This is a tough balance, I want a card to game on my 1440 x 900 monitor, and I don't need fancy graphics. However I don't want anything loud or power hungry.

Everyone says to get the 7770, and I would agree. But how loud is it? Obviously as far as sound level goes the 7750 is fanless but it's performance is subpar for even entry level gaming. The GTX 650 seems like a good balance. But I can't find any information about how loud it is.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Are you willing to put an after market cooler on your video card? A 7770 with an Accelero S1 Plus would be silent and give you the performance you desire.

I haven't really thought about it. Since I am such a casual gamer though I think I might just get a GTX 650. It has the lowest power draw and a very low profile for a mini build I might do in the future. But I will look into after market coolers before I make my final decision. Thanks!

I have the 7750 and it handles current games very well even at resolutions above 1440x900. I picked it as I need a graphics card that doesn't require external power and from research the x750 series from AMD have the best performance.

Please don't disregard the 7750 for performance reasons. Comparing the results in the Anandtech bench doesn't give a clear win to either card, even though when the Nvidia wins, the difference is sometimes significant.

Considering that a 7750 costs 20% less in these parts and there are very quiet or silent cards, it would be my recommendation.