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Best current passive GPU for HTPC

L

lirsch

Member
Hi,
I'm going to build an i5 Core HTPC with a Silverstone GD05 case (with gaming capabilities, no SLI requirement) and would like to have the best current passive GPU. what is your recommendation?
 
Powercolor makes a passive 'everything' lately.
Here is the new 6850, thats the fastest I believe.
They make the 5770 down as well.
http://www.techpowerup.com/135146/PowerColor-Readies-First-Passive-Cooled-HD-6850-Graphics-Card.html
177a.jpg
 
http://www.techpowerup.com/135146/PowerColor-Readies-First-Passive-Cooled-HD-6850-Graphics-Card.html

I doubt there is a more powerfull grafics card you can find on the market thats passive cooled, than the 6850.


lirsch said:
Hi,
I'm going to build an i5 Core HTPC with a Silverstone GD05 case (with gaming capabilities, no SLI requirement) and would like to have the best current passive GPU. what is your recommendation?
Click to expand...

Id like to recammend you also go with a passive heatsink cooler too for the cpu, and the psu. Both should be possible if your willing to spend abit more to have a totally quiet pc.
 
GTS450 cards are as silent as non-passive cards can come. You won't hear it.

Traditional wisdom for a video card is that if you have (relatively) high power draw you can either have a cool card or a quiet card but not both. The GTS 450 breaks the idiom wide-open – we’ve already established it draws more power than the 5770, and yet our reference card barely breaks the noise floor. At 43.3dB(A) it’s effectively silent, a feat not even the GTX 460 or the 5770 can claim. If you can ventilate your case at similarly quiet levels (necessary by fact that the GTS 450 exhausts some hot air in to the case) then we’re certainly looking at a contender for one of the most balanced HTPC cards ever.
Click to expand...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3909/nvidias-geforce-gts-450-pushing-fermi-in-to-the-mainstream/16
 
lirsch said:
Thanks for the recommendation but ... 40+ dBA is not silent, my standards for quiet is < 25dBA.
Click to expand...

As measured at what distance?


Passive doesn't work with no case airflow, and any card can be cooled passively with a sufficiently large heatsink. My vote, buy a card with the performance you need, a huge aftermarket heatsink, and a big and quiet fan (undervolted) to place next to it.

A few years back, I ran a "passive" x850XT PE in this manner, and it was effectively silent with an undervolted Panaflo 120mm nearby.
 
Step 1) Buy any 6850, 5850, 6850, or 460GTX card
Step 2) Buy Accelero S1 Rev 2 cooler
Step 3) Buy a very quiet fan like a Nexus or Noctua
Step 4) Buy a fan controller or at least one of those connectors that can put the fan on 5v, 7v or 12v.

This takes up a ton of space inside the case, as the Accelero takes up space, then you zip tie a 25mm thick fan to it... but if it's all you need in the case, it's QUIET. It's not passive, but I cannot hear the one I did for my 4850 when I'm three feet from it. When I did that on my 4850 I not only had a cooler I could not hear, I had a cooler that cut temps over ambient in Furmark by HALF and allowed more overclocking headroom than anyone else in the forums was getting with stock fans.

Come up with a scenario where you can afford to take up 3-4 slots with your video card and you can have most cards in there.

Fully passive is a joke. You need some fans in your case anyway. Get one on the CPU and one on the GPU, but make sure they're QUIET fans. It will be miles better than any passive setup.
 
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