[uzziah]

wondering if someone would reccomend a super cheap fanless vid card to be used in my basic amd duron audio rig. no games, of course; unless you consider "pac man" once in awhile a "game"

the cheaper the better. i'm penny pinching

do i really need a vid card? don't some mobos have onboard vid or something?

will be getting abit mobo for socket 754

 

[lan]

eh? There are no Duron's on socket 754 platform. Do you mean Sempron?

 

[MikoLayer]

pick up a used g400/450/550 or a radeon 7000/7200/7500/8500/9000/9100 (whatever based on r250 core for taht matter)

should be around $30~$50 shipped.

 

[uzziah]

socket-A i mean

 

[dwin902]

I found a decent one over at newegg for $33, and shipping is free. It should serve just fine if you won't be doing any gaming. You could always just go with integrated graphics, though. It doesn't matter in your case.

Here's a link: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...135-146&depa=1

 

[Glassman]

definitely go for some low end Ati card as they have much much better video output quality than lowend nVidia cards.. R9000/9200/9250 are the ones to look for..

 

[Edwood]

Ah, but then there are drivers to consider.

If you ever want to to multiple monitors stick with NVidia or Matrox. ATi still has it's head up it's @rse when it comes to multimonitors.


Although, you are probably better off with NVidia then. Matrox is not in the "affordable" business.

-Ed

 

[Skarecrow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood If you ever want to to multiple monitors stick with NVidia or Matrox. ATi still has it's head up it's @rse when it comes to multimonitors. -Ed

Eh? My r9700p did 2 monitors quite well. In fact, I prefered it a bit to the way that my 6800gt does 2 monitors.

 

[BrokenEnglish]

for that purpose a rock-solid intel system seems to fit perfectly: if you have some experience with setting up computers on your own, buy a cheap used board (epox or asus) with intel i845ge (integrated graphics) chipset. place a mobile celeron (256kb 2nd level cache & cheap!) with 1,6-1,8 ghz on it, bend pin vid4 to get the minimum secure voltage (1,225v), add a silent cooler and some 256-512mb ddr333/400 ram - that's it. integrated intel extreme graphics offers the best 2d-graphics of onboard-solutions. the system could be easily overclocked to 2,4ghz at 1,225-1,4v vcore and dissipates not that much heat compared to a duron-system.
but... of course... you have to know some fundamentals...

 

[MikoLayer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrokenEnglish for that purpose a rock-solid intel system seems to fit perfectly: if you have some experience with setting up computers on your own, buy a cheap used board (epox or asus) with intel i845ge (integrated graphics) chipset. place a mobile celeron (256kb 2nd level cache & cheap!) with 1,6-1,8 ghz on it, bend pin vid4 to get the minimum secure voltage (1,225v), add a silent cooler and some 256-512mb ddr333/400 ram - that's it. integrated intel extreme graphics offers the best 2d-graphics of onboard-solutions. the system could be easily overclocked to 2,4ghz at 1,225-1,4v vcore and dissipates not that much heat compared to a duron-system. but... of course... you have to know some fundamentals...

why bother when fry's has those amazing combo deals on durons and semprons? well if you dont have fry's around your area then of coruse you are SOL.

 

[BrokenEnglish]

i prefer building my pc's on my own with hand-matched quality-parts...

 

[superjohnny]

I'd try to find an Abit NF7-M. Nforce 2 is a solid platform and this motherboard has integrated Geforce4 graphics, soundstorm audio & LAN. All you need is a CPU, ram, drives & a case and you're good to go. Check the refurbished section of newegg and you might find one cheap.

check it out here: http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/...ries=1&model=7

If you want a solid, cheap video card I have a Geforce 2 MX400 with 32MB of ram I'll sell you for $20. PM me if you want it.

 

[SDA]

Yeah, an nForce2 IGP motherboard would probably do the job. True, you have the northbridge fan to worry about, but you can get good passive northbridge coolers that should also handle the load just fine.

As for fanless separate video cards, if you don't plan on doing any 3D stuff, I'd definitely look into older Matrox video cards. You'll get good 2D image quality (certainly above what you'd get with a GF2MX or GF4MX) at a very attractive price point (think $5 - $10 on eBay).

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SDA As for fanless separate video cards, if you don't plan on doing any 3D stuff, I'd definitely look into older Matrox video cards. You'll get good 2D image quality (certainly above what you'd get with a GF2MX or GF4MX) at a very attractive price point (think $5 - $10 on eBay).

Be careful there! Some older Matrox cards will not work at all on current or recent systems. (Specifically, the G100/G200/Millenium/Mystique series cards require 3.3V-only AGP operation - but newer motherboards, including the NF7-M, support only 1.5V AGP operation. And attempting to run a 3.3V-only card on a 1.5V-only slot will burn out the motherboard's AGP slot!)

 

[mshan]

http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=366303


or

Brand New BBA ATI Radeon 7000 - $25 shipped!
http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=364993
(this guy is also selling an Asus A7N8X-VM Nforce2 IGP with onboard Geforce4 MX video for $40 shipped).

If you want integrated graphics, look at some of the micro ATX Nforce2 mobos (integrated graphics is where you will actually see a significant benefit from dual channel memory on an Nforce2 mobo).