SPCR

Just like the subject says I'm in the market for a card in the $150 to $200 range. I'm looking to do some gaming, single monitor at 1900x1020. Nothing too cutting edge. I'm open to any suggestions but my research keeps bringing me back to an AMD 7770. It's hard to ignore 80W TDP, less heat, easier to cool, less noise.

Although I'm comfortable with replacing a stock cooler if necessary, I'm hoping to avoid the hassle this time. I'm also suspicious that my HD 4850 may have died prematurely due to the Accelero S1 that I mounted on it.

So my question to the silent PC enthusiasts are:

1. Which AMD HD 7770 has the most quiet stock solution?

2. If not a 7770, which card would you recommend?

Sapphire announced a passive 7770 in June, but haven't released it, yet. Asus Direct CU and Sapphire Vapor-X get high marks from Techpowerup. Here's another Sapphire review at ht4u that gives more stringent noise testing.

Nvidia is being pokey with their 6xx midrange product releases. The GTX 660 Ti is expected on Aug 16...but will compete more with the HD 6870-6950 range. However, it *might* cause an HD 7850 price drop (decent versions are in the $250 range now). The GTX 650 and 650 Ti aren't expected until this fall...sometime and would be the 7770/7850 competition.

Does anybody have any real experience with the Sapphire Vapor-X 7770?

I'd like to throw in the 6870, 6950 or a 560TI. Those cards are well within price range afaik and bring a little more power while equally using a bit more as a downside.

A 7770 will max out pretty fast on 1080p, a 6870 should hold some more frames in games to come.