Best SILENT card under $ 400 ?

[jonas123]

I'm looking to upgrade from a Geforce 4 ti-4400 with a Zalman no-fan cooler.

Here are the requirements:

1. Has to be somewhat silent! (I hate fan noise). Are there any custom cooling solutions avaliable?
2. Maximum total price is $ 400 (less would be appreciated).
3. Has to have good performance in new games (HL2, Doom 3 etc.)


What can you recommend?

So far I have thought about buying a Nvidia 6800 GT card and then equip it with a Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 5. Are there better alternatives regarding price/performance/noise ?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Since you're new, I'll do you the honour of not roasting you on a spit for not searching.

Gigabyte geForce 6800 (vanilla 12-pipe) comes stock with a fanless heatpipe cooler.

- M4H

 

[MDE]

I have a 6800GT and NV Silencer and I don't regret it a bit.

 

[xboxist]

I have a PNY 6800GT it makes my ears explode. So then I put my headphones on and I don't hear a thing.

 

[jonas123]

Is it possible to softmod the gigabyte card?

 

[MadEye2]

Do you have a silent PSU? Those are the main monsters for creating noise. On my 3 PCs anyway.

 

[jonas123]

Yeah I have a silent psu and a silent Zalman cpu cooler.

 

[jonas123]

So what would be the best deal; The no-fan gigabyte 6800 card or a 6800 gt card with an arctic cooling solution?

 

[Matthias99]

Well, the 6800 is cheaper and is *silent*. The 6800GT is more expensive, not completely silent, and will not have a warranty once you replace the heatsink. The GT is a good bit faster, though.

 

[Cawchy87]

If your dropping anything over 300 i would get a GT with a silencer.

 

[jonas123]

Ok, I think I'll go with the 6800gt + silencer.
The questien is then; which one?
Is the Leadtek all right? ($ 390 dollars on newegg)

 

[foofoo]

i'm running the bfg 6800gt with the arctic cooling nv5. it's a great combo and quieter than the fan on my water cooling setup

 

[jonas123]

Since none has answered, I assume the Leadtek card is the best buy?