IGP alternative

[John24]

I'm thinking of upgrading a to a Crosshair IV but I usually just use the AGP so I would need a graphics card.

It needs to be,

Silent <- very important
Cool
Low power
Handle Aero and HD playback
Run 2x24" <- only have one atm but may add another in the future

No idea what I should be looking at, can you recomend some cards so I can get an idea? TY.

 

[cmndr_andi]

Hi there,

I would suggest going for this graphics card. It will happily run HD video and drive two 1080p displays while being silent.

 

[John24]

Hi andi, what's the heat output like? If it runs quite hot I'm just thinking whether it would be better to get an air cooled one and throttle the fan.

Passive is the way I'd want to go but if it's going to be a heater then it would be better with a little bit of cooling on it rather than haveing to ramp up my case fans.

Thanks.

 

[cmndr_andi]

Hi andi, what's the heat output like? If it runs quite hot I'm just thinking whether it would be better to get an air cooled one and throttle the fan.

Passive is the way I'd want to go but if it's going to be a heater then it would be better with a little bit of cooling on it rather than haveing to ramp up my case fans.

Thanks.

These cards are really very cool - this review shows that its peak power usage is 13W (compared to 175W with the 8800GTX) and a GPU temperature at load of 72 degrees C.

This card really won't heat your PC up much (most likely it will be quite a bit cooler compared to the system with the actively-cooled 8800GTX).

 

[John24]

I'm confused now, you recomended a 5570 but those links are for a 5450.

 

[AndyOcUK]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-140-GW&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1833

Awesome. Use in my media centre.

Bargaintastic

 

[cmndr_andi]

I'm confused now, you recomended a 5570 but those links are for a 5450.

My apologies, I was looking at the wrong review.

The 5570 is still a low power using card, at full whack it uses up to 50W, but most of the time it will not using anywhere near this much.

 

[John24]

Ok cheers, looks like the 5570 is the best passive option. At least out of the ones OcUK stock, are there any others to consider not stocked here?

 

[cmndr_andi]

At least out of the ones OcUK stock, are there any others to consider not stocked here?

You could drop down the power level and save a bit of money - something like the 5450 or 5550 passive cards may well do all you need of a graphics card at a cheaper price. That said, these cards are not that much cheaper than the 5570 and in computational terms - significantly less powerful.

At the higher end - there are passive versions of the 5670 card, but these are generally quite a bit more expensive than the 5570 (around £90), but they do offer even more graphics power.

On the Nvidia side, the only card I would recommend looking at is the passively cooled Zotac GTX 430 Zone edition. It is a solid performing card with a passive cooler.

 

[John24]

The 5570 does look like the sweet spot for me, lower cards have a lot less power as you say and have fewer/older features. Higher cards would be overkill.

The GTX 430 looks interesting, lower power consumption and heat output than the 5570 but it's more expensive.

I'll definitely consider these two when the time comes, thanks andi.