Best fanless DX9 AGP card for a Shuttle SFF?

[Audioaficionado]

I'm upgrading my daughter's SK41G Shuttle to make it much more quiet but still play Sims2 in full detail. No FPS games but RTS games likely.

Right now she's got an MSI G4 Ti4600/4800 and in addition to being kinda noisy, cooks in that small Shuttle G case. Sucks the life out of <200W PS too.

What would be the best true DX9 supported card to get that's silent, relatively cool and still has good eye candy for RTS games and Sims2?

I've been eying the 6200 AGP (not the crippled TC versions). Any better choices? Are there any fanless 6600 cards? ATI 9600XT for comprible price/performance?

6200 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130233
or newer NV44 version http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150107
9600XT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102342

[DDR-PIII]

OH, I got a link for you, gime one second, I was looking at one liek I got, accept its the 6800, brb.

, i mean depending on how much your willing to pay, this is the best stock card that comes silent.

http://www.giga-byte.com/VGA/Products/Products_GV-N68128DH.htm

or you can get the 6600, which they also sell silent :)

oh i see you only have a 200watt psu, here is the link to the one i'll be getting.

http://www.giga-byte.com/VGA/Products/Products_GV-N66256DP.htm "also have a 128mb version, they obviously run cooler than the 6800.

[consumer9000]

Are there not fanless Gigabyte 6800/X800 boards too now? I believe I've seen some recently (Golden colored heatpipe sandwich design heatsink). That would certainly be the quickest.

[Audioaficionado]

We're upgrading to the new Shuttle 300W replacement PS that will work even in an olser unit like the SK41G. That should be enough to power most any card and the 266 Barton processor upgrade.

[DDR-PIII]

Are there not fanless Gigabyte 6800/X800 boards too now? I believe I've seen some recently (Golden colored heatpipe sandwich design heatsink). That would certainly be the quickest.

umm, yeah thats what i posted :)

We're upgrading to the new Shuttle 300W replacement PS that will work even in an olser unit like the SK41G. That should be enough to power most any card and the 266 Barton processor upgrade.
yep that should do just fine :)

[Audioaficionado]

I'd love to get her that 6800NU and try some RT pixel pipe unlockage but ~$200 is a budget buster :(

I might be able to talk her into that 6600 but anything over ~$100 would be a hard sell.

How will that 9600XT perform compared to her GF4 Ti4600?

[DDR-PIII]

i believe they are about the same, but have 4 pixel pipelines right ? can both be gotten in 128 or 256mb, im not sure about the core/mem speed of the 4600, but the speeds of a 9600xt are 500mhz core and 300/600mhz mem "128-bit", its dx9 of course, and comes with ddr or ddr2 :).

[edit] i was searching and typing and i found the 46400 has 300mhz core and 650mhz mem, so it looks like the 9600xt would be faster as long as the 4600 dosent have 256bit memory.*edit* which it dosent have :)*

[Audioaficionado]

Thanx DDR-PIII

My main goal is to cool and quiet her sytem down and get a few more years out of it. Even a mid range modern barebones SFF will cost several hundred bux to build new. This way we can pump it up for half that cost or less. The 6200 is just too castrated compared to the 4600 or 9600 and it won't support 98se for some of her old games.

As for me, nothing but the best will do. Gotta have an X2 and GTX or bust :D

[{PMS}fishy]

How will that 9600XT perform compared to her GF4 Ti4600?

The Ti will kill it in DX8, and be almost as good in DX9.

It would be a sidestep, not an upgrade.

[Audioaficionado]

But doesn't the 9600 use less power and being fanless will quiet things down. I want to at least match the graphics power she has now or come close. That 6200 just doesn't look like it can compete unlike it's bigger brother 6600.

[{PMS}fishy]

But doesn't the 9600 use less power and being fanless will quiet things down. I want to at least match the graphics power she has now or come close. That 6200 just doesn't look like it can compete unlike it's bigger brother 6600.

I ran a ti4600 on an SN41g2 which had a 200w PSU, with no issues.

I really don't think its worth throwing money at.

Only card I'd consider an upgrade is a 6600GT, but you are looking at $120-150.

[Audioaficionado]

$200 once you throw an after market quiet heat sink on it that will fit in the Shuttle. By then I'm goiing to get that heatpiped 6800NU.

Anyway thanx for the input {PMS}fishy. I didn't know that the Ti4600 was still that good in DX8.

[{PMS}fishy]

$200 once you throw an after market quiet heat sink on it that will fit in the Shuttle. By then I'm goiing to get that heatpiped 6800NU.

Anyway thanx for the input {PMS}fishy. I didn't know that the Ti4600 was still that good in DX8.


6600GTs aren't loud. I doubt that you would hear it over the CPU fan on full speed.

[Yuriman]

I think you underestimate the stock shuttle power supply. I had the SN85G4, and the 240w psu ran an Athlon64 2800+ overclocked, with 2 hard drives in raid-0, and a 9500@9700pro. Rails were within .2v.

Asside from that, I modded my X700pro to run fanless, and I think the Aerocool HT101 (something like that) should fit in the shuttle.

[Audioaficionado]

6600GTs aren't loud. I doubt that you would hear it over the CPU fan on full speed.Well the stock fan on my XFX 6600GT is kinda loud IMO and when I'm in 2D, RivaTuner's fan control throttles it back to 50% but I can still hear the whine. Gotta install my Zalman I've had sitting in a box since last spring :rolleyes:

I'm also replacing that 1700 Tbred B with a Barton to kick it up to 2GHz without OC. There's no PCI/AGP lock so things get dicey when OCed.

Eventhough the PS is handling the Ti4600 OK, I'm not sure it would handle the addition of the Barton over the long haul. With the 300W PS there will be no doubt about it. I've got to get the Barton soon as AMD has stopped production and soon I'll have to resort to sources other than my usual trusted online retailers.

[Zulu-1]

imo, i think a 6200 would be good, they're low power, and you might be able to unlock some extra pipes for even more value....

[icedragn]

wouldnt a 6200 like pwn a 9600xt? like correct me if im wrong but isnt it like twice as fast? lol, they run around the same price to... actually i think the 6200 is cheaper than the 9600xt lol.. i'd get the 6200.