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need help picking Graphics card

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You can get one of Gigabyte Silent Cell gpu, or even get a lower power one and strap on a Arctic Accelero S1 Rev 2 or similar and make it completely passive, though it would have to be a very low power card to begin with, maybe a Radeon 7750?

Something like this http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/Gigabyte_HD_6770_Silent_Cell/
Gigabyte also made a few cards in the Silent Cell range(such as 5770 verison or 5750 version) they are not meant for overclocking, but in the case of HTPC you might even be able to downclock it to save on its heat output without effecting its performance. Though you would obviously still need some case cooling or it would still get to warm.

If you go with a modern higher performing card say a 6850/6870, 560Ti, Radeon 7770 or something like that Artic Accelero http://ncix.com/products/?sku=27878 with Zalman RSH1 ram sinks http://ncix.com/products/?sku=15682, and 2 very quiet cooling fans works wonders, it would bump the cost a bit, but you could easily strap on 2 GT fans http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/051/d1225c12b1ap_detail.html or similar, it would be very reasonably quiet and still cool quite well, you could use it on pretty much any gpu you want.(it works fine on my 6870 which is a reference model with 2 xiggy fans, its a little thicker, but cools very well, suggestion, attach the ram sinks with a small dot of thermal paste and crazy glu, cools very very well and stays put, Artic thermal tape is crap, the zalmans is pretty decent)
 
ok, maybe go down a few numbers then, I will link a few just for model number purposes.
6750
6670
6570 such as http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150584 or http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicati...E=SHOPBOT&cm_mmc_o=2mHCjCmtB5_BfCjCVqHCjCdwwp
6450 http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-675.shtml though the GT 520 is "faster" this can achieve your low profile and quiet card

or
Nvidia GT 520 such as http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX36734 or http://www.directdial.com/GT520-1GD3-CSM.html

Generally for low cost gpu, best bets for thier respective price ganges (I would make sure to get one that uses GDDR3 though)
$50 and up 6750/6770
$50 and below GT 520/GT 220 520 is the better card though

Radeons x670 and below are considered "budget" cards and generally would be the best for your needs. I personally would go Radeon 5000 or 6000 series, 6000 series are newer, and tend to offer the best heat output and cost compared to 5k series, 5k(some of) tend to have slightly better performance, but like you said, performance doesnt matter as much, as long as it still does what it should. That and I do not like Nvidia, but thats my opinion nothing more.
 
on another note, I wouldnt be going for a 4k series card, you pointed it out, they are hotter, and chew a fair amount of power, I would go for 5k or 6k card instead, can have them for below $75 easily if you look hard enough. You do not need "gaming" performance, I get that, but at the same time, you need something "decently" powerfull for HTPC type things, streaming movies, net use and such.

6570 is a better card then GT520 has a bit more performance overall, which can help keep things smooth
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102934 as an example
 
tomana said:
to be more specific, I want to not have a PC that can game but still fast enough to give very smooth, quick diplay response when I am opening up apps, browsers, etc

I think a 6770 would be too powerful for what I need but I know I need something more powerful than a 4250 chip. Was thinking 4850 or 4830 but the 4850 runs hot, especially in a mATX case. The HD 5770 Silent-Cell is no longer at onloine retailers except Tigerdirect and they want $125 + S/H. Too pricy for me. I'd like a HD 48504830 substitute that doesn't generate the same high temps and is a bit slower
Click to expand...

You want an ssd then, 90% of my windows responsiveness issues are directly related to my 640GB WD black thrashing about. In Vista Aero desktop I've noticed no difference between an x1800, a 4850, 5770, or 6570. That said I recommend the 6570, it's about as fast as a 3870, which makes it a bit slower than a 4850 but not painfully so, and uses far less power and only costs 50 dollars. If you can stretch the budget a bit to 100 bucks then get a 7750.
 
no problems :), another option if you really want low cost, go for an AMD A8 such as A8 3870 MSRP is $135 and has a built in 6550D 400 shaders puts this as quite a fast built in unit(its coupled to the amount of system memory you have as well as the speed of that memory. DDR3 1600 or 1866 and that puppy shouldnt need any extra IGP at all)

Course judging by that board, you have other plans :p, overclocking the cpu and keeping a lower es can help performance big time for the cpu side of things. The 6570 should be plenty fine, it is a GDDR3 model I hope?

No as mentioned, even with the 4250, upping the clocks, the memory speed, memory bandwidth, even the cpu/nb can help ALOT with how fast the IGP or GPU does its thing, you can do this on a stock AMD cooler no problems, just keep it in mind if you need the extra performance.
 
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