8400GS vs 9400GT vs R4350 vs R3450

[VaultDweller]

Well, I'm trying to decide what video card to drop into an upcoming workstation build, and I've narrowed my choices down to a Radeon HD 4350, Radeon HD 3450, Geforce 9400GT or Geforce 8400GS (G98 version). What do these GPUs have in common? They all have very cheap fanless cards available.

My choice between the cards comes primarily down to power consumption and heat - I want both kept to a minimum. I've scoured most of the review sites I frequent and spent some time with Google, but I can't find any good comparisons between most of these cards. Those reviews I've found that include power consumption figures only include one or (at best) two of these cards in their results, and different sites have totally different test setups that prevent comparing power figures between sites.

Can anyone provide shed any light for me, or point me to any good information resources that might help?

I'm partial towards NVIDIA here, as it's very possible that the card may eventually get re-allocated into my gaming rig as a PhysX-only card if PhysX starts to gain more traction. I'm leaning towards the 8400GS.

I'd go for a GF9300 motherboard in a heartbeat, but none of the board vendors that I trust are producing boards that meet my needs. Boards from Asus, Gigabyte, etc only have 5 internal SATA ports, and I need 6.

 

[Qbah]

The 8400GS is too slow to do PhysX anyway, you'd need something like a 8600GT at least, 9600GT would be even better. I personally had (still have, not used though) a HD3450. It did everything I wanted fine. Even light gaming. Obviously once I bought the HD4870 I stopped using it. So my vote goes to HD3450 Though there was a person here on the forums that had problems running it at all - happens to people in both camps, I'm sure.

 

[nosfe]

well, wikipedia lists the TDP of the 8400gs at 40W, the 9400GT at 50W and the 4350 at 25W. No mention about the 3450 but i guess its at about the same, probably a bit lower

 

[cusideabelincoln]

You should really just be looking at the 9400GT and HD4350. The 4350 will use a bit less power and the 9400GT is a tad faster, but really all the cards you mentioned will consume about the same at idle.

Here's a review with the 9400GT, HD3450, and HD4550 (which you can use a substitute for the HD4350 since the AT review shows the 4350 using less power than the 4550):
http://www.techpowerup.com/rev...ire/HD_4850_X2/24.html

 

[VaultDweller]

Thanks for the feedback gentlemen, I guess it looks like the 4350 for me.

 

[bluemax]

The prev-generation 3450 is likely much cheaper than the 4350. If you're not doing 3D or HDMI audio, might as well save some buckazoids.

BTW, cool username. Harold and Herbert/Bob say hi!

 

[VaultDweller]

The 3450 is cheaper, but only by about $10 - enough that I considered it, but it's not a deal-breaker.

As for my username, it has it's down sides. Ever since Fallout 3 started getting lots of attention, the name's become much harder to secure... these days it's often taken when I try to register for things.