Which 7xxx Fanless Card?

[jsonnabend]

I'm thinking of upgrading my 6xxx NVidia card to a 7xxx fanless. Anyone have any suggestions?

TIA

- Jeff

[GTwannabe]

It's tricky... you'd want at least a 7600GT to get all the PureVideo acceleration features. Unfortunately, there are only a couple 7600GT's that have HDCP, and none of them are fanless.

[Polypro]

XFX 7950GT Passive...if you have a big enough case...or cut a hole

P

[willemse]

I have a Gigabyte 7600GS with passive cooling and AGP. Works fine (use SD TV).

goodluck

[jsonnabend]

Thanks, guys, for the input.

@GTwannabe:

Why is HDCP important?

@Polypro:

That's a $300 card! Why do I need to spend so much, assuming I'm not gaming?

@Willemse:

Thanks for the make and model. I'll look into that one.

- Jeff

[GTwannabe]

Originally Posted by jsonnabend

Thanks, guys, for the input.

@GTwannabe:

Why is HDCP important?

- Jeff

HDCP encrypts the digital output from your video card to your display device (TV). The idea is that it prevents you from capturing the decoded HD content from HDMI/DVI before it is rendered on screen.

If you buy a card without HDCP support, when you try to play a retail hi-def movie, the player will block the HD content and downsample to SD output.

[Polypro]

Originally Posted by jsonnabend

@Polypro:

That's a $300 card! Why do I need to spend so much, assuming I'm not gaming?


- Jeff

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but if the requirements are Passive *and* HDCP, there is not much choice. When I last checked for my current build, the Gigabyte and Asus Passive 7600GT's did not have HDCP. The only other passive card that did was the XFX. There are some Passive MSI 7900GS's available from the UK that do HDCP for cheap, but I couldn't find any stateside and import duties will negate the price. Now, if you don't plan on doing HD-DVD/Bluray...7600GT is the ticket. If you do plan on doing the Next Gen formats, but don't mind buying an HDCP card in the future, the 7600GT is again fine...as the studio's have not enabled the Image Constraint Token yet. Last I checked, the Gigabyte Passive 7600GT was ~$140.00

P

[derelicte1]

Originally Posted by jsonnabend

I'm thinking of upgrading my 6xxx NVidia card to a 7xxx fanless. Anyone have any suggestions?

TIA

- Jeff

I have a xfx 7600gs and a gigabyte 7300gt. Both are passive and both work well for 1080i stuff. I haven't seen either studder/pause/hiccup. Neither have hdcp.

I also tried a 7300gs. It played all videos just fine at 1080i, but it sounded like a hairdryer. Therefore, a passive 7300gs should be ok as well.

The xfx did die on me, though. Xfx support has been great. Hopefully I'll receive the replacement soon.

[thomaszoo]

Originally Posted by Polypro

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but if the requirements are Passive *and* HDCP, there is not much choice. When I last checked for my current build, the Gigabyte and Asus Passive 7600GT's did not have HDCP. The only other passive card that did was the XFX. There are some Passive MSI 7900GS's available from the UK that do HDCP for cheap, but I couldn't find any stateside and import duties will negate the price. Now, if you don't plan on doing HD-DVD/Bluray...7600GT is the ticket. If you do plan on doing the Next Gen formats, but don't mind buying an HDCP card in the future, the 7600GT is again fine...as the studio's have not enabled the Image Constraint Token yet. Last I checked, the Gigabyte Passive 7600GT was ~$140.00

P

Another possible future requirement for an HDCP video card would be cablecard support. But right now there seems to be a lot of confusion / misinformation about what we will be able to do so far as building our own HTPCs with cable card support.

Personally I plan on purchasing the XFX 7950. If you look at the number of reviews of this card at Newegg compared to other cards and the fact that most of these reviews are very positive, it starts looking like a good deal. If you plan on purchasing another video card in a year or two, then the 7600GT should be plenty for now.

Wayne

[soulprops77]

Originally Posted by GTwannabe

HDCP encrypts the digital output from your video card to your display device (TV). The idea is that it prevents you from capturing the decoded HD content from HDMI/DVI before it is rendered on screen.

If you buy a card without HDCP support, when you try to play a retail hi-def movie, the player will block the HD content and downsample to SD output.

