Best Video card (AMD) for HTPC using 380watts PSU?

[alexb]

I currently got a midi-spec system below.

- Athlon X4-640 (3.0 GHz)
- MSI 890GX mobo (Radeon 4290 onboard GPU)
- 4 GB DDR3
- OCZ 120GB SSD
- Hitachi 2 TB HDD
- Antec fusion case with LCD
- 3 92mm Fans, DVDRW
- Seasonic 380 watts PSU (34 Amps combined on 12V rail)

What's the best video card I can get to be:
1. Don't tax my PSU
2. Cool and Quiet for HTPC
3. To bitstream HD Audio, play bluray, have good video quality
4. Can play some of the latest games at max-quality in 720P, and mid-quality in 1080P
5. Max GPU that doesn't make my CPU the bottleneck (not sure for instance of 6850 is too much for my CPU?)

I have narrowed things down to these AMD Radeon cards:
- 6670 (doesn't need extra power, but probably too weak)
- 5770 (108 watts, but not sure if enuf power?)
- 6790 (150 watts! probably too hot/much for PSU)
- 6850 (only 127 watts, even if it's stronger than 6790?!)

I really appreciate any recommendations, not just for the card, but also for the brand that has done a good quite/cool implementation of the chipset (I think Sapphire is best, but there are some deals around XFX and Diamond cards I've seen). The system is pretty quiet, and I don't hear anything at all as it's sitting in a home theatre enclosure, but that's with no video card and pretty much video cards always been my loudest component, although I don't think I can go passive as I am trying to get a higher end and hotter GPU!

Thanks!

[kuzzia]

Well, what do you intend to game?

[Abula]

Maybe wait for the AMD 7770,

Radeon HD 7770 Pictures, Plus 3DMark Benchmarks

Nothing is secret in GPU land as it seems, the leaks keep coming. ChipHell has leaked more pictures with some benchmarks to go with them. The test setup consisted of an Ivy Bridge ES CPU – Core i5-3550K at 3.3Ghz and Z77 chipset-based motherboard. The driver used was the AMD Catalyst 8.940 RC2, giving the following 3DMark benchmark results:


3DMark 06:
HD7770 (Stock @ 1Ghz): 18143 3D Marks (SM2.0: 6785/HDR: 8086/CPU: 6390)

3DMark 11 (Performance Preset):
HD7770 (Stock @ 1Ghz): P3421 (3138 Graphics Score)

3DMark 11 (Extreme Preset):
HD7770 (Stock @ 1Ghz): X1077 (965 Graphics Score)

It was already known that the product has four memory chips on the upper side, but this shows that there are four extra chips on the underside.

In other words, the adapter possesses 2 GB of GDDR5 VRAM, clocked at 1.125 GHz, instead of just 1 GB. the memory interface is of 128 bits and the GPU clock speed hovers at 1 GHz (the first GPU to break the 1 GHz barrier without factory or home overclocking). Other specifications include 896 stream processors (SPs), support for DirectX 11.1 and compliance with the PCI Express 3.0 specification.

Finally, the thermal design power is rated at between 90W and 100W (a single 6-pin PCI Express connector supplies the energy). We expect pricing to be 150 USD / 119 EUR.

[alexb]

How's this guy?

http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-586.shtml

I always thought Sapphire made the coolest/quietest cards, but this one seems to be better bet than any 6850 Sapphire makes?!