Hi, i have a spare AMD Daul Core 5200+ processor and was going to build a second pc or gaming pc, i have always used Asus motherboards in the past but after reading more and more reviews from people who have bought new Asus mobo's there seems to be a quality issue with them now and many problems. Any suggestions for a good AM2 or AM2+ mobo, i have swore by asus for years but have become concerned about the reviews i read. Also i have never bought a graphics card or built a low end gaming rig, i was looking at the Sapphire HD 4670 512MB Ultimate graphics card, do these passively cooled cards get really hot or would you recommend a fan cooled card, the Asus 4670 for example, many thanks.
Agreed on not using an Asus motherboard. A good alternative is something like a Gigabyte MA770-UD3. Passively cooled 4670s are usually fine as the HD4670 does not produce much heat.
I might try the HD4670 ultimate in my HTCP if it doesn't get to hot, just to try some gaming. Actually i thought about using that graphics card for my HTCP build but assumed it would run to hot, thanks for the advice.
I have the sapphire radeon 4670 1gb and it idles at about 60 celcius and can climb to 70 when playing games. Mine did come with a fan. Even if you don't get the 4670 with a fan, stick a case fan to blow on the heatsink, it does work in making it run cooler. The fan on the 4670 was making too much noise, to where it was a distraction. I removed the video card fan and just installed a 80mm case fan to blow on the heatsink. No more noise and the temperature remain the same. I've seen different versions of the 4670 and some have huge fans on them. For your HTCP get the radeon HD4350 (cost about 40.00), I also have it and it does have a large heatsink but I also have a case fan blowing on it. It plays all my need for speed games, I still haven't ran into a game it wouldn't play. It's good for the occasional gamer. As long as you have the space to install a case fan to blow on the video card heatsink (I use plastic spotties to position my case fan), it doesn't matter which card you get fan/fanless. I presfer the radeons over the nvidia but I admit that the fans on the ati cards can get very loud, something I expierenced with my ati 9600 pro and x1650 pro.
HTCP is a typo. It should be HTPC - short for Home Theatre PC. Jony: How long ago was that? Things have changed since the X1650 pro days. Not all ATI cards are loud.
Not all ATI cards are made by ATI (most are not), the fans on these cards are not made by ATI, and ATI should not be blamed because someone used a cheap fan any more than nVidia should be blamed for the same.
One thing to consider, however, is that standard ATI cards can be fitted with aftermarket coolers. Some non-reference cards not produced by ATI can't, so if you don't like the cooler the rebuilder has fitted, you're stuck with it.
The 4670 I have is actually a "diamond" brand radeon. It is 2 months old. (my 4350 is the sapphire). For me it was easier to just use a 80mm case fan to blow on the heatsink then to get an aftermarket fan. The point I wanted to make is that the 4670 is a very good card for the price, and that a loud fan wouldn't be a deal breaker. On my other ati video cards the loud noise from the fans wasn't immediate maybe 6 months to a year after I bought them. The 4670 was loud from the first week I had it.
That's the problem of buying the cheapest brand of a card, the Diamond HD4670 has the weakest cooler of all the 4670s.