I could be wrong on this. . . As a matter of fact I'm not even sure where I heard/read it, but I thought that the studios were not, as of now, using the ICT flag to downsample HD content on non HDCP compliant paths. Something about a grace period to give people time to upgrade their equipment. . . Anyone?

[thomaszoo]

Originally Posted by soulprops77

I could be wrong on this. . . As a matter of fact I'm not even sure where I heard/read it, but I thought that the studios were not, as of now, using the ICT flag to downsample HD content on non HDCP compliant paths. Something about a grace period to give people time to upgrade their equipment. . . Anyone?

That is true... but the fine print says "subject to change without notice"!

Wayne

[HawgGuy]

FWIW-- The passive cards have huge heat sinks and don't fit well in your average sized HTPC case. I recently upgraded to an NVIDIA 7600GT with a screaming loud banshee (not really) fan. I ditched the stock fan and replaced it with a Zalman VF700 which is near-silent. Adds nothing to the ambient sound as far as I can tell. The downside is that it takes the space of the adjacent card slot (which I don't need). The upside is that it is quiet and fits on my average-sized Antec fusion case.

[GTwannabe]

My pick would be the 7950GT; you can find many HDCP cards for ~$200. A special HDCP or passive 7600GT will cost you about the same. Toss the stock cooler for a Zalman if the stock fan is too noisy.

[bjterry62]

I use the XFX 7600GS which is passive and takes up only one slot. I have this is alongside 3 550 Pro tuners (ram heatsinks on encoder chips). I cool the whole lot with a 80mm x 15mm Zalman fan @ 5v. I can't hear the fan with my ear beside the case. Case is the NSK2400, which has excellent airflow. However, the fan was needed since I have all of the expansion slots filled and the only inflow in that area is the small slots in the case top.

BT

[hemicuda]

does Zalman have a mirror that doesn't link to zalman.co.kr? I can't seem too resolve that url from here.

Edit: nevermind. I had 61.0.0.0/8 in my firewall.

[bjterry62]

Originally Posted by hemicuda

does Zalman have a mirror that doesn't link to zalman.co.kr? I can't seem too resolve that url from here.

Edit: nevermind. I had 61.0.0.0/8 in my firewall.

FYI, My Avast virus software has been notifying me of a Trojan on the Zalman site. I don't know if it's legit, but it never has led me wrong before. I get notification every time I open one of their pages.

Be Careful.

BT

[hemicuda]

Noted. Good thing I wasn't on this machine if your s/w is accurate. What type of trojan did it list? AVG didn't so much as raise an eyebrow.

Were you using Internet Exploder or other browser?

[bjterry62]

Originally Posted by hemicuda

Noted. Good thing I wasn't on this machine if your s/w is accurate. What type of trojan did it list? AVG didn't so much as raise an eyebrow.

Were you using Internet Exploder or other browser?

Here's a screenshot. I usually just hit "delete" and go about my business. I don't know if it's legit because I've been there a gajillion times before and never had a problem. Just thought I'd let people know.

I use Maxthon (it's an IE shell) and Opera. Nothing from Avast when using Opera, BTW.

BT

[hemicuda]

Must be an 'Exploder' thing. I did some poking around and didn't find anything on the laptop. I found a US supplier so I didn't have to do much on Zalman's site. I really hope for $50 that it's quieter than my Thermaltake; since the Zal is only 2500rpm and the TT runs a solid 5+k all the time.

[snoop244]

Try the Leadtek Winfast line of 7900 cards. They can be had for under $200 and they support hdcp. They are not fanless, but if quiet is what you are looking for, you won't have issues with these cards. Google some reviews. They all comment on the quality of the fan.

I've had no issues with this card. It runs in my bedroom with my otherwise pa$$ively cooled system, and I can't hear it. Ever.

Regardless of whether the studios agree to set the flag, the developers of the software that play back Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movies (e.g. Cyberlink) certainly DO enforce HDCP in their applications IF, and only if, you output to DVI or HDMI. If you are going over VGA, playback of HD discs works fine and, from my less-than-keen estimation, at the same resolution as when it goes through DVI/HDMI.

Here's a review of one of the cards from the series. I can't recall if it is the one I have, though the price seems higher. Bought mine two months ago for $220CDN, which is less than $200USD.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles...?cid=3&id=2060