9400GT card installed. First things first, it gets hot, very hot. Ok, its upside down and has another PCI card directly below it, which I guess is not ideal, but going to be common in many cramped slimline cases. Without a case fan blowing directly onto it, the card ramped up to 90Â°C within about 5-10min of just general Linux desktop usage...
At this point I didn't let it climb any higher and installed a case fan. Which on my case (Silverstone LC04) blows directly onto the cards from their top edge. With a Nexus 92mm at default speed this brings the card down to 50-52Â°C where it holds nicely. Not tried any heavy 3D apps yet, but World of Goo and h264 playback didn't make the temp budge much.
So if you don't want to add a case fan, maybe go with something slower/cooler or experiment giving the card more space.

arbiter · Post by **arbiter** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:53 pm

I have an 9800GT XLR8 1GB from PNY. The first one I got was very loud, the 2nd one was much quieter. It's pretty much inaudible when idle in my Antec Three Hundred. I can hear it when it runs the fan up while gaming. I've never noticed it during desktop useage with Aero enabled, or running Media Center.

So...if you're looking at these cards, the newer quiet cooler is a single slot, black shroud with blue sticker.

The old noisy one had screw posts that pointed up into the northbridge area and blocked the slot on that side, it also had a translucent blue shroud.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:06 am

4670 with a passive S1 cooler. forget the rear venters, they are noisy, are about 30 degrees C hotter than PASSIVE! and, well, you can always re-use the s1.

4670 or for more punch, 4830

Anodyne · Post by **Anodyne** » Sun Mar 08, 2009 12:05 pm

4670 with a passive S1 cooler. forget the rear venters, they are noisy, are about 30 degrees C hotter than PASSIVE! and, well, you can always re-use the s1.

Are all rear-venters noisy? And how can they be hotter than passive? I speak from ignorance, my current Gigabyte 1950Pro has a Zalman cooler which has never impressed me with its noise level. I've started daydreaming about a videocard upgrade, and ones that vent the hot air directly out of the case only seems to make sense. Of course, I realize that a card can vent air out and still have a noisy fan, but (for instance) the HIS rear-venters always seem to get favorable reviews for noise and heat (although I don't think I've ever seen one reviewed on SPCR).

I had a passive Gigabyte nV6800 previously that died on me, so although I like the idea of passive cooling I'm a bit gun-shy over it. Gigabyte makes a passive 4850, but it seems to have an awfully small heatsink.

Single-slot quiet Video card (>8600) recommendations?

Single-slot quiet Video card (>8600) recommendations?

Thanks for the help

Case, passive