Question on new card

[npolite]

I'm looking at purchasing a new video card. I'm currently running on a 17" CRT monitor at 1024x768. I have no plans to run Vista but may eventually upgrade to a 20" LCD widescreen monitor. I'm looking at either getting a 8600 GTS or a 9600GT. I don't really need game levels jacked up to the max settings, but don't want anything chopping either. One additional thing I would much prefer a card without a fan. I tend to keep my video cards for a while and haven't bought any video card within the last 10+ years with a fan in it. I'm worried about what'll happen if and when the fan dies. I would be opened to any suggestions on manufactures if they have a special utility that monitors fan speed and alerts you when it stops like most motherboard manufactures. I am aware the Nvdia driver has the utility to alert you when a temp reaches a certain level but since I have a 7300GT fanless card, I’d like to ask the group if that can also be monitored as well.

I was looking at the Asus 9600 Silent video card but read a review that the power connector had to be cut in order to fit with the card. Can anyone else confirm if this is true?

Thanks in advance,
Nick

[Radiator]

The 9600 GT is several times faster than the 8600 GTS .
Anyway , a card with a fan will last for a long while , the fan wont die that easily . Actually passive cooling means the card will be running hotter , hence shorter life expectancy .
I've never had a fanless card ( well , exept for the FX5200 which I had ) and my current X1600 Pro has been in my PC for uhm... nearly 2 years now .
And if your fan does die for some reason , you can always replace it , or if it gets too dusty , you can just remove it and clean it .

[Piper]

I've got the 8600GT and whilst its a useable card for most of last years games, its doesnt do them much justice, you cant hike up the settings. Its struggling with CoH atm, I was thinking of buying Crysis but theres just no point till i get a new card. Which i was doing yesturday until i realised you cant buy high end cards in Cambridge (UK). And since my desperated attempt to buy an 8800 GTS failed, i really dont know if i should be spending a bit more on the 9 series.... or waiting for ATI to play catch up. All the reviews and comments seam to contradict one another... What is the best single card solution atm, 8800 series.... or spanking new 9800.... especially considering i havent read a review that suggest any card on the current market can run Crysis at max, this seams pretty starnge to me!
If anyone has any answers please do set me straight!

P

[Radiator]

I've got the 8600GT and whilst its a useable card for most of last years games, its doesnt do them much justice, you cant hike up the settings. Its struggling with CoH atm, I was thinking of buying Crysis but theres just no point till i get a new card. Which i was doing yesturday until i realised you cant buy high end cards in Cambridge (UK). And since my desperated attempt to buy an 8800 GTS failed, i really dont know if i should be spending a bit more on the 9 series.... or waiting for ATI to play catch up. All the reviews and comments seam to contradict one another... What is the best single card solution atm, 8800 series.... or spanking new 9800.... especially considering i havent read a review that suggest any card on the current market can run Crysis at max, this seams pretty starnge to me!
If anyone has any answers please do set me straight!

P

None of the single card setups can run crysis on max settings . The only ones that have a shot of doing that are the R700 and GT200 highend cards .
The 9800 series are a bloody joke , don't waste your money on that .
The 9800 GTX is basically an overclocked 8800 GTS and it's not faster by a large enough margin to be worth it .

[npolite]

Thanks for all the help. Do you happen to know if any of the major brands out there have a utility which detects the fan speed and will alert you via the pc speaker and pop-up window if the fan has stopped working?

[Radiator]

Well , the driver software should do that on it's own... you seem awfully worried about your GPU fan crapping out... fans don't crap out that often , it takes several years for them to even go that far ( my old PC had a TNT2 Ultra in it... I had it for about 6 years , and I never had any problems with the fan ) .

[npolite]

Yep I'm a bit paranoid but I'd rather prevent an issue from occurring which could fry something out more than the video card. I tend to keep my cards between 4-5 years and don't swap them out when the next gen cards come out.

[Radiator]

Yep I'm a bit paranoid but I'd rather prevent an issue from occurring which could fry something out more than the video card. I tend to keep my cards between 4-5 years and don't swap them out when the next gen cards come out.

If the cooling screws up , it'll take more than 10 -30 minutes ( depends if it's under load or not ) to fry . With that time anyone can EASILY switch off the PC . And the fan in your PSU has about the same chance of frying and if it fries , then it's bad . But anyway... if you really want a passive cooling solution , then buy it .