System Specifications:
I. Processor/CPU: Intel Core i5 750 Lynnfield
II. Current Graphics Card: BFG GeForce 9800 GT 1GB
III. Display Resolution: 2560x1600 (single monitor)
IV. Power Supply Unit: Enermax MODU82+ 425W (3 years old)
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=29269
V. Case Specifications: Antec P183. Fan cooling. Top and rear exhaust fans, and 2 front intake fans (bottom and middle). Also my cpu is cooled with the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme 6 heatsink + fan blowing air to the back. It stays around 30-35C idle.
Purchase Details:
I. Budget? $50-$125 CAD. Prefer ncix.ca or newegg.ca (for online) or canadacomputers.com (local).
II. Any particular
preferences: Leaning towards AMD because of pricing and I hear they have better cooling and lower power consumption. Prefer passive cooling, but would consider alow power consumption/quite and active cooling card.
III. Do you plan to have any Multi-GPU solutions such as
Crossfire or SLI?
No.
IV. Have you previously
looked at a product(s) which you feel would fit your needs? I'm considering HD 6450, 6670, 7750.
V. What are your needs for this GPU? Primarily HD videos in mkv/x.264 and online video streaming. 720p online streaming stutters on my 9800GT (and same plays flawlessly on my feeble ipad). I also do some light gaming, but video decoding and noise output is more important to me.
VI. Do you plan on
overclocking the card you intend to purchase?
Possibly in the future. Not a huge factor in my decision though.
Additional Notes
- This is my home PC and hobby dev machine. It is used mostly for browsing, HD video decoding, and development in visual studio 2010.
- Idle noise is very important to me. Prefer fanless cooling for this reason, however I hear the current generation cards are very quite when idle.
- Prefer low power consumption (when idle or video decoding) because I don't want to have to upgrade the PSU. My 9800 GT makes a buzzing sound from the coils since it's not getting enough power from the PSU (it takes power from the PCI-e slot only).