Lowest heat/wattage secondary video card?

A

akwok

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 19, 2005
Messages
158
Hello!

I'm looking to get a second video card (PCI-e) for a third DVI output, and I'd like a passive, low heat card. I don't plan on doing anything intensive on it (just 2D things), and since it's going to be right below my (almost passive) 9800GTX+ I'd rather it not add any more heat to the already borderline 9800GTX+.

It has to be an nvidia for the least driver headaches with my main card -- I was thinking of getting the 8400 GS. Is there anything better out there that fits my criteria before I pull the trigger?

Thanks!
 
Performance isn't a concern at all... just heat. Is it cooler than the 8400 GS at idle, passive? I tried googling for comparisons but no luck.
 
Once you get to the low end cards it really doesn't matter much anymore. They are all going to idle within ~3w of each other anyway. Just go with the cheapest, semi-recent card you can find.
 
Is there a direct correlation between wattage consumption and idle heat? e.g., if the 210 sits at idle a few watts lower than a 8400, can it be assumed that the 210 will give out less heat than the 8400 at idle?
 
The 8400GS isnt very hot(atleast the MSI passivley cooled one ive got in my video rig isnt)....runs cooler than my 9800 GTX, in a case with roughly the same airflow/PC temps
 
akwok said:
Is there a direct correlation between wattage consumption and idle heat? e.g., if the 210 sits at idle a few watts lower than a 8400, can it be assumed that the 210 will give out less heat than the 8400 at idle?
Click to expand...

The power it uses is almost the exact same as the heat it produces. Law of conservation of energy and all that ;) Really the only power it uses that doesn't result in heat is the spinning of the fan, the rest of the power ends up as heat.

And remember, temperature is not heat. A card running at 80C idle doesn't mean its producing more heat than one running at 30C idle.
 
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