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View Full Version : Spec me a...silent gfx card


Pickers
10-07-2008, 18:05
Our downstairs PC freezes often when viewing videos (belive me I've tried it all, reseating th CPU, memtest, HDD swap, Fresh install, adjusting voltages - nothing works). Its currently on onboard gfx and I think it needs to have a dedicated gfx card, preferably a passivly cooled one (as its in the lounge), but nothing too ancient as it will be matched with an AMD x2 4400 and 2 gig ram. Its in an antec fusion HTPC case so room may not be abundant, but is certainly not as sparse as in micro boxes.

Clare uses the computer mainly for her designs but after installing spore creature creator I realised just how much of a bottle neck the onboard gfx is. And as a bonus.. maybe getting dedicated gfx will stop/limit the freezing!

Alas I have no idea what card to get, where from or anything.


Anyone offer advice?
thnx and luf.

divine
10-07-2008, 18:12
8600GT?

Sure i've seen a few about with passive sinks and should cost about £50 or £60

Mark
10-07-2008, 19:42
You have seen a few...

8600GT 256MB GDDR3 -> http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=661334
8600GT 512MB GDDR2 -> http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=661335
8600GTS 256MB GDDR3 -> http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=661333

On the ATI side there's the 2600 series, but that's two generations old now.

Pickers
10-07-2008, 21:02
the 8600s ok then? How would they compare to my 7800GTX upstairs? Not bad prices... :D

Mark
10-07-2008, 21:43
About the same at 3DMark06 if THG are to believed. :dunno:

(picking random card specs - YMMV)

Pickers
11-07-2008, 18:55
so worth it you think, or would it be better spending a bit more for a better card thats silent?