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Hi All,
Can anyone recommend a graphics card to going into a Vista media centre PC (so needs to be quiet and run HDMI video and audio) based on an Asus P5E-V mobo and 2GB RAM and E6750 processor, to run media centre and Flight Sim X at a decent resolution?
I've seen a few Sapphire cards that might do the job, but some of the reviews complain about the noise, and there's just too many options to choose from!
PJ
If you want audio over HDMI then you are limited to the ATI HD series the 3450 would be sufficient for all your media centre duties and come in passive varieties however this will not be running FSX at any decent frame rates.
You can get a passive 3650 but I dont know what the FSX performance would be like.
Your best option may be to to get a higher powered car 3850 or 3870 and then if it is too noisy get an after market cooler.
The newly released AMD 780G is your new best friend :)
Available here and reviewed here and also here and many other places.
It allows 1080p playback with <20% cpu load and hybrid crossfire although limited to ATI HD 3450s iirc. Still, both integrated and discrete cards can be passively cooled. Being able to run FSX is a tall order for most systems so you're probably going to have to make a tradeoff between performance and noise.
Running an E8400 and 8800GT here. It's reasonably quiet, although by no means HTPC-silent.
However when running FSX, I never hear the fan on the 8800GT speed up. This would suggest that what I've read is true - FSX is CPU-bound. I have a hunch my 8800GT isn't even breaking a sweat, meanwhile my CPU is working flat out. An E6750 doesn't have the performance of an E8400, so you most likely don't need a card as powerful as the 8800GT, if that's of any help.
But that board isn't going to be running an Intel E6750 now is it! And why get a new board for integrated graphics when they already have one and could get better performance from a £30 discrete graphics card?Quote:
Originally Posted by Will101
Using a combination of sources but mainly this one Link If your running at a resolution of 1600*1200 then a 7600 GT would be sufficient for good quality graphics, in the current market that graphics card probably offers similar performance to a 8600 GT or a 3650 (GDDR3) the ATI card is better suited for you as it has HDMI output with Audio both cost ~£50. Now if your monitor/tv has a higher resolution than this ie 1080p then you may be better looking at a 3850 512MB which can be found for ~£100.
You're not going to get silent realistically. Best bet is probably a HD3870 and ThermalRight HR03 and stick a quiet fan (Noctua S12 for instance) on it connected to a fan controller. That way you can ramp it up to a full speed (which is still only 1200rpm and very nearly silent) when needed and keep it turned right down to 600rpm or so the rest of the time. You could even disconnect it if you wanted to as the HR03 can be run passively, just not realistically for gaming.
For something like FSX you're going to need a fair bit of grunt, so anything less than a HD3850 or 9600GT is hard to recommend. Technically it's a very poorly written product (I'm not going to call it a game) performance wise.
Sparkle GeForce 9600 GT "Cool Pipe 3" 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
passive 9600GT, seems like the perfect card.
Not for playing HD protected files it isn't (not if you want audio anyway).Quote:
Originally Posted by staffsMike
ok..didn't fully read the OP.. whoops.
techPowerUp! Review :: PowerColor passive HD3870 SCS3 :: Page 2 / 24
how about that one? Only problem is the huge cooler which would make any old card + the HR-03 just as viable.
There is a sapphire Passive 3850pro which is probably the card I would go for in your situation. A good compromise.
SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY RADEON HD3850 ULTIMATE 512 MB GDDR3 PCI 2.0 review cheap prices RADEON HD3850 ULTIMATE 512 MB GDDR3 PCI 2.0 SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY best buy discount online uk shop
Woah, that's awesome! Had no idea there was such a cooler out there. If that fits in your system, that's got all the bases as covered as they're going to get for a good while.Quote:
Originally Posted by staffsMike
Well wonder never cease..
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
its there on scan, good price too :)
Hmmm I'm always a bit wary of passive high end cards especially in a tower, the hot air is just going to get stuck under the card unless you have exceptional airflow under your graphics card to move the hot air away. The HR-03 would be better as it can wrap around so the hot air goes above the card (normally next to an extraction fan) but unless the HR-03 GT is more efficient passively than the previous version I wouldn't recommend doing anything intensive on it without a fan, my 1950XT with its HR-03 was really quire toasty when running passively (Was testing a graphics problem in a system and it was the only PCIe card I had laying around but wouldn't fit with the fan, doh!).
The review I posted says low 60 degree's under load. Sounds good to me :)
That could be case dependent I suppose but I doubt it's much to worry about.
Ah just flicked through the review (didn't look earlier) and the cooler covers both sides of the card which must help!
Apparently their temperature tests are in a closed case with no case fans, only fans are CPU and PSU. Makes the temps even more impressive, makes you wonder why you can't buy the cooler after market!
Hi all,
Thanks for all the advice... I've just ordered a Sapphire HD3850 (the one with the passive cooler). I'll let you know what it's like when it arrives!
PJ
A quick update...
I went for the Sapphire HD3850 (the one with the passive cooler) in the end, and the results are good, after some tinkering with settings.
With the massive heat-sink, the card just (with a couple of mm to spare!) fits in the case and around other components.
Initially I used a DVI-to-HDMI adapter to output video and audio from the card to my LCD TV. This was ok, but as my TV only supports 720p I wasn't able to run Flight Sim as it needs a vertical resolution of at least 768.
So after much pondering, I have ended up with...
Video going via the Sapphire card using a DVI-to-VGA adapter (a bit of a waste running VGA I know, but the the screen doesn't have DVI in). This allows me to run the screens native resolution of 1366x768. The image does appear to be a little blurry - any ideas on why this might be???
The audio I am now taking from the mobo, using a stereo lead to the TV. Again, a bit of a waste considering the mobo support 5.1 surround, but I'm constrained by the TV inputs.
After getting this all working last night, I've run Flight Sim running full screen whilst Media Centre records two programmes from Freeview, and managed to get 19.4 to 20 frames per sec with all settings set to high. The CPU was running at 70-80% utilisation, the graphics card at 38% and 41c.
So all-in-all the graphics card has done the trick, even though I'm not using it to it's full capabilities. So the next plan is to get a larger LCD with 1080 HDMI and DVI support... may take a bit of saving first!