Quiet PCI-E Radeon for Vista HTPC

[Pace]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a quiet Radeon, and had saw the 256MB Sapphire Ultimate X1600 Pro on www.scan.co.uk, but it's now disappeared. There is no mention of it on aria.co.uk or overclockers.co.uk, and Dabs have the Ultimate X1600 XT listed, but not in stock.

I could go up to the X1950 Pro, but I'm reluctant to double the cost of the graphics card when the X1600 Pro will be all I'll really need for a Vista HTPC/media-centre with the odd game.

Any ideas for availability of this X1600 in the UK, or similar products comfortably under the £100 mark.

The only reason I might up the spec, is to cope with decoding BluRay content, so if there's differences between ATi cards in this respect please share.

Please offer opinions/suggestions - thanks!

P.

Edit: I'm also planning on a Core 2 Duo E4300, Asus P5B-E motherboard and 1GB DDR2, to fit in my existing Zalman HD160.

[Fluff]

In my brother's Dell he has got a Passive Ati X1300 Dell E521.

There are a list of quietpc components here incl one with HDMI http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/components I am not sure if it will do the blu ray.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2874&p=22

[Pace]

With respect to decoding H.264/AVC, it looks like all ATi cards are created equal, per http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2886

Now facing that fact that a E6400 or even greater is required... bah to budgets.

[Jammrock]

Gigabyte makes quit a few ATi based silent PCIe cards:

http://www.gigabyte-usa.com/Products/VGA/Default.aspx

Anything that says silent pipe next to it is a fanless cooled video card.

[schmosef]

I'm looking for a silent AGP based card with HDTV output for my HTPC. It also has to be a one slot card (not one of those cards with a huge heatsink).

Anybody got any ideas?

[RhinoZ]

Hey Schmosef,
My friend bought one of these for his HTPC, I've yet to hear from him on how the image quality is

http://www.sparkle.com.tw/product_detail.asp?id=55&sub_id=93

I think he said he paid like $150 CDN with taxes
I 'm also looking at finally building my own HTPC, and looking for an AGP card, but I'm waiting for my buddy's opinion on the card.

[schmosef]

Hey RhinoZ, Thanks!

This is exactly what I've been waiting for. It looks like Asus has made a similar card now.

I'll be picking one up in a few days.

[RhinoZ]

Right On!!
I would think an ASUS card would be a better quality card, but I still haven't heard from my buddy and he's not replying to emails either.

[Wombat]

Right On!!
I would think an ASUS card would be a better quality card, but I still haven't heard from my buddy and he's not replying to emails either.

Well then I guess we know his PC isn't online

[RhinoZ]

Hey Wombat,
LOL I was thinking the same thing, but he travels alot and without warning.

[Pace]

Gigabyte makes quit a few ATi based silent PCIe cards:

http://www.gigabyte-usa.com/Products/VGA/Default.aspx

Anything that says silent pipe next to it is a fanless cooled video card.

Well, it said 'new', but I see it's got silent pipe too, so I've ordered the Radeon X1650 Pro. Will let you know just how good it is after I get it next weekend!

Thanks for now!

[agallag]

Go for any card that suits your needs, and put one of these on it:

http://www.zalman.co.kr/usa/product/view.asp?idx=150&code=013

I replaced the stock fan of my X700Pro with one, and it's completely silent on its lower speed setting.