Video Card Upgrade Suggestions

They make noise, too.

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Monolith
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Video Card Upgrade Suggestions

Post by Monolith » Wed Nov 25, 2009 1:24 pm

I'm looking for some suggestions of video cards.

Currently I have an Asus EAH3450. It is fanless, and does a decent job, but I've seen some choppy video, and I'm considering upgrading from WinXP to Win7.

What I'm looking for is a graphics card that is good for playing HD video (Blu-Ray and HD DVD), and the Windows 7 Aero interface. Use for gaming is not a priority, but being able to play HL2 on some low settings would be nice (my current card can do that).

I'm using an Intel CPU and chipset, so I'm guessing that means it'll be better for me to go with an nVidia chipset. However, I am not certain that this is a correct conclusion.

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Post by CA_Steve » Wed Nov 25, 2009 3:52 pm

For HD video, etc, nearly any modern gfx card will work. HD4xxx, HD5000, 9xxx or 2xx Nvidia.

Gaming frame rates are mostly determined by your cpu, gpu, and your monitor settings (resolution, AA, AF settings).

HL2 is about 5 years old, so it's gpu needs aren't very severe. Something like an HD4770 or HD5750 might meet your needs or well exceed them...if you could fill us in on your current system, I could give a better answer.

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Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Wed Nov 25, 2009 7:32 pm

yeah, if you can find a cheap 4770, you would be in the best for lowest price. it would also play hl2 on max settings at 1920x1200

if you can find them, MSI made a 4770 OC

this was a super strong built card made from the best components and ran at less power with higher frames. other than that just find one of these doods is my bet.

if you have 130 dollars to spend go for a 5750, but im guessing you dont want to do that being that youo bought a lesser priced card last time

Monolith
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Post by Monolith » Wed Nov 25, 2009 7:44 pm

This is the current system setup:

Motherboard: ABIT IP35 Pro
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz
Memory: G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB)
Video Card: ASUS Radeon HD 3450 256MB
Power Supply: Thermaltake Purepower 600W
Case: Antec Solo
Hard Drive: I'm not sure right now, but it shouldn't matter.
Processor Heatsink: Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme
Processor Fan: Scythe S-FLEX 120mm - 1200 RPM
Rear Case Fan: Scythe S-FLEX 120mm - 1200 RPM
Front Case Fan: Scythe Kama 92mm

I am interested in my options at different price levels. I got an inexpensive card in the first place because I really didn't have much demand for video performance, and I still don't most of the time, but it would be nice in the cases where it's needed. I will check out the 4770 and 5750.

I like where this system is in terms of noise level right now, so I'm a little hesitant about adding a video card that needs an extra fan. Do I have any fanless options?

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Post by CA_Steve » Wed Nov 25, 2009 9:53 pm

What's your monitor resolution? - that's the last missing piece.

...and wow, that's a lot of PSU for your system :D

Monolith
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Post by Monolith » Wed Nov 25, 2009 11:52 pm

I don't have it yet, but I plan on also getting a HP LP2475w monitor, which has a resolution of 1920x1200.

The power supply is the one part that wasn't obtained with the rest of the system when it was built.

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Post by CA_Steve » Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:19 am

If you plan to push 1920x1200 pixels,

- any modern card can handle the 2D
- For HL2, the 4770 will work. There were a number of passive cards...Gigabyte and Powercolor made one. A quick look at newegg drew a blank, though. You might have to search. I know that the Gigabyte card, required some air flow over it to keep it cool while running benchmarks...but ymmv with your system/airflow. Or, get a std card and put an aftermarket cooler on it...there are a couple of threads onsite about this.

The 5750 would work as well. Upside is low idle/2D power. Powercolor has a passive version, Sapphire has the Vapor-X cooler which is supposed to be quiet. Gigabyte has a non-reference design as well.

Finally, if you plan to play any modern games at this resolution, you might consider the 5770. No passives, yet. But, some non-ref designs are appearing.

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Post by boost » Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:11 am

The best fanless card available still is the 4670:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161288
Currently with a 20$ mail-in rebate. Aero and video will be run fine. HL2 will run on medium-high settings @1920x1200. More demanding games like Crysis could be choppy.

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Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:12 pm

I think that card is a waste if he is gaming at that resolution. If it was like 49.99, ok, but anything over that, not a deal. 4770 is nearly 2x in games of that and is onle 20% more cash.

the 4670 is the best wattage card with full functionality though, i agree with that. just not at that resolution for a game. Needs a smaller screensize.

cb95014
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Post by cb95014 » Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:46 pm

From what you describe, I would also recommend the 5750. This is perfect for casual gaming and will have a long life. And while it looks funky, the stock cooler is reportedly nearly silent. Unless you have an exceptionally quiet system I doubt you would hear it. But if that is not quiet enough, you could easily add an after-market cooler like the Arctic Cooling L2 Pro (or a modded S1 or S2).

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Post by Klusu » Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:07 pm

From what you describe, I would also recommend 4670. Good lowest power card. You don't have to play at max resolution.
Or wait for what will come below 5750.

trueg
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Post by trueg » Fri Nov 27, 2009 6:18 pm

I also have a HD 4670 (Powercolor with stock Zerotherm cooler). The card is nearly silent (my system is very quiet and I can't hear it from outside the case). The Idle power is very low and it plays h.264/x.264 1080p videos perfectly with very low CPU utilization (GPU does all the work).

I've happily played HL2 on much lesser cards. It should have significantly better gaming performance than your 3450.

Monolith
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Post by Monolith » Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:45 pm

Unfortunately I haven't had much time to review this.

It looks like the recommended cards so far have been the HD 4670, the HD 4770, and the HD 5750.

There's this fanless version of the HD 4670: HSI Radeon HD 4670.

It looks like maybe PowerColor has a couple fanless options, but I can't tell for sure. I'd be happy to consider my options beyond just the fanless ones. The issue is that I just don't know how to tell which ones are quieter.

I don't seem to be finding the PowerColor 4670 with the Zerotherm cooler that trueg mentioned.

Honestly, the HD 5750 is probably more powerful than I really need right now, but having a card that I can keep around for a while might also be nice, since I tend to use parts for a long as I can. I'm also not in urgent need of an upgrade right now, so I can wait to see what comes out in the beginning of the next year. Even then, I still think I'll have the question of what's decent while still being reliably quiet.

trueg
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Post by trueg » Tue Dec 01, 2009 9:27 am

Powercolor no longer sells the version of HD 4670 that I have. They now sell it with an Arctic Cooling Accelero L2 Pro...
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/p ... 2_&mID=256

as seen here...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814131179

This should run just as cool and quite as mine if not better.

The ASUS HD 4670 512MB still uses a Zerotherm cooler....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121329

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