Where/how to find video card

[rhendrix9]

I want an AGP video card that is passively cooled for use in a PVR.
I am having a hard time determining and or finding a card that is passively cooled, that information just isn't always available.

I'm wondering if anyone knows of a place to look that will give me that kind of info.
Newegg seems to be the only vendor that does this, but they seem to be getting out of the AGP business.

Anysuggestions?

[isogonic]

you mean a agp card that dosnt use a fan right? i dont think that sould be hard to find, just look for a older (and less expensive) agp card.

http://www.directron.com/passively.html

[BJ_M]

check any of these out (you dont need to get an older model at all)

Sapphire Radeon X800 GTO Ultimate (uses a heat pipe - no fan)
Asus A8R-MVP (made for htpc)
X800XT AIW
X1900 All in Wonder
gigabyte GV-RX16T256V-RH (perfect for htpc)

[redwudz]

AGP is being outmoded by PCI-E. I use a Sapphire Radeon 9550 in my media computer. It uses the ATI chip set. Runs fairly cool with just a small heat sink. It has a VGA, S-Video and DVI output.

It's not a high end card, though, but works fine driving a ATI DVI to Component adapter for my video projector. It runs about $48 at Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102534

[thinger62]

If you will be recording HD and using an HDMI input on your tv, you might want to spend some time and money looking into this. The cheaper fanless cards probably will cause you problems in that sort of setup.

[kschang]

Almost EVERY video card nowadays except very old ones are actively cooled. If you can't stand the noise, you can always buy a Zalman refit heatsink and apply that to your video card.

[BJ_M]

see list above (and that is not all) - there are many many models that are passive cooled ..

[rhendrix9]

Sapphire Radeon X800 GTO Ultimate (uses a heat pipe - no fan)

- this appears to be PCIE

Asus A8R-MVP (made for htpc)

- this appears to be a Motherboard

X800XT AIW

- Alas all I'm looking for is an AGP card (not tuner) I'm replacing an AIW because of reliability problems with the ATI choice in the Guide Plus TV Guide. For a PVR you really want to "set it and forget it". But ATI Guide Plus system is not reliable. The last staw was its inaccessability over the last three weeks. And ATI's total lack of concern. After submitting a support tickect I could only find out if it worked by trying to download new listings everyday till the download worked! I'm switching to a haupage Wintv/Beyond tv solution.

X1900 All in Wonder

- see above

gigabyte GV-RX16T256V-RH (perfect for htpc)

- this apppears to be PCIE

I'm stuffing all this into a shuttle, I have 1 PCI and 1 AGP slot, so space is a concern. It looks like the 9550 is the best I can find.
thanks

[BJ_M]

Geforce FX 5900 XT can be run with no fan and just a heat sink .. you can buy them this way also ...

sorry about the list above -- i got that list from a htpc site , and didnt check it

[rhendrix9]

NP!
Finding them is the hard part! I've found 5200, 6200, 7000, 9550, and 9250. I don't know which is the better chip. Most vendors don't tell you if it's fanless and may or may not show a picture and then they may not show the actual picture.

I just wish I knew how the cards I did find compare as far as performance.
Thanks

[jkleslie]

I'd go with one of the fanless nVidia 6200 series from Newegg.com. The 6200s only have a 64-bit memory bus, but do have MPEG hardware acceleration, support HDTV, and are widely supported by any HTPC frontend you'd want to use. They're also only about $50 (a few even have rebates making them much cheaper).

Just make sure you stay away from the low profile models, unless you actually have a slim profile case requiring one. They're not the most powerful card there is, but they're very popular with HTPC enthusiasts.

[edDV]

Just go though Newegg.com from cheapest up and pick one with no fan.

If you will be recording HD and using an HDMI input on your tv, you might want to spend some time and money looking into this. The cheaper fanless cards probably will cause you problems in that sort of setup.

There are only a couple of cards announced and not yet shipping that truely support HDMI+HDCP. Better waith for that.

If HD MPeg2_TS playback is needed better to stick to ATI-9550 up and upper NVidea but those all have fans.

[edDV]

NP!

I just wish I knew how the cards I did find compare as far as performance.
Thanks

Performance for what beyond MPeg2 hardware playback assist?

[Treebeard]

get a fanless 6200 or 6600 from newegg.com best service and selection around.