Descent cool-running card with Rear Exhaust around $150?

I'm looking to make a few small changes to my setup, and I'm looking to end up with a cooler system overall (less heat generation and less power draw to keep radiated heat down) but don't want to sacrifice my current performance (PC#1 in my sig).

I'm not a big gamer, but want a video card that's halfway decent regardless. I currently run a GTS250 1GB (plenty powerful), but I'm looking to swap to a newer process AMD/ATI card with the following guidelines:

• Cool Running / Moderate Power Draw (keeps PSU cooler, too )
• Rear-Exhaust cooling / 2-Slot Card (to help with case exhaust in general)
• Single 6-Pin Power Connector (if possible, but can also use 8-pin if needed)
• DVI and HDMI ports (can use DVI-to-HDMI adaptor, but prefer native "Full Size" HDMI connector)
• $150-$200 max cost. Not opposed to buying used.
• Don't really care about Overclocking the Video Card, but would like DDR5 memory performance

The main points are a cooler running / lower power draw card, and the rear-exhaust configuration (only have a single 120mm exhaust fan, and a Video Card with external exhaust helps balance the "intake-to-exhaust" airflow in my particular system).

Of course I can search NewEgg with some of these specs, but I don't know which cards actually pull less power and run cooler...


Thanks for any expertise from the trenches!!!

6770 should be a good choice. It's actually just a rebranded 5770.

IMO getting an EVGA B-Stock GTX460 would be your best bet. You can hit the $120 price point and be happy, don't need $150. GTS450/550Ti is also an option. If a 250 is powerful enough for you, then any modern midrange card from the previous and current generation from either side will be plenty for you.

Thanks for the info. What about heat output? I'm mainly wanting to stay where I'm at (comparable to the GTS250 or better) but with less heat output AND with the rear-exhausting fan/blower.

Will any current mid-line card consume less power and generate less heat than a stock GTS250? Like the 6770 or GTX460 you mentioned? If the heat/power is only slightly lower than my current GTS250, then I'll likely stay where I'm at.

I'm also swapping from 8x 1TB 7200.12 HD's to 6x 2TB 5k3000 Hitachi drives to lessen heat while increasing storage capacity - and I'd like to accompany this "upgrade" with a lower powered video card of equal or better GPU performance to take a good chunk of heat out of this already hot room (Heat/Power is my primary concern with this specific upgrade along with an adequate rear exhausting fan setup)...

Thanks so much!

What about a 6850?

Just search for the TDP of the cards you are considering.

The only card that fits your requirements perfectly is a reference design 5770,it covers all the bases you mentioned,really I can think of no other card. They don't make reference 5770s anymore,used one will run you 70-100$.

Thanks for the recommendations - I'm looking into a used 5770 or new 6850

What would the primary use of this card be? If its not much you could probably get a low end 6xxx series card easily and might not even require a power connector, and might be as fast as that GTS250 to boot.

I rarely game, but do like having the capability for light-duty gaming, and want a smooth and snappy Aero Desktop response in any case.

I'd prefer not to downgrade the raw performance I'm getting from my current GTS250 1GB - I'm mainly looking for equivalent performance (or better) with less heat and power draw.

I am fairly partial to the 2-slot cards with the rear-exhaust and "blower" (squirrel cage) style fan, and I think that is a slight conundrum as cooler-running cards aren't likely to have a "robust" 2-slot cooler with rear exhaust However, if the card runs cool enough, I might be able to go without the 2-slot card and rear exhaust...

Any further suggestions? I'd prefer to get a newer process card, so the 6000 series are where I'm leaning...

Does anyone recall a website that had relative comparisons of GPU performance across generations? Like how these newer low-end cards would comapre to my aging GTS250? Any sites like that which would also list power and heat specs in addition to raw performance specs?

Thanks again! I'll keep checking in and see what other kiler suggestions you guys come up with

I think either THG or Anandtech have a feature where you can compare benchmarks between cards, but I can't find the link at the moment:
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/graphics-cards,1.html


When I'm looking at comparisons between cards I usually use GPUReview:
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=606&card2=636

It's not cut-and-dry when comparing ATI vs. NVidia cards, but the main things you want to look at are pixel/texture fillrates and max power draw. So the 6850 would be comparable if not better than the 250 while using less power, going by that chart.

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=606&card2=635
I'd suggest bumping up to a 6870 if you want a tangible upgrade while maintaining nearly the same power level.


