Noise, heat, power

[FoxEye]

So I've basically narrowed down my gfx upgrade to:

x1950 Pro
x1950 XT 256
x1900 XT 256/512
7900GTO
---
x1800XTX 512 (if found for bargain price second hand)
7800GTX (only if it's being given away )

Now, the one thing which makes me regret buying my 6800GT is the noise of the thing (I could have bought an after market cooler, but I didn't )
However, power consumption and heat you can't really do much about.

So of those cards, which are going to be significantly lower in terms of heat/power and noise?

 

[div0]

For low noise you should look at the HIS IceQ version of any of the x19x0 cards.

The x1800 would need an aftermarket cooler if you are wanting to keep the noise down.

For low power/heat, I believe the x1950's are meant to be a fair bit less than the x1900's/1800's.

Personally I'd be looking at the x1950pro, or the x1950xt if you want a bit more performance. But I think that the x1900xt will beat both of those for raw speed.

The 7900gto is also an option, but I *think* that it is usually priced higher and so in this price bracket I'd personally be leaning towards the x1900/x1950 options.

 

[FoxEye]

For low noise you should look at the HIS IceQ version of any of the x19x0 cards.

The x1800 would need an aftermarket cooler if you are wanting to keep the noise down.

For low power/heat, I believe the x1950's are meant to be a fair bit less than the x1900's/1800's.

Personally I'd be looking at the x1950pro, or the x1950xt if you want a bit more performance. But I think that the x1900xt will beat both of those for raw speed.

The 7900gto is also an option, but I *think* that it is usually priced higher and so in this price bracket I'd personally be leaning towards the x1900/x1950 options.

Thanks

I'm interested to know why you say the x1900xt will be faster than the x1950xt?

 

[thefishdude]

low noise equals x1950 pro
low power equals x1950 pro
low heat equals x1950 pro

noticing a pattern lol
the x1950 pro has a different core to the others and soo uses less power and there for gives of less heat.

i have a sappire1950pro and cant hardly hear it in my case.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

7900 GTO is probably the least power usage, and the quietest out of all those.

 

[Naffa]

low noise equals x1950 pro
low power equals x1950 pro
low heat equals x1950 pro

noticing a pattern lol
the x1950 pro has a different core to the others and soo uses less power and there for gives of less heat.

i have a sappire1950pro and cant hardly hear it in my case.

Don't know what you're on about.

Low noise levels = 7900GTO
Low power levels = 7900GTO
Low heat levels = 7900GTO

Noticing a pattern?

Regardless of this I would buy an X1950XT 256MB and fit a vf900 to it. Cracking card, fast as hell. Just a little too noisy for my liking and a Zalman vf900 would sort that out, and will turn it into a beast.

 

[Tute]

I'd be inclined to point you at the 7900GTO in this case.

Quiet, fast, and overclockable.

 

[thefishdude]

lol i dont do nvidia soo dint count the gto lol

 

[Tute]

lol i dont do nvidia soo dint count the gto lol

That's silly.

As long as you don't mind your drivers sucking, nVidia are a good choice!

 

[ACESHIGH]

I think of the cards mentioned the best choice is probably ...

This Week Only Offer
HIS ATI Radeon X1950 XT ICEQ 3 TURBO SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (RX1950XT-256ICEQT)

650MHz Core, 1800MHz Memory, 48 Pixel Shaders, 8 Vertex Shaders, 8 Geometry Pipelines, Shader Model 3.0, Silent ICEQ Cooling, Crossfire2 Compatible.
HighTech 10+ in stock £179.99
£169.99
(£199.74)

 

[div0]

Thanks

I'm interested to know why you say the x1900xt will be faster than the x1950xt?

Well TBH I'm not quite sure where the x1950xt and x1900xt fit together.

Certainly the x1900xt is faster than the x1950pro, but there's not much in it.

Between the x1900xt and x1950xt there will be even less, and the x1950xt may even pull ahead.

In terms of future games, the x1950xt will likely cope better than the x1900xt.

If it were me, I'd go for the x1950xt - in fact, I almost certainly will be when I upgrade in Jan!