Ok, so was updating an old pc (media center) with extra RAM the other day, and whilst putting it together again, I accidently jammed the fan on the Graphics card, an ATI X800 XT. I noticed straight away that the pc was massively quieter as soon as I did that. Anyway, I subsequently removed the cable that was stopping the fan spinning and realised that all the noise from this thing was coming from this GPU fan. This has always been a gripe of mine, and I don't know why I didnt pick up on this before, but have now decided to update the graphics card for something silent. Here are my requirements and limitations.
Budget - £50-65! - I will sell the x800 on ebay, should get about 40 - 50 for it, and add another 10 -15 quid to top up.
Form Factor - AGP ONLY - I have an Intel 865GLC Mobo, so I'm stuck with an AGP card, and this machine works fine for its purpose without needing to update any other components.
My questions are, what choices do I have for passively cooled or quiet Graphics cards which are AGP and in that budget? I've noticed the 7600 GS which is for about that money on ebuyer which is passively cooled.
An alternative maybe to buy an arctic cooler for the x800 if i'm better of keeping thatm this can be had anywhere from 10 -15 quid. How does the x800 XT rate against some of the new stuff on the market?
As this is a media center machine, I'd like something that could offload any HD processing if possible.
Any suggestions?


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