Would this fanless graphics card work for my needs?

[FWAOKDA]

I am looking for a noiseless option with the capabilites of running Starcraft2 and Spore at the highest settings when they come out. Here is a card I've found but I'm worried about it over heating. I don't know a whole lot about what to look for I just saw it was the highest performance fanless option I could find on newegg. Anyone have any experience with this card? I'm thinking about doubling up with them for SLi but I don't know. I am building a new system but haven't bought anything yet just have me a list which I can post by request. Here is the card though and thanks for helping!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121098

 

[smartel7070]

Why do you need a fanless card ? Usually fanless solutions are for HTPC's so the pc will be quiet enough to be in the living room. For gaming, I personally think fanless is not an option. For a few bucks more here is what I would suggest http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130332. This card is much more powerful than the 8600gt you were looking at.

 

[rwpritchett]

There are plenty of 9600GT fanless cards out there that might be a better choice for quiet gaming. It would be superior to the 8600GT.

 

[aevm]

Nobody knows Spore's requirements yet. If it's anything like the games released in 2008 so far, you'll want something A LOT better than 8600GT. Fanless cards are good for watching movies and Solitaire, not much more.

You should definitely forget about 8600GT SLI. Very bad idea.
Two of those 8600GT would cost $180 with shipping, and for that money you can have a HD 4850 that beats them by an enormous margin. Just get a single HD 4850.

What kind of case and PSU do you have?

 

[aevm]

Why do you need a fanless card ? Usually fanless solutions are for HTPC's so the pc will be quiet enough to be in the living room. For gaming, I personally think fanless is not an option. For a few bucks more here is what I would suggest http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130332. This card is much more powerful than the 8600gt you were looking at.

LOL, it's actually $8.97 cheaper after rebate and shipping, and yes it's more powerful. Nice find.


@OP: why don't you just wait until Spore is released and reviewed, so you know exactly what you need. By that time video cards will become cheaper too.

 

[mathiasschnell]

I can run Spore Creature Creator at maximum settings at 1280x1024 on a 7600GT. Granted, it's not the full game and the full game will have more going on with it, but I still think that's impressive for a modern game. If you want a completely quiet solution for Spore, then a 9600GT or 8800GT should do you fine, though I think I've only seen one fanless 8800GT before.

Also, one thing you need to be careful of is that the fanless options will most likely need good airflow from your case in order to really shine. I'm not saying you have to have a wind tunnel for them to work well, but if your case only has a single 80mm fan out the back of it, I'm not sure the fanless option will do you much good.

As for Starcraft 2, no one knows what that will be like yet, but chances are a noiseless solution won't be able to really crank up the settings in that game unless Blizzard has some kind of magic bullet in their code. Not saying they're bad at making games or anything, they're awesome, but I doubt any level of good programming is going to make Starcraft 2 run at max settings on anything below an 8800GT, and even that's pushing it.

By the way, what resolution do you play at? That plays a large factor in whether or not you can play at highest settings for anything.

 

[KyleSTL]

2 x ECS 9600GT in SLI is your best option if you MUST go passive (it has the celebrated Arctic Cooling S1 GPU cooler on it).

Edit: You can also just buy two graphics cards that are compatable with the AC S1 (48x0, 38x0, 8800-series, 9800-series, or 9600GT) and save some money by not paying the 'pre-installed premium' of a factory passive card.

ECS 9600GT - $175 (a rediculous premium)
ECS 8800GT - $260 (a more rediculous premum)

 

[iluvgillgill]

yep the ECS 9600GT is the better option if you MUST got for fanless.

KyleSTL i think it would be better to include the actual link to the product rather then give a list of cards.

 

[KyleSTL]

Best option (IMO):

Sapphire HD 4850 + AC S1 cooler = $175 ($155 after MIR) + $30 = $205 ($185 after MIR)

That way you'll have a top-performing GPU and won't have to deal with nVidia chipsets.

 

[aevm]

+1

About Starcraft 2: if it's anything like Diablo 3, it will require some serious graphics power. I was just watching a 20-minute demo of Diablo 3 yesterday, and it's very impressive. It's got physics (walls and furniture shattered to bits, etc.) and lots of cool effects.

 

[FWAOKDA]

I want the computer as quiet as possible... I also am wanting it as low power consumption as possible. A list of stuff I made earlier today was the following but I haven't checked to make sure its all compatible and everything yet. I am purchasing the computer because I need a new one not just for games so I need it soon like next week. The things I'm trying to aim for are...

1. Fast and quiet
2. Lead free
3. Lowest power consumption

Here is my list so far...

$89.99 - LIAN LI PC-A05 A Silver Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112129

$104.99 - ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131275

$119.99* - Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220315

$189.99 - Intel Xeon E3110 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117165

$99.99 - SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-550HT ATX12V / EPS12V 550W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151027

That's all I got so far and haven't had much time at all to look... just what I came up with after 30 mins of looking. Thanks so much for all the replies so far very helpful.

 

[rwpritchett]

Is there a reason why you want the E3110 instead of the identical E8400 which is $25 cheaper ($165 at buy.com)?

 

[aevm]

650TX is cheaper than that Seasonic, and gives more room for upgrades.

You're not going to overclock, are you? If you want to OC, add a cooler. If not, replace the DDR2-1066 with DDR2-800.

