New (silent) GFX card

[Panja]

Hi all,

I have a Custom Mac running with the great guides I found here. Thanks!

But I'm looking for a new GFX card. Using a GTS 250 now but it makes to much noise.
So I'm looking for a passive cooled (or really silent active cooled) GFX card that is 100% compatible with OSx Lion 10.7.2
At the moment using 2 monitors via DVI.
With my future card I'm OK with using 1 DVI + 1 VGA. But both monitors need to work.

Install method: unibeast (usb with 10.7.2), comboupdate 10.7.2, multibeast with motherboard DSDT.

Not much of a real gamer, just once and a while. Nothing fancy.

Hardware specs (if needed):
GA-EP45-UD3LR (F11 bios)
Q9400 (core 2 quad)
8GB Geil pc-6400 ram (4x2GB)
GTS 250


Any suggestions? GT210?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Panja]

GT 210:
ASUS EN210 SILENT/DI/1GD3/V2(LP)

34 euro


GT 430:
Asus GeForce GT430 DC SILENT/DI 1GB
Sparkle SXT4301024S3LNMP

Both around 60 euro.

Which one would you recommend? Maybe a different one?

 

[samisnake]

that 210 should work, though the asus 210 512mb does not, the 1gb is reported as working oob.

 

[Panja]

Thanks!
Sounds good. Just saw the GFX database... Bit late ;-)

Is it any good for games? I'm not talking about Battlefield 3 on highest settings but maybe some Modern Combat, Duke Nukem Forever.

 

[samisnake]

the 210 will suck ass playing games tbh

 

[Panja]

Hmmm I'm not THAT heavy gamer but sometimes I want to play something...

What card will suit my needs better?

 

[Panja]

Anyone some more advice...?

Does the gt 210 do dual monitors?
I have a 23 inch with 1920x1080 & a 17 inch with 1280x1024.

 

[Orangezorki]

I have to say that, while you haven't given extensive details of your system, it looks like it is hardly far from silent. Core2Quads were never the low power, silent offering of their day. I'd look at the Radeon HD 6850/6870, as they should be supported OOB, and then look at what variant has the quietest cooling system. You should be able to find something quiet enough that it's completely drowned out by the CPU cooler, unless you have something aftermarket. And if it's audible when ramped up for games, will you really notice over the explosions/SFX?

David

 

[Panja]

Thanks for the reply!

I'm happy to provide you with details.
Please let me know what you want to now.

At the moment my Q9400 is running at stock speed (2,67ghz) with the stock Intel fan.
I'm planning to buy an Artic Freezer 7 Pro and OC my Q9400 a little.
To be honest the Intel stock fan is pretty quite and the GTS 250 is a lot more noisy.
Though the GTS 250 works OOB on my system...
I could go with a different cooling on my card?

Please let me know if you need any more info.

 

[Panja]

I'm thinking of buying the: ASUS EN210 SILENT/DI/1GD3/V2(LP)

But I want to know if it will be capable of running 2 monitors in OSx Lion without any problems?
One monitor is running 1920x1080 and the other is running 1280x1024.

Can anybody tell me if this card will fit my needs?