Most powerful passive card under $100?

[lorkp]

Hello, I'm building a rig in which I'd like a passive card for the $100 I've alloted. I guess I'll game sometimes, but if I do it won't be the games on the bleeding edge of technology. It needs to have DVI and be able to run a 22" LCD. Heck, maybe I don't even need to spend $100 if you can think of a price point below that's a really good value.

Thanks

 

[recon6]

Asus 7600GS - $76.99

XFX 8500GT - $89.99 ($20 MIR)

HIS 2600XT - $119.99 ($20 MIR)

Any of these 3 cards should allow you decent gaming, have DVI and should easily push a 22" LCD.

 

[Skunkwourk]

2600 Pro with passive cooler 99.99

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: recon6

HIS 2600XT - $119.99 ($20 MIR)

This one will slaughter the other suggested cards.

 

[brawleyman]

I have been wondering the same thing about a new video card. I currently just have an onboard 6150 LE and would like to upgrade to something that will give me some umph when gaming or using 3-D in Sketchup. I currently use only Windows XP and do not plan on upgrading for several years. Everything that I need I can do perfectly with XP. I don't play any new games...the biggest games I have currently are Star Wars Battlefronts and Need For Speed Underground 1! I have a Dell E521 and it is super quiet and would like to keep it that way. I was considering a 7600GT because they are under $100, but they all have fans, 7300GT's and 7600Gs' have passive cooling. I won't even consider ATI because of the OpenGL support isn't nearly as good as Nvidia's when using AutoCad or Sketchup. Would a 7300GT suffice or should I go with 7600GS? Or is there a quiet enough 7600GT I could go with?

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Originally posted by: lorkp
Hello, I'm building a rig in which I'd like a passive card for the $100 I've alloted. I guess I'll game sometimes, but if I do it won't be the games on the bleeding edge of technology. It needs to have DVI and be able to run a 22" LCD. Heck, maybe I don't even need to spend $100 if you can think of a price point below that's a really good value.

Thanks

If you're still looking, here's a nice deal in FS/T, for a brand new 2600XT:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me..._key=y&keyword1=2600xt

I was tempted to buy it myself.

 

[happy medium]

Heres the fastest 7600gt - and it's passive cooled for 90 bucks.
Buy this one!

http://www.buy.com/articles/lo...109/subtype/1/198.html

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Originally posted by: happy medium
Heres the fastest 7600gt - and it's passive cooled for 90 bucks.
Buy this one!

http://www.buy.com/articles/lo...109/subtype/1/198.html

OMG, what a monster of a heatsink!

Sorry, don't want to venture too much off-topic, but I always wondered about these huge heatsinks - don't they put too much stress on the motherboard? It would seem wise for the system builder to prop it somehow (i.e. by anchoring it to the case)

 

[happy medium]

I would have to think ithe card wouldn't be any heavier then a 7950gx2 or the huge 8800 series/2900xt. Oh they make a 7950gt passive too but it's out of the op's price range.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

MSI 8600GT $90

 

[hans007]

either the 8600gt or the 2600xt with passive cooling would be the fastest.


it depends on the game, but they are probably similar in performance overall though in some games without AA on the 2600XT is a lot faster (like say UT3)

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson

Originally posted by: happy medium
Heres the fastest 7600gt - and it's passive cooled for 90 bucks.
Buy this one!

http://www.buy.com/articles/lo...109/subtype/1/198.html

OMG, what a monster of a heatsink!

Sorry, don't want to venture too much off-topic, but I always wondered about these huge heatsinks - don't they put too much stress on the motherboard? It would seem wise for the system builder to prop it somehow (i.e. by anchoring it to the case)

That's why the cards have slots to put screws in them to "anchor" it to the case. I haven't seen an ISA/PCI/PCIe card that didn't have one.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Martimus

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson

Originally posted by: happy medium
Heres the fastest 7600gt - and it's passive cooled for 90 bucks.
Buy this one!

http://www.buy.com/articles/lo...109/subtype/1/198.html

OMG, what a monster of a heatsink!

Sorry, don't want to venture too much off-topic, but I always wondered about these huge heatsinks - don't they put too much stress on the motherboard? It would seem wise for the system builder to prop it somehow (i.e. by anchoring it to the case)

That's why the cards have slots to put screws in them to "anchor" it to the case. I haven't seen an ISA/PCI/PCIe card that didn't have one.

or in the case of dual slot cooling systems...they have 2

 

[Mustanggt]

I have a ATI X850XT that you might find for $50 that keeps up with all the cards metioned here its very good video card it play Crysis flawless at low to medium settings of course, check this chart of video cards performance someone gave me this link Toms

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Mustanggt
I have a ATI X850XT that you might find for $50 that keeps up with all the cards metioned here its very good video card it play Crysis flawless at low to medium settings of course, check this chart of video cards performance someone gave me this link Toms

Although x850xt was a great card in its day, it lacks SM3.0 which means it wont be compatible in some games and it's one of the worst cards for passive performance since it runs super hot.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

I just picked up an HIS IceQ DDR3 X1650GT for $64 from Amazon. Not passive, but it comes with a VGA Silencer and it should, especially on overclocked settings, surpass anything else mentioned in this thread and at almost half the cost of some.

Whether it's the almost inaudible VGA Silencer moving the air out of the case or your CPU and case fans ramping up as the passive GPU heatsink heats up the case, you're going to pay for the performance in terms of noise one way or another......or you're going to bake your components.

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: brawleyman
I have been wondering the same thing about a new video card. I currently just have an onboard 6150 LE and would like to upgrade to something that will give me some umph when gaming or using 3-D in Sketchup. I currently use only Windows XP and do not plan on upgrading for several years. Everything that I need I can do perfectly with XP. I don't play any new games...the biggest games I have currently are Star Wars Battlefronts and Need For Speed Underground 1! I have a Dell E521 and it is super quiet and would like to keep it that way. I was considering a 7600GT because they are under $100, but they all have fans, 7300GT's and 7600Gs' have passive cooling. I won't even consider ATI because of the OpenGL support isn't nearly as good as Nvidia's when using AutoCad or Sketchup. Would a 7300GT suffice or should I go with 7600GS? Or is there a quiet enough 7600GT I could go with?

As you already have the NVidia Video drivers on your system, it is simpler/safer to stay with a NVidia videocard. My parents have an E521 and it has a particular cooling arrangement: A 120mm intake fan blows air across a huge passive heatsink atop the processor (Athlon 64 3200+) and straight through the back of the case. I doubt this is an ideal setup for cooling a passive videocard.

I think a 8600GT would be a good card to go with the rest of your system. The Asus models have a special fan that is said to be very efficient and quiet according to all the reviews I have seen.

Asus 8600GT models on Newegg

Legion Hardware comments about the Asus fan

If you want to save some money and are not worrying too much about gaming power, the Asus 8500GT could also interest you.

Don't forget that with a discrete videocard, you will be able to use a DVI connection instead of the VGA connection of the 6150LE integrated graphics. This will possibly give you a sharper picture and allow you to enable the NVidia Scaling options.

 

[hans007]

most 8600gts are very quiet

i think thats the main difference. some 8600gts have a 2 wire non PWMM fan. so maybe not those. but the referenec design ones are 4 pin PWMM (i have one) so they are very quiet. the 2600xt reference design uses the old style fan so i think those are not quiet from reading newegg reviews.


if you watn a quiet 8600gt with fan, just get one that is the refernce design from say pny, bfg, evga (evga has some that have only 1 dvi that are non reference and 2 pin though so dont get those) etc