The P5K is based on P35, an older chipset. I'd get something based on P43 or P45, like P5Q, P5Q Pro, GA-EP43-DS3L, GA-EP45-DS3R.

 

[FWAOKDA]

nope just didn't know it existed... I'm about to look more into my list after I eat meh supper. TY for the link and info!

 

[FWAOKDA]

650TX is cheaper than that Seasonic, and gives more room for upgrades.

You're not going to overclock, are you? If you want to OC, add a cooler. If not, replace the DDR2-1066 with DDR2-800.

The P5K is based on P35, an older chipset. I'd get something based on P43 or P45, like P5Q, P5Q Pro, GA-EP43-DS3L, GA-EP45-DS3R.

I don't know what your referring to when you say the 650TX (other than its a PSU, im guessing) but I chose the Seasonic because of it's 80plus rating and i believe it to have lead-free parts.

 

[rwpritchett]

He's referring to the Corsair 650TX. Corsair PSU's are made by Seasonic BTW, so one is as good as the other.

 

[FWAOKDA]

Here is my new list and I'm having big troubles finding a quiet solution for video card. I want to be able to run Starcraft2/Diablo3/Spore ... If someone can help me decide on a quiet solution to run those games with a "high" settings I'd appreciate it! I don't have a preference to ati or nvidia either... just whatever works.


$89.99 - LIAN LI PC-A05 A Silver Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112129

$109.99 - OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227298

$104.99 - ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131275

$169.99 - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

$109.99 - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC, CCC - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&Tpk=650TX

$53.99 - ZALMAN 9500A 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118223

 

[mathiasschnell]

There's no way to be sure whether or not a noiseless solution will be able to run everything you mentioned at best settings once they release and it'll really depend on the resolution you play at also.

If you absolutely have to go silent though, your best bet is an 8800GT, which Elitegroup makes with a passive cooler, but the price is pretty high ($260 to be exact). Otherwise your only other option for high power and silent cooling would be to get something like a HD 4850 and install a passive cooler yourself, but I'm not sure that's the best idea unless you know what you're doing. You could also get away with getting a pair of silent 9600GTs and putting them in SLI, but that would ring you up close to $250 and also you'd need an SLI board.

Also you really should aim for DDR2 800 RAM instead of DDR2 1066. There's not really any major difference in performance and you can save yourself probably $20. Another thing to note is that unless you're running a 64-bit OS, you won't be using all of that 4 GB of memory, so you might want to considering 2 GB instead.

Also, as some people have said already, you should look for a board based on the P45 set. Those would be the most energy efficient as they're newer and manufacturers seems to tout energy efficiency like they're selling you free porn bundled with every Mobo.

 

[aevm]

That case is a bit small, and has only 2 fans. That's not very impressive, for $110 (after shipping). You could buy an Antec 900 for $80.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021&Tpk=Antec+900

The Antec 900 has switches for the fans. You can make them quiet when the machine is in Word or Explorer or you're surfing or watching movies. You can crank the cooling up when you're gaming and the video card gets hot.

I've seen a thread yesterday about using a HD 4850 with a passive Accelero S1 cooler. I wouldn't try that in the Lian-Li case, but in the Antec 900 it should be OK.

 

[aevm]

Another thing to note is that unless you're running a 64-bit OS, you won't be using all of that 4 GB of memory, so you might want to considering 2 GB instead.

I'm using XP 32-bit with 4GB. Yeah, you're right, I don't get to use all 4 GB. I see only 3.25GB. But that's still better than 2GB, and the price difference between 2GB and 4GB of DDR2-800 is really small these days.

 

[FWAOKDA]

I'm very interested in the 4850 with passive cooler idea... but the case you linked is too much I'm wanting a very simple looking case which is what attracted me to the first I posted in the first place.

 

[FWAOKDA]

Also video card wise my monitor/hdtv I'm using has a max resolution of 1366x768 i believe... so please take that into account when recommending graphics card since I'll be using it for the next year or so at least.

 

[mathiasschnell]

Oh, well in that case a passively cooled 9600GT (maybe two in SLI) should do you just fine.

 

[aevm]

Yeah, I think so too.

@OP: you could replace that P5K with a P5N-D
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131232
and try a single 9600GT. If you're not satisfied, the P5N-D allows you to add another 9600GT.

 

[KyleSTL]

+1 for 9600GT [or SLI]

OP: the Nine Hundred becomes very elegent when you replace all the blue LED tri-cool Antec fans with black fans (exactly what my dad did). The 800/1200 RPM Scythe Slipstreams are probably the best choice for replacements.

Another option is to get a different Lian Li case (personally I'm a fanboy).
Lian Li PC-7 - $100 (same case I have)
'Lancool' PC-K7 - $90 (it's actually Lian Li and has very good cooling thanks to the 2 120mm fans in the front)
Lancool PC-K10 - $120 (same as PC-K7 with a front door)
PC-A70 - $240 (my favorite Lian Li case, albeit very expensive)

Edit: The perfect case - Antec Three Hundred - $70. It's classy and has excellent thermals (needed for passive GPUs). Can't believe I didn't think of that before. It does not have the ugly (personal opinion) LED fans that it's older brother, the Nine Hundred, has.