What is the fastest video card that can do this...

[gevorg]

1. Fan completely off in Aero/2D mode, including HD video playback.

2. Fan on in Gaming/3D mode.

 

[ViRGE]

There aren't any video cards that turn their fans off and on. Any card with a fan is going to keep it running at a minimal speed. So the answer would be "none". Instead you should be looking at cards that have a fan that's very quiet when idling, in which case there's a very good selection.

 

[Borealis7]

there are passively cooled cards which are completely silent. its ok if you have fans on the side panel of your case, but i wouldn't game with them as they tend to be very weak.

 

[AddictedGamer]

There aren't any video cards that turn their fans off and on. Any card with a fan is going to keep it running at a minimal speed. So the answer would be "none". Instead you should be looking at cards that have a fan that's very quiet when idling, in which case there's a very good selection.

Just out of curiosity, what would the normal "minimal speed" for a video card fan be? 20, 30 pct?

 

[smackababy]

I believe it is 30% for my 5870 and it is dead silent.

 

[jvroig]

Just out of curiosity, what would the normal "minimal speed" for a video card fan be?

I believe it is 30% for my 5870 and it is dead silent.

My 4770 goes as low as 30% as well, through CCC.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Just out of curiosity, what would the normal "minimal speed" for a video card fan be? 20, 30 pct?

It depends on the card. I think my Sapphire Vapor-X goes down to 17% at times when I'm doing nothing. A reference card might be a higher percentage, but it's also not really comparable as they are different coolers with different fans. One fan at 25% could be louder than another cooler/can combo at 40%, as an example.

OP, if you want quiet look at reviews of non-reference cooler cards. My Vapor-X is absolutely silent (atleast I can't hear it over my case fan/CPU fan) when in the desktop. When I game you can barely hear it spin up, but there is a difference. There are a bunch of cards, from both AMD and Nvidia, that have non-reference coolers that will be very near silent in 2D and not too loud when in 3D use.

 

[Dankk]

OP, this is currently the best video card out there that uses no fan whatsoever. It's a Powercolor Radeon 5750:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131346

Should work great. If you plan on buying it though, just make sure the rest of your case has good cooling.

 

[Piotrsama]

1. Fan completely off in Aero/2D mode, including HD video playback.

2. Fan on in Gaming/3D mode.

Check Silent PC
http://www.silentpcreview.com/section15.html

 

[SlowSpyder]

OP, this is currently the best video card out there that uses no fan whatsoever. It's a Powercolor Radeon 5750:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131346

Should work great. If you plan on buying it though, just make sure the rest of your case has good cooling.

I think it was BFG10k who said in his experiences passive cards actually make the computer louder than a card with a good cooler that vents to the outside. All the heat from the passive card dumps into the case, this make the system fans run faster. Now if you have a fan controller and good airflow, you can set things to a level you like. But, it is something to keep in mind, that heat has to go somewhere, so you'd have to have good airflow to keep things quiet and stable.