Quiet budget Graphics card please!

[Whitelurcher]

Hi

Can you help I'm just going round in circles. Basically I require a decent card to run the Sims 2 so obviously not high end! My main requirements are, fairly cool, silent and will hopefully last a couple of years!
I'm upgrading the motherboard, CPU and memory too and have finally decided on the following:-

Motherboard- MSI P35 Neo2-FR
Memory- Crosair 2gb Kit
CPU- Intel Core Duo E8200
(already got PSU- Hiper 580)

The cards I'm trying to decide between are the:-
Sapphire HD 3650 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card (£55.95)
and
MSI 8600GT Silent edition 256MB DVI HDTV PCI-E Graphics Card (£60.95)
and
Inno3D 8600GT 256MB 128bit DDR3 DVI PCI-E Graphics Card
or
Asus Extreme 8600GT 512MB Silent

An HD 3850 is supposed to be better but although I can find some within my budget I cannot tell which are quiet!!!
My budget for the Graphics is up to £90 but preferably lower as I said I only play Sims2 and have a 17" crt monitor at 1024x768 res. Even when my old screen snuffs it a 19" would be the max or pos. just a 17" TFT

Any and all help gratefully received.

Thanks!

[staffsMike]

Anything would handle that tbh.

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

That would do the job of SIMS2

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

This is the passive card that I have,
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

Again will have no problem playing most games at your resolution and runs very cool (sub 40 degrees at idle, 55 under a lot of load) and silent obviously.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you want a HD3850 you can get the 256mb for under 80 quid anyway:

Sapphire HD 3850 Pro 256MB GDDR3 Dual DVI TVO PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

Scan also have had them under 70 quid on special offer before and this was for both 256mb and 512mb versions!!

The standard reference cooler on the HD3850 256mb is meant to be very quiet according to silentpcreview:

ATI HD3850 & HD3870: Improved Acoustics & Power Efficiency | silentpcreview.com

If you can get one for under 70 quid it is well worth it IMHO.

You can also get a Nvidia 7600GS passively cooled card for under 30 quid:

Nvidia 7600GS 256MB DDR2 DUAL DVI PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

[DanceswithUnix]

Benchmark of Sims2 cards

Basically you need a 6600GT or better, which is pretty easy these days. That 7600GS is about that performance as is the 8500GT.

What the Sims really needs is CPU power. Save money on the graphics card, and pour it into the best CPU you can buy.

[Brewster0101]

The list your looking out is over kill. 8500's or X1650 or something similar can be found cheap and some even have passive cooling as they are not that demanding.