Hey Guys,

My current P180 System is around 4 years old and hardware problems start to pop up from time to time. So I'm planning to replace it with something smaller/better.

I will be using a mATX mobo with Fractal Design Define Mini ; from the official website, it states the following:
Supports graphic cards with lengths up to ca 260mm when removable HDD-bay is in place.

are there any powerful and quiet display card that you guys can recommend?

Cheers!

Well, as usually, that depends. Which games are you playing? Resolution? graphics quality?

and how much do you want to spend?

Resolution at 2560 x 1440

sometimes i play diablo 3 and some FPS games, nothing too serious.

Is 300USD budget on a video card realistic?

Diablo won't cause too many problems, but FPS. And that resolution. That's quite serious.

"some fps games" is too generic...some are CPU intensive and some are GPU intensive. If you throw some titles out here we can tune the results. With Diablo 3, an HD 7850 (~$250) or GTX 560 Ti (~$240) should get you 60fps+ at your resolution.

Note that Nvidia is supposed to be releasing the GTX 660 Ti this week. Performance will be between the 7870 (~$290) and the 7950 ($330). Price is unknown...probably $300+...and there will probably be some price shifting by AMD to compete.

I don't really play games much these days due to workload. But sometimes I play COD or bioshock... nothing too serious (e.g. crisis), mostly Diablo 3.

Yes I use a 27" monitor for photo and video editing.

I checked out the 660ti, the card length is 9.5inch, which is around 140mm, so it will have around 20mm.

will there be any quiet 660ti in the market anytime soon?

Here's a COD: Modern Warfare 3 benchmark at Techspot (halfway down the page). So, 7850 or better if you want to turn the eye candy on.

660Ti: you'll have to wait with the rest of us for the product launch/reviews