Frankly as long as you have decent airflow there's not really any concern with using a card that doesn't blow out the back, as some of the newer configurations absolutely destroy the coolers with rotary fans at much lower noise levels. My 6950 with an Accelero Xtreme Plus runs much cooler than with the stock "vapor chamber" cooler while remaining nearly silent, and case temps haven't changed enough to notice.

Depending on your case cooling you might see slightly better temps with a card with a rear fan, but at the expense of a (sometimes very) higher noise level. Additionally, stock ATI fan profiles generally let the card heat up to 70C+ before rapidly ramping up the fan, so much of the heat will continually radiate in the case unless you setup a custom (usually louder) fan profile.

Well what I found just between reviews the 6850 will crush the GTS250. Gives a nice run down but reviews show it nearly 50% faster. Could do the 6750 for a card, its some 40W less than the 6850 and roughly the same performance of a GTS 450, or roughly 15-20% faster than GTS250 from the brief benchmarks I could find.

Loks like a 6750 is going to be a killer balance of overall performance increase and power/heat conservation. Perfect! I think a 6850 might be a bit of an overkill (more power than I'd ever need from a Video Card while realizing minimal power/heat savings).

I hear you on the fan noise - My GTS250 has the "blower" style fan, and it generally stays at a very slow speed. I crank it up to a fixed 85% or so via RivaTuner (not officially suported for a while now). It does suck a good deal of hot air and blow it out the back w/o being too loud - but that card runs pretty hot to start with. My Lian-Li PC-V1010 only has the single 120mm rear fan (PSU is in a seperate compartment, so it doesn't really contribute to the MoBo area cooling) , and I even added the crappy "sideways" 120mm expansion cooler (doesn't do much at all), so I would prefer to maintain the rear-exhausting type cards.

I'll start my hunt today. I'm also swapping HD's from 8x 1TB 7200.12's to 6x 2TB 5k3000's. Between the new card and new low-power HD's, I should be able to drop a good 50-75Watts of heat from this already-hot room! I'll be streamlining my HTPC from a massive 3RU ATX bohemoth to an ITX with onboard graphics. That should drop another 50-75Watts from the total heat output in this room!!! I also swaped to CFL room lighting a few years ago - and that dropped another 150 Watts of heat! Making great headway over here - but all of my hot audio gear is not going anywhere

Summer heat blows Thanks for all of the fantastic input and resources. I would have been guessing with my purchase otherwise, and I never like being an un-informed buyer...

Well - After doing some more legwork based strictly off your guys' wonderful resources and suggestions, I decided on a used XFX HD5770 XXX Edition from our very own classifieds! ($100 - the low end of my preferred budget!)

The other 6850's didn't seem very efficient with regards to expelling their heat out the rear of the case (only the "Reference Model" 6850 had an efficient blower, and you can't buy those that I saw) - and that is pretty important for my specific scenario. The refrerence 5770 has the "blower" that striclty forces most of the hot air out the rear (as CharlieCS pointed out ) - and is basically identical to a 6770 (BIOS might be a hair different).

Power might not be as low as I'd like (48w less than the GTS250), but it should do OK IMO. Getting DX11 and OpenGL3.2 as a plus - both improvements over my GTS250...

Thanks again for all of the killer info you guys provided...

Randyman... said:

Well - After doing some more legwork based strictly off your guys' wonderful resources and suggestions, I decided on a used XFX HD5770 XXX Edition from our very own classifieds! ($100 - the low end of my preferred budget!)

The other 6850's didn't seem very efficient with regards to expelling their heat out the rear of the case (only the "Reference Model" 6850 had an efficient blower, and you can't buy those that I saw) - and that is pretty important for my specific scenario. The refrerence 5770 has the "blower" that striclty forces most of the hot air out the rear (as CharlieCS pointed out ) - and is basically identical to a 6770 (BIOS might be a hair different).

Power might not be as low as I'd like (48w less than the GTS250), but it should do OK IMO. Getting DX11 and OpenGL3.2 as a plus - both improvements over my GTS250...

Thanks again for all of the killer info you guys provided...

Click to expand...

The 5770 is a very good card for the price. It's roughly as powerful as a 4890 with DX11 support. I'm sure you'll be satisfied with performance. Also, 48W might not seem like much, but that's a good bit of reduction when you consider the increase in performance.