Graphics Card Profiles, and perhaps a new card?

[timefalls]

Hey all! this is my first post, but i've been lurking quite a bit!

In april last year i built myself a gaming rig (nothing special, mid end parts) encompassing an 8800GT w/512MB DDR3 that i picked up from OC The main thing i wanted was to have a system that was pretty much silent during normal operation but during FPS sessions i could kick up a gear, with no regard to noise.

I have a 24" Dell TFT panel with a resolution of 1920x1200. The 8800GT was great at this resolution on last years titles, but it really is beginning to show its age.

The questions i have for you guys are as follows.

-Is there any way to set up profiles for a GPU, eg. a low power mode where the core and memory are underclocked significantly, and the fanspeed lowered to reduce noise, and a high powered, overclocked, no holds barred mode?

-My current 8800GT is long in the tooth. I think its time for an upgrade. I've been courting the 4770, but i am open to suggestions as long as it is round the same price range (max £110). The requirements are that it is quiet, or can be made to be quiet!

full system specs:

Pentium Dual Core E2160 @ 2.33GHz (Soon to be a Q8200)
4GB RAM
MSI G33M-DS2R
Samsung 64GB SSD (soon to be 128GB in RAID0)
Samsung F1 1TB HDD
Windows 7 RC 7100 x64
Dell 24" TFT LCD (1920x1200) primary
Dell 23" TFT LCD (2048x1152) secondary

 

[95thrifles]

Hi and welcome to forums
Yes using ATI's CCC you can set up multiple profiles to do just this and swap between them, its quite easy using the built in profile manager
Have a look at the 4870's, you can pick up the half gig one for £112, though if you could stretch another £30 at your res you'd see the benefit of picking up the 1 gig version, but it is outside your budget, depends how strict your budget is (maybe wait a couple of weeks save up the extra cash)

 

[MoRT489]

U will see a benefit getting a gfx card with 1GB onboard VRAM as thrifles says and tbh i think u would prefer the benefit in gaming from a better gfx card that RAID 0 SSDs!

I would suggest either of these 2 at just ~£30 over budget:

NVIDIA GTX 260: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-114-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=927 OR http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-104-GW&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=927

or

ATI 4870: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?&groupid=701&catid=56&subid=939&sortby=priceAsc ignoring the 512MB version.

Also shop around u may find them cheaper

EDIT: U can use GPU Tool to adjust the fan profile in Nvidia and ATI cards http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18009191&highlight=username_creed

 

[doiks14]

I must say, I much prefer ATI CCC over NVidia Control Panel when it comes to multi-display management.

 

[timefalls]

thankyou all for your opinions.

@Creed

i was looking at this card: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-093-GW

i was looking at a review and it said this card idles at ~33c, which sounds perfect, as i will simply clock it down when i am not gaming, and crank it up when i am. However, i am not familiar with ATIs CCC, could anyone point me in the direction of a webpage which outlines its features?

The card is overbudget, but i will put off buying a 2nd SSD for a few months. hopefully it'll drop in price a bit more! The real appeal of it is i could have all my games stored on flash disk and have pretty much zero loading times

any opinions on the choice of card?

 

[MoRT489]

That would be a decent choice or if wanted to stay nvidia the Gainward dual fan 260 is probably a good choice and comes with Mirrors Edge full game so up to u if u want that but both cards are very comparable and i expect u'd be very pleased with either