Cheap, quiet/fanless replacement for 8800 GT

[brettjrob]

My rig is pushing 4 yrs. old and I'm finally thinking of doing a system overhaul. Back in mid-2008, I picked up my fanless 8800 GT (512 MB) for around $100. Skimming through cards on the Egg and referencing benchmarks, I'm surprised at what seems like relatively little improvement in the budget graphics market over all those years -- especially when I narrow the search to fanless models.

I do very little gaming, but significant photo/video editing, productivity, and VMs. I don't need anything fancy, and I'd really like to stick with something very quiet (fanless ideal) to compliment the rest of my planned components. Around $100 would be nice.

If there's simply nothing leaps and bounds better than the 8800 in that market right now, I may just stick with it. Just really surprised if that's the case. I remember the days when a $100 card today blew a $400 card from two years ago out of the water...

 

[MavericK]

There's a fanless HD 7750, but on nVidia's side there's really not much. Though my guess is with the lower temps of Kepler, there will eventually be a 660 or something that could potentially be fanless.

 

[Forceman]

I was looking for something in the $100 range for my wife's computer also. I think $100 is too much for a fanless card now - the performance out of $100 cards is too high to run fanless, and the fanless card performance isn't worth the money. I'd just try to find a quiet card in that range - something like the 7750 (which will kill the 8800GT in performance).

I ultimately just decided to leave the 8800GT in her computer.

 

[Prav]

I have a 5770 running fanless in my mother's computer. I am using a CoolViva Z1 <$10 shipped. There are a couple threads here and here about compatibility with more modern cards. It works so well I was thinking about stealing it back for HTPC use. I still see refurb 5770s available so that would make a nice sub $100 option that beats the $120+ fanless 7750s.