Hi,
I'm glad I found this site, maybe someone here can help me.
I recently bough a 22" widescreen monitor only to find out that my onboard video card cannot handle the widescreen format. So I had to buy an AGP card, because that's the only empty slot in my computer.
I bought a Diamond stealth S 120 (ATI Radeon 9550) w 256 megs.
I use my computer mainly for music and DVDs.I want my computer to be relatively silent.This card is very noisy.ATI tried to get me a new driver for the card that is supposed to have a Fan speed control. It didn't work and ATIs tech support doesn't seem super knowledgeable.
So i want to move on and get a card that is fanless.
The resolution I want to get is 1440 X 900 at 32 bit. I was told that I need at least 256 megs. Is that true? Could I get by with a less powerful card that might be easier to cool?
By the way my computer is a 2.4 P 4 w 3 Gig Ram and I'm running XP. Is there a fanless AGP video card that would be a good choice for me?
Again I don't play games so I might not need a high end card.

Hello gimmeagig and welcome to SPCR,

Current AGP cards are no longer manufactured by ATI/NVidia and only 3rd party manufacturers like Asus, Sapphire and Powercolor offer current-generation cards in AGP. But if you want fanless, the only one i know is the ASUS AH3650 SILENT/HTDI/512M.

It will be powerful enough to handle a 22" monitor (which by the way should be able to go way above 1440x900) for light gaming and movies/HD decoding.

Other current-generation AGP cards like the Sapphire or Powercolor HD3850 are not manufactured fanless but can sometimes easily be modded with 3rd party fanless coolers like the Accelero S1 though these cards might pack more punch than you need.
Then again, their power-saving modes are excellent so if you don't use 3D mode they would be really easy to cool fanlessly with an Accelero.

If you want to go cheaper with older cards, check out
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... rchInDesc=
This is a list of all available fanless agp cards on newegg if older generation cards might be enough for you.

Happy browsing !

Hey thanks, Blacktales, that was very helpful.
I think I will gett an older card from New egg.There are so many to choose from that I might have to call them to get more info, because they do not list the max resolution.Have you called them before? Are they pretty helpful?
The Asus silent is not so expensive but with 512 meg it might be overkill for me.Do you agree? Besides, i just paid 89.- for the ATI card at Office Max and they might not take it back.
I'll call New egg on Monday.
Thanks again

Hello gimmeagig,

Unfortunately, i never had the chance to deal with newegg as until recently, there was no canadian branch, and Newegg USA was unwilling to ship to Canada. Now, there is a canadian newegg but their prices are so ridiculously high and their inventory so limited it just does not seem worth it.

Nevertheless, i doubt newegg would be willing to coach you on AGP videocard choices, they are after all only retailers. You might have to look up the original manufacturers website to figure out which would be powerful enough.

For resolution, i know for a fact the Nvidia 6XXX series was more than able to display 1440x900 and some 6200 fanless are available on newegg. I had a 6600 myself and it was more than enough for 1440x900. It was modded with a VF700-Cu cooler (which was still too noisy for me).

If you need more punch but still want to purchase an older generation card, i remember there was a fanless 7600GS, probably by Asus. All for all older AGP cards, actually finding it available somewhere will probably be the major problem as it is not listed on newegg.

I would stay away from the FX series (most AGP fanless card on newegg belong to this series) as they are way outdated now. Then again if your needs are very limited, they might do the trick. No idea whether or not they can run 1440x900. They would probably if a recent Nvidia drivers exists for this series.

In even older generations, i remember the ATI 7XXX and 8XXX had some fanless videocards but those might be not enough for you and difficult to find now. (I remember i had one of those, i'll look up my storage boxes to check whether or not it was fanless )

As for the Asus silent, it might indeed be too much, considering AGP is at a dead end now so it's not as if you would use it for a long time before building a new computer. Plus your Pentium 4 might actually bottleneck this card, though for you applications i would not matter very much.

After you have determined what GPU power you need, you might also be able to purchase a fan-cooled card and mod it with a fanless cooler. I modded my own AGP X850 pro with a HR-03 before i swapped it for a HD3850 with an Accelero S1. It might be a little involded for such old tech but if you intend on keeping your computer for a long time, it might be worth it.

There ! Hope it helps.
I hope you can get a refund for your screamer 9550.

So following your advice I decided to buy this card from New egg:
XFX PVT44AWANG GeForce 6200 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 AGP 8X Video Card
It was only 54.- including shipping. If it works it's totally worth it even if I don't get my money back for the other card. I don't know what GDDR is as opposed to DDR but then again I always thought DDR stood for Deutsche Demokratische Republik Shows you what I know about computers.
I have another question.
I recently had to have my Powersupply replaced, right after i installed the ATI graphics card.I wonder if it drew too much power. The old supply was 300 W, the new one I got is a ATX 400 W power supply.
It could be that the elevated noise level also has something to do with the new powersupply.
Are there silent powersupplys to replace the one I have?I know my computer is old but all the software works and if does what I need it to do. I would be afraid I might have compatibiliy issues if I went with a Vista system ( and I hear that Vista is on it's way out anyway) so I don't mind spending some money on this old computer to keep it running.
One more time, thank you very much,you have been a great help!

Your XFX Geforce 6200 will do the trick, maybe you can even find such a thing second hand, far cheaper. They are fairly old so they should be available, could be worth the gamble.
With your computer , 2,4 GHz P4, i would strongly advice not to upgrade to Vista on that machine, it will not run smoothly and responsive as you expect.

Yes, I'll stay with XP service pack 2.Everything seems to be working fine and I don't need more power.I just got my card today and I'll install it right after dinner.The ATI card that's still in the computer sounds like a blowdryer.Can't wait to get rid of it.The tech support was completely worthless.On the box it says USA based customer support.Maybe they should move it to India it could not be worse there.
I also have a quieter powersupply on order.I don't know what kind but the shop where I take my PC will give me full credit on the old power supply.The new one is supposed to be a 550W with a variable temperature sensing fan.Noise level is 18 db.I don't know it that is good but I'll find out.