Very quiet yet powerful graphics card?

[playXray]

Hi guys,

I need a new graphics card for my HTPC so I can play games as well as watch movies. I currently have a passively cooled GeForce card which is perfect for movies, but no good for games. I don't need anything eyewatering, but I'd like to be able to play newish games on medium settings at least. I currently have a spare GeForce GX 560Ti which is brilliant, but it's so loud (even when just watching movies) that it's not really any use in my HTPC. I don't mind too much how loud the card gets when gaming, but it needs to be as quiet as possible when watching movies. Also, smaller cards are better as this HTPC gets a lot of use and I'd like to keep airflow as efficient as possible.

Can anyone recommend anything suitable?

[nate.wages]

I don't know what price range you're looking for, but I can recommend Gigabyte's gtx660, it's around $230us (not sure about uk pricing). I wouldn't call it a small card but it's a bit shorter than a gtx680. I'm really happy with mine so far, idle temp stays around 30c and running skyrim on fairly high settings and 1080p it runs at 50c or so. Stays nice and quiet, I don't think I've ever heard it speed up the fan yet.

[playXray]

I don't know what price range you're looking for, but I can recommend Gigabyte's gtx660, it's around $230us (not sure about uk pricing). I wouldn't call it a small card but it's a bit shorter than a gtx680. I'm really happy with mine so far, idle temp stays around 30c and running skyrim on fairly high settings and 1080p it runs at 50c or so. Stays nice and quiet, I don't think I've ever heard it speed up the fan yet.

Thanks for the quick reply! That's probably a little over my budget. I'm selling my old GeForce GTX 560 Ti and a few other bits and pieces, and that's got to cover the new graphics card and hopefully leave a bit of spare cash. I guess my budget's around ?120. It seems a bit crazy to be downgrading, but I'd rather have a less powerful graphics card that was quieter and smaller that my existing one.

I was looking at a GeForce 650Ti - anyone got any experience of these cards?

[AimLXJ]

Noise: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-650-ti-benchmark-gk106,3318-18.html (scroll down to the 3rd image)

Games with GTX 650 Ti: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=650+ti&oq=650+ti&gs_l=youtube.3..0l10.1166.1831.0.2050.6.6.0.0.0.0.72.406.6.6.0...0.0...1ac.1.84nAKEUFhMg

[playXray]

Noise: http://www.tomshardw...06,3318-18.html (scroll down to the 3rd image)

Games with GTX 650 Ti: https://www.youtube....c.1.84nAKEUFhMg

Awesome, thanks. So this looks pretty quiet according to Tom's Hardware: http://www.dabs.com/products/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-650-ti-1032mhz-1gb-pci-express-3-0-hdmi-8BP8.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product%20search&utm_content=Q200

I'll keep looking, but that's a great start. Thanks.

[AimLXJ]

Maybe this will help you too

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[playXray]

Does that work in the UK or is it US only?

[nathan2013]

I highly recommend Asus ATI Radeon HD6450. It's an inexpensive silent and low profile video card. I guarantee that it is the best htpc graphics card.

[neoraptor]

why don't you replace the cooling on your GeForce GX 560Ti

[Aergan]

I purchased an MSI GTX650 OC 1GB for my HTPC/Server. It's very quiet when the driver takes over the fan control and doesn't get anywhere near full speed when playing games / 3D applications or h264 playback. I only run the stock fan and not the optional 2nd fan that comes in the box.

[AStaUK]

I would also suggest the 650Ti, looks to be within your budget. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=1914&subid=2392

Nice MSI card with 2GB VRAM for around ?100.

[Wakers]

You're struggling to get a powerful low profile card. Gigabyte Windforce cooled models are typically the shortest, height-wise, third party GPUs.

[AStaUK]

Can't edit my original post, for ?120 the MSI GeForce GTX 650Ti Black Knight OC 1024MB looks to be a very good card.

[Jub]

I'd really suggest you find one with 2GB VRAM... I recently went back to my old 7970 from my GTX 670 because of the extra GB memory. If you're thinking about games, well, textures these days really eat memory for breakfast.