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Help choosing graphics card please

UK_Apollo

UK_Apollo

UK_Apollo

Associate
Joined
20 Aug 2007
Posts
11
I'll shortly be buying a new PC from OcUK. Main usage will be Office apps & email with video editing. Almost never any graphically intensive games.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.66GHz (1333FSB)
Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache
Samsung SH-S203BEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter
Antec Sonata III with Earthwatts 500W PSU
Windows XP Home SP2

So, I'm looking for a DX9 PCI-e graphics card that is:
a) quiet
b) cheap (less than £70 inc VAT)

Are the "silent" cards which use passive heatsinks any good? I've read that they get very hot (90C) - is that ok for decent lifetime?! It'll be a Sonata III case.

Which are the quietest fan-cooled graphics cards?

ExRayTed on the general hardware forum kindly recommended:
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO 512MB DDR2 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-E) £56

How does that compare with:

Asus GeForce EN7600GS Silent HTD 256MB DDR2 HDTV/DVI (PCI-E) £47
OcUK GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-E) £59
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-E) £61
OcUK GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-E) £63

Recommendations please!

(The reason I haven't gone with a cheaper mobo with onboard graphics is that this machine may get converted to a games machine later in life through the addition of a better graphics card, like a GeForce 8800GTS.)

Thanks,
Apollo
 
Pulsar_GTI said:
Best at the mo for that price is x1950 @ £70.49

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-063-OK

Or you could wait till Monday for the 8800gt apparently prices will be good and it will be worth saving the extra £'s for as its supposingly on par / better than the GTS -- it will be around £100 for the 256 version --- im gonna get one ! ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply Pulsar_GTI. I've heard that the x1950 is rather noisy though. What do you think?

This isn't for a games machine, so I don't think spending £100 on a powerful card is worth it?

Apollo
 
Look at the 2600xt or the 8600gt passive cooled cards.

Both very good performers, nice features like hd decoding etc.

Both will run the odd game if you did require it at playable res.

Both directx 10 if you do decide to upgrade to Vista.

Don't worry about the temps, they can handle it. My 8800 GTS runs at 83 degrees and that is with a fan on 100%:eek:
 
Greebo and Kermit, thanks very much for the advice.

Greebo, I can't find any passively cooled 8600GT's for sale at OcUK at £70 or under. If you could post some links that would be fab!

Kermit, I like the sound of the passively cooled cards, but am concerned about a 90C component heating up the inside of the Sonata, which only has one case fan. Do you think I should be worried about that? Ideally I'd like to buy a quiet fan-cooled, middle-of-the-road graphics card, but don't know which ones are quiet, and which noisy.

To reiterate, my priorities are a) quiet and b) cheap (£60 ideal, £70 max). No games (except train sim or FS2004 possibly, which don't push the gpu) and I don't need DX10.

Any more advice chaps?
 
UK_Apollo said:
Greebo and Kermit, thanks very much for the advice.

Greebo, I can't find any passively cooled 8600GT's for sale at OcUK at £70 or under. If you could post some links that would be fab!
Click to expand...

Unfortunately thats against the rules.

If its not for gaming, then id say the 2600pro aswell, or the 8500 GT.
 
LoadsaMoney said:
Unfortunately thats against the rules.

If its not for gaming, then id say the 2600pro aswell, or the 8500 GT.
Click to expand...

no, no, no, links to the OcUK shop...you see, I don't think there is such a card, unless I've missed it somehow. I know links to competitors aren't allowed here.

You'd go for the 2600PRO rather than the 2600XT?
 
UK_Apollo said:
no, no, no, links to the OcUK shop...you see, I don't think there is such a card, unless I've missed it somehow. I know links to competitors aren't allowed here.

You'd go for the 2600PRO rather than the 2600XT?
Click to expand...

No, but you wanted less than £70+VAT, and that HIS cards just over. :p
 
:)

I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.

Looking at the OcUK shop, these options are available for HD2600 cards under £70:

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO 256MB DDR2 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (11117-01-10R) £53

Asus ATI Radeon EAH2600 Pro HTDP Silent 256MB DDR2 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £54

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO 512MB DDR2 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (11117-02-10R) £56

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (11110-00-20R) £61

Asus ATI Radeon EAH2600XT HTDP Silent 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £65

HIS ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro iSilenceIII 512MB DDR2 HDTV/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £70

As you can see, there are a mixture of PRO's and XT's, fans and passive. Given this choice and a "fairly quiet" operational requirement, which gives best performance?

Cheers!
Apollo
 
FWIW I don't use my PCs for gaming either and I'd agree with the advice to go for a 2600XT or 8600GT. I've worked up to them from 7600GS & 7600GT and I've found they both give a better picture on my 20" screen via DVI than the 7600s. I get round any noise problem by fitting a Zalman VGA cooler and running it at 5V but I realise that's an added expense you won't want. I would suggest only considering those cards using DDR3 RAM as DDR2 restricts the performance and, whilst it isn't a priority for you, you do want the best out of what you buy.
 
Last edited:
UK_Apollo said:
Thanks for the reply Pulsar_GTI. I've heard that the x1950 is rather noisy though. What do you think?

This isn't for a games machine, so I don't think spending £100 on a powerful card is worth it?

Apollo
Click to expand...

Yes i think the x1950's are quite loud my x1900gt is sometimes!

Some good answers above the x2***'s are great for none gaming machines and the 8600 ocuk's http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-058-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=912 are decent! If you choose any of them im sure you wil be happy :)
 
Thanks for the replies guys, especially Kermit, I appreciate the work you've put in to help me. Those screen shots and data are really useful. I'll let you know if / when I come to a conclusion on which to get! (or I may yet have some more pesky questions!!)
 
Hi UK_Apollo

No help here but am interested to see what you put in your machine as you've got almost exactly the same rig as me.....everything identical apart from the HDD - mine's a 500gb sammy - I dont use my PC for gaming (use a XB360 atm, but as my son's always hogging it, was wondering about playing the odd game on my PC as evrything's upto speed apart from my current gfx card.)

One thing that's always put me off PC gaming is the fact I'm crap at using the keyboard/mouse combo and prefer a gamepad.

However, I stumbled upon a gizmo called Crossfire that plugs into your usb port and allows you to seamlessly use your Xbox 360 controller to play PC games....happy days!!

Was also looking to spend about 60-70 quid on the card too.....had in mind a Sapphire HD 2600XT 256MB but am also interested in anything really, as I know zilch about the necessary for occasional gaming - doesn't have to be up to XB360 standards - just playable really!! :)
 
Thanks to all that helped me choose.

In the end it came down to a choice between the HD2600 and the Ge8600, with the ATI winning out because they're: a) cheaper b) lower power consumption c) quieter cooling d) I don't *need* the extra power of the 8600.

I then had to decide between passive or fan cooled. I went for fan-cooled because I just couldn't totally convince myself that the single fan in the Sonata case would provide enough air-flow, and I didn't want to add a second fan. The card I've gone for is:

Asus ATI Radeon EAH2600XT HTDP Silent 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £65

...I read a review which said it's fan cooling was super quiet "inaudible above case fan", so I'm hoping that proves to be true!

With a fair wind I'll be building the PC on Tuesday. :-)

Apollo
 
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