I just recently put together a new rig, and initially purchased a Visiontek HD4870 512mb. The following components are housed in an Antec 300 case:
AMD Phenom II 920 (cooled by Xigmatek S1283 HSF)
8gb of DD2-1066
Seagate 500gb HDD
Evga 7900GS (temp card at the moment)
PC P&C 750W Silencer PSU
DFI LP 790FX mobo.
DVDRW, etc.
I finally decided tonight that my HD4870 was the cause of all the freezes that I was having. For example, I could not play Fallout 3 for more than 4 minutes before it would freeze. I had to take my sidepanel off in order for Windows to boot properly and not freeze 5 minutes later. Essentially, I am now in the market for a different card; I don't want to spend the money on aftermarket cooling.
I would like recommendations for a good card that does not put out so much heat and on which the stock cooler does not sound like a hairdryer. I'd prefer something like a GTX 260/HD4870 as that is the level of performance I want (gaming on a 1920x1200 28" monitor); I can downgrade, but I would prefer not to. Also, either Nvidia or ATI is fine. My other main option instead of purchasing a new card is to wait until the next gen cards are released, probably later this year, but frankly, I don't want to have to wait to really enjoy Fallout 3 with high settings.
AMD Phenom II 920 (cooled by Xigmatek S1283 HSF)
8gb of DD2-1066
Seagate 500gb HDD
Evga 7900GS (temp card at the moment)
PC P&C 750W Silencer PSU
DFI LP 790FX mobo.
DVDRW, etc.
I finally decided tonight that my HD4870 was the cause of all the freezes that I was having. For example, I could not play Fallout 3 for more than 4 minutes before it would freeze. I had to take my sidepanel off in order for Windows to boot properly and not freeze 5 minutes later. Essentially, I am now in the market for a different card; I don't want to spend the money on aftermarket cooling.
I would like recommendations for a good card that does not put out so much heat and on which the stock cooler does not sound like a hairdryer. I'd prefer something like a GTX 260/HD4870 as that is the level of performance I want (gaming on a 1920x1200 28" monitor); I can downgrade, but I would prefer not to. Also, either Nvidia or ATI is fine. My other main option instead of purchasing a new card is to wait until the next gen cards are released, probably later this year, but frankly, I don't want to have to wait to really enjoy Fallout 3 with high settings.