Recommendations for a passive AGP directx9.0 card

[imported_grounded]

I've been out of the graphics card scene for a while and need some suggestions. I am currently running a Ti4200, which I would like to replace mainly due to the NOISE factor.

The new card should meet the following criteria:
-passive (preferably from the factory, but would consider after market cooler)
-performance close to but preferably better than the ti4200
-supports directx9.0

How important is OpenGL2.0 support? When is OpenGL support most important?

 

[edplayer]

Passive cooling would limit you to a low/medium power card like the 9600XT. I think Sapphire made a retail passive version of it. It should be more powerful than your Ti4200 and support DirectX9

 

[edplayer]

its the 9600 Pro Ultimate

http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/products/graphics_overview.php?gpid=53

edit: Looks like they have a passive 9800 Pro also.

 

[BlacKJesuS]

there is a passive x800XL somewhere

 

[ElFenix]

a fan doesn't make something active, but then everyone around here just uses the fanboy definition and not the one any good physics text book would use.

anyway, the arctic cooling vga coolers are damn near silent AND they exhaust hot air out of the case, allowing the rest of your stuff to run a bit cooler, which is good.

there is also a big zalman fanless heat sink that straps to both sides of the board.

both of those would be worth investigating.

sapphire sells a part called the 'x800gto ultimate' which would be quite a bit faster than the 9600 or 9800, and yet is still fanless.

 

[soni]

ASUS have a 7800GT with passive cooling
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=2&l2=6&l3=0&model=969&modelmenu=1

 

[Steelski]

i am thinking AGP only right!

 

[kylebisme]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
a fan doesn't make something active, but then everyone around here just uses the fanboy definition and not the one any good physics text book would use.

The fact that the fan spins makes it active, that has nothing to do with fanboyism and is simple physics.

 

[DeathReborn]

Sapphire Radeon Atlantis 9600 256MB

I've had one myself and it worked fine with all but 2 drivers, both of which are old drivers though. It played BF2 at 1024x768, medium fine (Athlon XP-M 2500 2.2GHz, 1GB PC3200 DDR).

 

[Peter]

You also need to mind that the heat needs to go SOMEWHERE, so even if a high-specification card is fanless thanks to heatpipes and huge cooling surfaces, it'll still radiate lots of heat into the case - mandating an extra case fan more often than not.

Sapphire's Radeon 9600 would be the highest specification fanless card that has a nicely low power consumption, and doesn't require extra airflow near it.