Need help in choosing the right graphic card

[hsp]

Dear All,

I'm upgrading my PC and need help in choosing the right graphic card. Here is my current configuration:

1. AMD Athlon 5200 Dual Core
2. 160 GB SATA HDD
3. 2 GB RAM
4. Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4 Motherboard
5. Cooler Master 390W Power Supply

My requirements:
1. As silent a PC as possible
2. As cool a PC as possible


The mistake I did
I chose an in appropriate mother board. A motherboard with integrated graphic card would have been the most appropriate for my requirements, but unfortunately, I did not do sufficient research and bought a SLI motherboard. I do not intend to play games; but this is where I am. I do watch some movies. The motherboard has a PCI Express slot (two infact!) and I have no option but to fill this slot with a graphic card.

I need your help in choosing one which is as silent as possible. My budget is about $100 (I would saved this money had I chosen a correct motherboard )

Other questions I have -
1. Does a good graphic card significantly improve picture quality? Is the movie experience so much better with a good graphic card?
2. If I intend to do some video editing (i.e. record video off a camcorder and then want to do some editing) does a graphic card help in doing a better job?
3. Now that I have chosen a motherboard requiring a graphic card, I want to know - if you do not intend to play games, of what use is a graphic card?

Thanks for all the help!

Prashanth

 

[antibiotik]

ill answer u in the opposite order:

3. the main role of a graphic card is to output the picture from a pc to your monitor. 3d features for playing games is just an "added bonus"
2. for that to work, unless your camcorder has usb or firewire out you will need a video card with video in (VIVO cards) which are more expensive than the ones without it
1. most probably you wont see any difference in quality of your 2d picture between the cheapest and most expensive card. if youre watching divx and dvd movies any card will do just fine

the cheapest card with video in i could find was
VGA Ati Radeon HD 3450, 256Mb 64bit GDDR2, DVI, PCI Express 16x, CrossFire, AVIVO, Sapphire

it took me only 15 sec to find it so there may be other cheap ones too

 

[angry hampster]

Discrete graphics cards offload visual stress from the CPU. Decoding/encoding/editing movies is all CPU and RAM, graphics card won't matter. It seems like I've posted this one a good bit in the last few days:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127316

That card will be great especially if you ever get a BluRay player/burner for your computer.

 

[LostPassword]

fanless 8400gs, fanless 3450 or 3470,
and a little higher budget but still under 100, fanless 8600gt.
fanless 3650 is too expensive.