Light Gamer. Looking for a Quiet $100 Range Video Card

[phin586]

Hey guys. Currently have a GTX 260 in a Hackintosh build i made back in november. Everything runs GREAT but it tends to get VERY noisy. I'm a very light gamer. I play CIV 5, Plan to play SIMCITY 5 when it comes out. Occasionally play the Humblebundle games but no FPS.

To give you an idea, I wouldn't have even bothered to get this card from a friend, if my 9800 hadn't died, because that thing played everything perfectly!

Just looking for something thats going to perform well, silently as possible and come at a decent price point.

Thanks. I am not ATI or NVIDIA biased.

 

[humanoidal]

You can consider changing the thermal paste on your GPU and lubricating the bearing on the fan. By far the cheapest option.


If this doesn't work go ahead and buy a decent cooler for your gpu. Take a look at thermalright shaman. This will be quiter than any card on the market. http://www.amazon.com/Thermalright-1000 ... 837&sr=8-1

 

[sleeperninja]

My Sapphire HD5770 has not only been a lot quieter than my previous EVGA 9800gt, it is also hack friendly, hack friendly, and did I mention hack friendly? I had to do NOTHING to get it to play well with Snow Leopard vanilla or Lion vanilla. It even runs in a Mac Pro, with or without flashing. I bet it'd be even quieter if you cleaned and pasted it as mentioned.

 

[phin586]

You can consider changing the thermal paste on your GPU and lubricating the bearing on the fan. By far the cheapest option.


If this doesn't work go ahead and buy a decent cooler for your gpu. Take a look at thermalright shaman. This will be quiter than any card on the market. http://www.amazon.com/Thermalright-1000 ... 837&sr=8-1

Well considering the card is currently on loan with the intention to buy, I doubt thats an option. I also know he is in the process of another build so i'm sure he wouldnt mind if i dropped it back off. Its just such a noisey and large card. I plan to upgrade to a sandybridge by summer, in a mATX case, so a lighter card would be in my future regardless.

My Sapphire HD5770 has not only been a lot quieter than my previous EVGA 9800gt, it is also hack friendly, hack friendly, and did I mention hack friendly? I had to do NOTHING to get it to play well with Snow Leopard vanilla or Lion vanilla. It even runs in a Mac Pro, with or without flashing. I bet it'd be even quieter if you cleaned and pasted it as mentioned.

Looks like a solid card! I'll definitely look into it. Thank you! Which exact model? A few searches so quite a few of that Sapphire.

 

[goober296]

It can be very difficult to find fully working video cards, if you have one i would suggest maybe lowering your friends price and seeing if you could do something with that fan. As far as that card in a microatx case, i have that combo and it fits\works fine.

 

[phin586]

Well we are going to go ahead and assume the plan is not to purchase this card. Just curious on any other suggestions. I see the Sapphire 5770's are going for pretty cheap on ebay ($70)

Any other suggestions?

 

[sleeperninja]

You can consider changing the thermal paste on your GPU and lubricating the bearing on the fan. By far the cheapest option.


If this doesn't work go ahead and buy a decent cooler for your gpu. Take a look at thermalright shaman. This will be quiter than any card on the market. http://www.amazon.com/Thermalright-1000 ... 837&sr=8-1

Well considering the card is currently on loan with the intention to buy, I doubt thats an option. I also know he is in the process of another build so i'm sure he wouldnt mind if i dropped it back off. Its just such a noisey and large card. I plan to upgrade to a sandybridge by summer, in a mATX case, so a lighter card would be in my future regardless.

My Sapphire HD5770 has not only been a lot quieter than my previous EVGA 9800gt, it is also hack friendly, hack friendly, and did I mention hack friendly? I had to do NOTHING to get it to play well with Snow Leopard vanilla or Lion vanilla. It even runs in a Mac Pro, with or without flashing. I bet it'd be even quieter if you cleaned and pasted it as mentioned.

Looks like a solid card! I'll definitely look into it. Thank you! Which exact model? A few searches so quite a few of that Sapphire.

This exact card, though you'll probably have to purchase it somewhere else, as it's deactivated/end of life as a selling product.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102873

Netkas found it to be nearly identical to the actual Apple branded 5770 on the Apple Store, aside from the changes from MiniDP to DP and HDMI. I found it while looking for a way to flash my EVGA 9800gt about 7 months ago, and reluctantly decided to purchase the 5770, despite the excitement in the forum about how well it was working on MacPro1,1.

I get a proper boot screen simultaneously on my LG monitor and my Philips TV, and disconnecting and reconnecting devices to ports behaves like you would expect with an actual Mac. It was quite refreshing after the trouble I had with the 9800GT, just getting it to work, and never being able to connect/disconnect devices in SL.

 

[phin586]

Awesome. Thanks. How is the noise level? This GTX 260 Revs up even while playing DivX.

 

[Gordo74]

New cards dont do that unless gaming.

 

[phin586]

New cards dont do that unless gaming.

perfect. hopefully i can find a decent one on ebay for around 70. Thanks again everyone!