my pc contains:
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU 530@ 2.93GHz, with passive ninja 2 rev.b cooling on it.
Card name: Intel(R) HD Graphics
System Model: H55M-USB3
haupauge tv card
Memory: 4096MB RAM
enermax eco 80+ 500 w active power supply .
Antec p182 case.

i'm planning to upgrade my gpu.
since i'm a silence frick , and build according to that (thanks to spcr guidance ) this pc, i want very much to use passive cooling gpu.

1. my first question is if it'll be safe, considering that my cpu cooling is already a passive one? ( i heard an opinion that the p182 is not one of the ventilated cases so it can be risky with 2 of those elements as fan-less). i think i currently use the case fans on low speed.

2. our use with graphics/games is moderate, but i would like to buy a gpu that will aloud us expansion options in this area in the future.
the candidates for my new gpu are:
hd 6670
hd 7750
gtx 650 (the regular, not the high power ti).

after reading some reviews i think that i prefer the gtx 650, since ( at list according to what i read) it's performance is better then the other two.
as far as i know there is no yet a built passive version to this card.

i would like to get please some direction for those 2 issues.

Just put a fan on the CPU heatsink. Those two Antec Tricool fans on low are running at ~870RPM, which I would only consider to be moderately quiet. Plus you'll most likely have a hard drive that will also be making some noise. And then there's the PSU fan.

The Ninja comes with a nice Scythe Slipstream fan. With a little tweaking, it would be quieter than the case fans, PSU fan and hard drive, and provide you with better CPU cooling.

correction. after opening the case i realize that the ninja fan is already working (don't know what speed. i think that at the time I've been told that it's kind of auto operating, according to heat temp. ).
and you are right, the ninja fan is noticeably quieter then the case fans.
especially the upper fan is noisy.
as I mentioned, I'm using the case fans at the low speed. as i tried to raise their speed i realized that i can't live with the noise of higher speed then low.
btw, doe's the lower middle fan has also speed regulator?

so to be sure that i understand you.
you suggesting that if I'll use the situation as mentioned above i'll be able to use safely a passive cooling GPU ?

another thing that bother's me is the ninja heat sink take a lot of space, and the pciex. x16 slot is the upper one ( gigabyte h55 usb3 board), close to the cpu , so I'm not sure that i can locate the gpu on the x16 slot, especially if it'll have kind of passive cooling. the only case it'll maybe work is if the Heat sink will be directed to the bottom, means opposite to ninja.
otherwise i'll have to use the x4 slot, which us the lower one.

can someone help me with this ?

Bumping doesn't help here I'm afraid.

o/k, I'll wait patiently

The GTX 650 is a good option for this sort of build due to it's low power consumption, low heat output, and small delta. However, when gaming, GPUs do get hot, and the 650 isn't very powerful so it will get hotter than say a GTX 670 would. In my mind you have two options:

1st, just install it as is and use MSI Afterburner or a similar program to keep the fan off until it hits 50* or so. This will allow the card to run silently until you start playing games, at which point you can fiddle with the fan profile to keep the card around 60* or so. If you choose to go this route make sure you get a good 3rd party card like the ASUS Direct Cu II.
+ silent in idle
- fan is on while gaming but still ~<25db at stock, better after tweaking the fan profile

2nd is to get the card and install an aftermarket heatsink on it. The disadvantage here is that the new heatsink will likely take up a third slot, but you should be able to move the GPU to a 8X or 4X PCIE slot without much of a hit in performance. In theory you should be able to run this card passively even on load, but you'll have to bench to be certain.
+ passive!
- will make every other component hotter
- takes up extra slot
- extra cost

A brief story from my own experiences starting off with a single GPU and then planning to move to SLI. Now it's a year and a half later and your low-end GPU is starting to meet it's match in COD:9 Future Nazi Zombie Terrorists 2. You decide to go SLI but you're worried the combined noise of two GPUs with fans while gaming will be too much or that you don't have enough space in your case/on your motherboard for two passive, triple-slot GPUs. The best way to avoid this problem is to go with a higher-end GPU like the GTX 670 or 660ti. Although they produce more heat and are louder on load if you only need a GTX 650 than all of that extra heat and power is overhead that you're not using (650 on full load will be like a 670 at 1/3-1/2 load). The card will produce less heat and less noise and won't need to be upgraded as soon, and it can also be passively cooled.
P.S. Just curious, what games will you be playing? If you're gaming is really "light" (WOW and The Sims and such) and the like you could probably get something like a passive GT 640 and be fine.

