[OT] : Graphics card advice wanted...

["Phil Harris" <phil@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

OK =96 I=92m in the middle of placing an order for my PC upgrade ...
I=92ve
settled on the following:

=20

A G0 stepping Q6600 Quad-Core as apparently they run quick and cool as
standard (2.4GHz) and can overclock nicely up to 3.4GHz+ if you can keep
them cool (not as I really want to overclock but the option is there) -
=A3=
140

=20

An Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro =96 seems to be highly recommended for
runn=
ing
very quietly at stock speeds and providing enough cooling for overclocking
the Q6600 if you want to dabble with that. - =A319

=20

A Gigabyte GA P35-DS4 motherboard =96 doesn=92t support SLi / Crossfire (I
=
don=92t
=93do=94 gaming) but it does have a decent array of expansion slots (2 PCI
Express X16 slots, one at x16 and one at x4) + 3 PCI Express x1 slots + 2
PCI slots), plenty of SATA connectors (8 x SATA II), optical and electrical
SPDIF outputs - =A3105

=20

A Corsair 4Gb (2x2Gb) XMS6400 800MHz DDR2 kit (leaves two slots free on the
mobo to go to 8Gb if I need to in future) -=A364

=20

A Nexus =93Silent=94 Modular 600W PSU - =A377

=20

OK =96 question now is graphics card ... I need something with Dual-Link
DV=
I
(to drive my big DELL 30=94 LCD at 2560 x 1600) and either DVI or VGA (to
drive my 20=94 DELL LCD at 1680 x 1050). It has to be passive cooled, up to
the job of hi-def (Blu-Ray or HD-DVD) decoding and playback, doesn=92t need
huge 3D / gaming performance but it would be nice to be able to run a few
demos or 3DMark and not feel ashamed.=20

=20

Been thinking about this:
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?XFX-86GTF
- =A382 =96 but =
I
don=92t think it has hardware acceleration of HiDef decoding

=20

I=92d consider something like
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?BFG-6GTS2T
- =A3120 - but =
I
have no idea how noisy the coolers on these things are in the real world
..=
.
and I don=92t want to be spending a fortune on a graphics card for no
advantage.

=20

Anyone got any other sensible suggestions for alternative graphics cards =
=96
whether ATi or nVidia based =96 I have no specific allegiance with either
camp...

=20

(Any other comments on any of the components listed above gratefully
received...)=20

=20

Phil

=20



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