Best Low Profile Card w/o 6pin

I did some research for you, and yes I do believe that anything above the 9500s wants a 6 pin. I like nvidia as well. of course if you wanted a cheaper solution you could go with the radeon hd 4550 which will be about 60 bucks. Lol, ironically enough this one has half the memory bandwidth but double the memory compared to the 9500. I'm not really an expert at which one of those features would give a better performance gain. And if your wifes monitor uses dvi and not d-sub then you can just pull that little ribbon cable out of its connector (if it's not permanently connected, or you could just leave it hanging inside the case) and not have to worry about it taking up two slots.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Model

Brand: ASUS
Model: EAH4550/DI/512MD3
Form Factor: Low Profile


Interface

Interface: PCI Express 2.0 x16


Chipset

Chipset Manufacturer: ATI
GPU: Radeon HD 4550
Core clock: 600MHz
Stream Processors: 80 Stream Processing Units


Memory

Memory Clock: 1600MHz
Memory Size: 512MB
Memory Interface: 64-bit
Memory Type: GDDR3


3D API

DirectX" DirectX 10.1
OpenGL: OpenGL 2.0


Ports

HDMI: 1
D-SUB: 1
DVI: 1


General

RAMDAC 400 MHz
Max Resolution: 2560 x 1600
CrossFire Supported: Yes
Cooler: With Fan
Dual-Link DVI Supported: Yes
Windows Vista: Works with Windows Vista
HDCP Ready: Yes


Features

Shader Model 4.1
Full HD Support


Package Contents:

EAH4550/DI/512MD3
Driver Disk
User's Manual
L-P Bracket

As far as i know the 9500GT would probably be your best bet.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/ite...

I would be surprised that one of ATIs partners doesn't come out with a low profile HD4650 or 4670 before too long, there's a pretty good market for low profile/low power graphic cards.

Thanks for the replies! The 4550 on the Graphics Card Hierarchy is about even with a 6600GT or 5 tiers before the 9500GT so i will be sticking with the 9500. Thanks for the suggestion of course. Now im trying to decide between the 512MB DDR2 vs 256MB DDR3.

She mostly plays Sims 2 and will be playing Sims 3 when it comes out next month. It plays Sims 2 fine now but the graphics arent as good IE: her water looks blue and plain and on my system with a 8800GT it actually looks like water.

Does anyone know if Sims 2 relies more on faster memory or more memory? I am supprised to not see a low profile 4650 or 4670  

After much much research I think i've found the single most powerful low profile card on the market which doesnt require a 6pin connector (a 9600GT would take the cake with one). A XFX 9500GT 1GB DDR2. It has the same gpu clock and memory clock as the only low profile DDR3 version i could find. With my wife using 1650x1080 i think the extra memory might come in handy, although she probably wouldnt notice. Thanks everyone for your help.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/ite...

http://www.amazon.com/XFX-PV-T95G-ZAFG-9500GT-550M-Expr...

If a low profile 46x0 comes out in the next 30 days I will be royally  

The fastest video card that doesn't require a 6-pin is the Radeon 4670.

Video card view :
http://www.amdzone.com/index.php/reviews/71/10427-sapph...

TigerDirect link :
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/ite...

Unless it's hiding in the back of the card. =P

PS. Memory size isn't everything. This means a DDR3 version of a video card (Even if it only has 256MB of it) will be faster than one with a 1GB DDR2 version. This means the Radeon 4670 will wipe the floor of the 9500GT.

Benchmarks Radeon 4670 vs GeForce 9500GT

http://www.amdzone.com/index.php/reviews/71/10427-sapph...

Be warned that the 9500GT is basically an overclocked 8600GT.

I was saying fastest LOW PROFILE without a 6pin for us with small PSU slimline cases. Also the DDR2 video card im referring to for some reason has the same 800 mhz clock speed as the DDR3 video card I referred to earlier which was the only one I could find that was low profile.

If you could recommend a faster low profile card without a 6pin adapter I would love to hear it as I havnt quite purchased the 9500gt yet, newegg is having server issues.

Also do you think the 1GB DDR2 is really slower than the 256 DDR3 with both at 800mhz clock? Is there another advantage in the fine print im not seeing about ddr3?

*smacks head*

Oh sorry.  

In that case you're out of luck, you're gonna be stuck with the 9500GT or with the Radeon 4550.

The performance of the 4550 is between the 9400GT and 9500GT. So pick your poison.  

Thanks for your input Stridervm! I always stress out with making any purchase and just make sure I get the best bang for buck.

+1 for 4670, I had one and it was a great card.

I got a 4870 now and the only real difference is bench scores, but I dont play games other than WoW.

I would looooove a 4670. But again I need a low profile. Anyone seen one?

Never buy a Proprietery PC if you are gonna need to upgrade, especially if the upgrade is a PSU, or GPU.

Yeah she just had to have a slimline pc, its a girl thing i guess. Hopefully the 9500GT will give her the sparkly water she gets with my 8800GT in the Sims. If not its her fault lol.

I had planned on building her a slimline with a low profile 9600GT and a 450w PSU but that would have cost around $550 shipped for just the pc and the Dell i got had a better looking case, came with a 22" ultrasharp lcd, and had a e7300 and 2gb ddr2 for only $450 shipped. Couldnt pass it up. To end the thread thanks again everyone!

LOL. I wouldnt hold my breath if I were you.

I have seen lots of ladys and their slim PC's, and when the need repaired they cant believe it costs as much or more then they paid for it in the first place.

I've owned several PC's over the years and always had issues until I started building them, and ever since I can leave my PC on 24/7 365 and never experience a issue.

When I used to buy over the counter PC's it was a miracle if I didn't need to restart atleast once a day.

Now when I repair that junk it is no wonder with the poor wire management that restricts cooling and the crappy motherboards that are used.

Most of the components in a over the counter PC are 2-3 years old tech besides the CPU.

Even if there was a low profile 4650 or 4670 it would use too much power for that little 250W PSU.

Its not out yet and its pricey but look whats coming out soon.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-quadro-420-sff,...

Well, I doubt it, unless that setup uses a dedicated sound card, LAN card and it uses a quad core processor   . A casual PC (One that uses all built-in hardware) with a PCI-E video card without needing a 6-pin only needs at max 250W.

My current hardware actually survives on a 300W PSU.....  

Athlon64 X2 5600
2GB RAM
ECS 780GM-A Black Edition
Palit Radeon 4850 Sonic
Two hard drives and two DVD writers

As for the Sims, err, even using a GeForce 5500FX would be enough for The Sims 2. Actually the 9500GT would be overkill for that game......

$70 for the 9500GT isnt that big of an investment, especially when most low profile cards are around $50 anyway. And Sims 3 is due out next month and im sure it will be more graphics intensive than Sims 2. A bit of future proofing wouldnt hurt  

And   at strider for his poor pc

230 w psu? if i am not wrong 9500gt min req is 350w psu... 300w for 9400gt.... you may face a prob if u try to run either of these......

I ended up putting a 8600GT DDR3 in it. Runs just fine on 250w with an added tv tuner. And it runs the Sims 2 and 3 perfect so im happy.