quiet/passive cooled PCIe videocard?

[taltamir]

if you don't intend to do games with it, then driver superiority matters... And gaming capacity does NOT, at all...

Which is why I chose this card for my fileserver:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814121230
Asus 3450 256MB GDDR2 card...
35$ + 6$ shipping - 10$ MIR. 31$ final (assuming rebate arrives).

55nm also means lower power consumption.
I couldn't give a rats behind how it performs in games compared to the other cheap varieties (no really, i don't know, i didn't check, if I want gaming I will use the 7900GS I have lying around, the 8800GTS 512 I have in my game PC, or BUY a 4850 or a GTX 260 or something)

It is cheaper then the other card you looked at, it accelerates video if you ever need an HTPC, it is passive cooled, and it uses AMDs drivers... which are open source now for non windows os, and for windows they release WHQL once a month (contrary to every 6 months like nvidia).
I used to prioritize nvidia cards for the low end because of future driver support, but now AMD has them beat...

Another important bit is that it is a 3xxx series, so it is very recent, and that means it will have driver support for years to come.

 

[lorlabnew]

Originally posted by: taltamir
if you don't intend to do games with it, then driver superiority matters... And gaming capacity does NOT, at all...

Which is why I chose this card for my fileserver:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814121230
Asus 3450 256MB GDDR2 card...
35$ + 6$ shipping - 10$ MIR. 31$ final (assuming rebate arrives).

55nm also means lower power consumption.
I couldn't give a rats behind how it performs in games compared to the other cheap varieties (no really, i don't know, i didn't check, if I want gaming I will use the 7900GS I have lying around, the 8800GTS 512 I have in my game PC, or BUY a 4850 or a GTX 260 or something)

It is cheaper then the other card you looked at, it accelerates video if you ever need an HTPC, it is passive cooled, and it uses AMDs drivers... which are open source now for non windows os, and for windows they release WHQL once a month (contrary to every 6 months like nvidia).
I used to prioritize nvidia cards for the low end because of future driver support, but now AMD has them beat...

Another important bit is that it is a 3xxx series, so it is very recent, and that means it will have driver support for years to come.

thanks for another good tip - since the card is such a bargain, I may try one as well just for the heck of it to have a comparison, and maybe see how it performs. I'd give it a try in case the 8600gt would prove itself to be too hot or something like that. I pumped up so much $$$ into my machine within the last two years, and so a few bucks here and there won't make much difference. What I want to avoid though is a complete rebuild - I don't have time right now to fool with such a stuff, although as last resort I'm possibly willign to swap the case for better sound insulation. my current Lian is not sound dampening case, the material is very thin (aluminum I guess..). I have an old Antec mid-tower sitting around, it is built like a tank compared to Lian. Heavy too.

 

[lorlabnew]

just a quick follow up - have the Gigabyte 8600GT "silent pipe" running under Vista 64-bit Ultimate for 3 days and no problems, good card and stays relatively cool. The card is very small compared to 8800GTX it replaced, got a lot of room in my case now, less heat & better ventilation. Vista performance index shows 5.9 for aero and 5.6 for 3D gaming (well I'll not be verifiying that 3d gaming number...)

I think I picked up a decent card for my desktop work needs; PC is not complety silent yet, still have to address somewhat noisy chipset fan on my evga 680i board. Other then that all perfect.

Thanks to all for your advices, helped me to make the right decision.