those are interesting options.

i don't think i want to deal with aftermarket heat sink, (though i think that the heatsink direction will be toward the bottom of the case so maybe I'll can still install it in the x16 slot)

a combination that the gpu fan will be off when no gaming, and start only at a specific temp. sounds good to me.
it's because personalty I'm not gaming, it's only my daughter, so if the gpu fan will be off at idle , i can live with it. and as someone said to me: "when you will be gaming you will hear the sound of the game and not the fan"...

are those programs you mentioned complicate to use and control?

as for the link you gave me (which refer to the 650 ti) i hope that the regular 650 will act the same.
this asus looks good though i read that msi 650 works relatively cool and silent, but i didn't' compared to the asus.
doe's the asus works fan off when not gaming, is it's build in option, or i'll can do it with other cards/brands too?

about "the 650 isn't very powerful" , i can say that he is beyond our needs.
btw my current temp. , without gaming, is around 25-27 c . (didn't checked in summer...).
so i ask myself why can't i use a fanless gpu.
the thing is that if my choice will be the gtx 650 or hd 7770, the 650 as far as i know doesn't have passive option.
the 7770 doe's have one
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/sapphi ... 15927.html
but they don't sell it in my country and and i didn't found it even in the web.

so i think I'll have to choose between going to a weaker card ( like 6670, 7750) which have available passive models , or cards like gtx 650 or hd 7770 and 'play' with the fan control.
what is you opinion?

btw- what is "small delta" ?

as i said- I'm not gaming, it's only my daughter, so yes, right now it sims etc.
and of course cards like 640, 6670, 7750, will be more then enough for us, but because the price difference to the 650 or 7770 is not so big, i prefer to buy now something a bit beyond our needs, and maybe' as you said , it'll work cooler etc.
but 660ti, 670, are far, far beyond our needs.

Hrm... looking into it it seems you want to spend a little less than $100. It seems there are quite a few decent, passive options available. Although I personally prefer nvidia and the 650 is a better performer it has been awhile since anything below nvidia's x50 lines get passive coolers, and since you don't need that much power you may as well keep things as quiet as possible.

ASUS 6770 - $80 AR
HIS 7750 - $95 AR
PowerColor 7750 - $105

Performance is about the same (6770 is faster on paper and with DX9/DX10 but slower with DX11), TDP is much lower on 7750. However, the idle and load of the 6770 is only a couple of degrees more
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/538?vs=535 (6770 is a rebadged 5770)
http://www.hwcompare.com/11774/radeon-h ... n-hd-7750/

Hope that helps

hello.
i think i prefer the new generation 28nm, because they are usually cooler and lower power (for example the 6770/5770 is twice power demanding then the 7550.

meanwhile i did some checks and found that someone using the passive 7550 with a case that is smaller and less ventilated then mine ( he use only one fan of the case) and he said that he doesn't have any heat issues with this card.
the thing is that they sale here only the sapphire 7550 ultimate
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentatio ... 1471&leg=0
which got also good reviews, but after checking dimensions, it's a big chance that I'll not be able to connect it to the upper pcie x16 slot , because of the ninja cooler sitting on my cpu.
http://www.scythe-eu.com/en/products/cp ... rev-b.html
so if this will be the case I'll have to decide between putting it on the x4 slot (i read that the loss of performance will be between 5-20 percent,depend of the context) or go for other gpu.
the two other cards i'm fancy for are the gtx650 and the hd 7770, which got good reviews in their group scale.
but as we said, at list right now, i can't get them in a passive version.
it's a shame that i can't estimate the noise I'll get from them , with fan. who knows ,maybe i could live with it .
meanwhile, after hearing the situation of the guy above, i disabled my upper Antec p 182 fan, which was relatively noisy , and so far the temp. are o.k.( i have 2 other working case fans, cpu cooler and psu fans).
so i think I'll take a day or two to decide.

sorry bothering you with my dilemmas and thanks for your patience .