The best low-profile PCIe x16 video card?

The 8600GT will work better than the 8500GT if it's gaming you want. As far as value, it's up to you. You will see a good performance increase from 8500GT to 8600GT. $120 for a graphics card is pretty low considering. If you're waiting until next year for Starcraft 2, you might as well wait longer until the nVidia 9 series comes out! hah...
 
tigerdirect.com has LP 8500GT with 512M only $60 MIR. it's $20 cheaper than MSI 8500GT. GREAT DEAL.....I bought one.
 
The Galaxy 8600gt low profile is in stock again at NCIXUS.com or NCIX.com so get it while you can!
 
first off let me say i'm glad i found this site and thread topic! I have been on the hunt for a good low profile video card for my SFF, its a HP DC7700. i think its power supply is approx 240 watts.

so my question is how is the Galaxy 8600GT so far? and will my SFF be able to handle this?
and does it come with a low profile bracket?
if not where can i get one?

thank you guys so much, please don't pound this new scrub for asking such a bland question :)
 
goldznnz said:
first off let me say i'm glad i found this site and thread topic! I have been on the hunt for a good low profile video card for my SFF, its a HP DC7700. i think its power supply is approx 240 watts.

so my question is how is the Galaxy 8600GT so far? and will my SFF be able to handle this?
and does it come with a low profile bracket?
if not where can i get one?

thank you guys so much, please don't pound this new scrub for asking such a bland question :)
Click to expand...

My experience with the 8600GT LP has been a great for me. I surf and play a few games in high rez like Hellgate and WOW on a 22" Benq w/o any problems. Granted that I use a Slimline HP with only a 180 Watt PSU, so I don't see a problem using a 8600GT in your system. Just keep in mind the Cpu wattage, amounts of Hard drives and other add-on cards before placing a video card in. You can purchase the low profile brackets at Newegg or Google search it in the Shopping section.
 
Finsfan1983 said:
My experience with the 8600GT LP has been a great for me. I surf and play a few games in high rez like Hellgate and WOW on a 22" Benq w/o any problems. Granted that I use a Slimline HP with only a 180 Watt PSU, so I don't see a problem using a 8600GT in your system. Just keep in mind the Cpu wattage, amounts of Hard drives and other add-on cards before placing a video card in. You can purchase the low profile brackets at Newegg or Google search it in the Shopping section.
Click to expand...

I really appreciate your reply, how can i monitor my cpu wattage, is there a program/utility for this? currently i have 2 sata hard drives plus my dvd/cd optical drive... ... don't know how close i will be pushing this with the 8600GT?

about those brackets, will those XFX brackets work? (i vague-ly remember reading about them)

man i can't wait to get my 8600GT!
thanks again
 
A user on the NCIX forums posted that the XFX Low Profile brackets don't work with this card. Actually, Galaxy was supposed to include the brackets with the cards. NCIX just got a shipment of the brackets. If you ask NCIX to send you a low profile bracket they will free of charge (provided you've already purchased the card from them). Just open a support ticket and let them know!

(see: http://forum.ncix.com/forums/viewsource.php?msgid=1514291)

As for calculating the load on your PSU you can use this tool to estimate your usage. It tends to overstate the power requirements for the 8600GT, though, which only consumes 30W. There isn't a program to monitor your computer wattage.

Edit: Your computer only has a 200W PSU. You may be pushing it a bit. I also found that you'll need an optional PCIe riser card ET310AV. Make sure you have one of these!
 
omjeremy said:
A user on the NCIX forums posted that the XFX Low Profile brackets don't work with this card. Actually, Galaxy was supposed to include the brackets with the cards. NCIX just got a shipment of the brackets. If you ask NCIX to send you a low profile bracket they will free of charge (provided you've already purchased the card from them). Just open a support ticket and let them know!

(see: http://forum.ncix.com/forums/viewsource.php?msgid=1514291)

As for calculating the load on your PSU you can use this tool to estimate your usage. It tends to overstate the power requirements for the 8600GT, though, which only consumes 30W. There isn't a program to monitor your computer wattage.

Edit: Your computer only has a 200W PSU. You may be pushing it a bit. I also found that you'll need an optional PCIe riser card ET310AV. Make sure you have one of these!
Click to expand...

i actually have a the small form factor dc7700 not the ultra slim version. so i sure hope my psu is rated at the 240watt rating (finger crossed). thanks for the info for about getting the small bracket from NCIX. and i'm gonna check out that program for psu calculations (hope it isn't some complicated stuff though)
 
ok guys it shows my 8600GT being shipped from NCIX. i have attempted 3 support request for those low profile brackets and no repsone back yet! is that normal for them to do... ...? I would really like those brackets to come in at the same time the 8600GT comes in as i will need to test it asap

if i don't hear from them soon can somebody recommend where/what low profile bracket i need to get that actually works?

also i've only been a member a few days and it seems that posts and threads are weirdly/randomly disappearing and reappearing, that sucks cuz some of the topics has very valuable info. like this thread, at times its there in the video card section and other times it ain't there at all!

thank you so much guys:D
 
Hello goldznnz and welcome to [H]ard|Forum!

All of the Galaxy 8600GT Low Profile cards sold from NCIX now include a low profile bracket so you don't need to worry about getting one. If it's not there in the box, contact NCIX and they'll send it out to you. The XFX Low Profile kit and any MSI brackets apparently do not work with this card anyway.

Now about finding this thread, there are many users and even more posts on these forums. The reason why you don't seen this thread in the Video Cards category is because there have been enough posts on other threads that this thread isn't on the first page. You should either bookmark the thread if you want to have access to it without searching for it or go to the second or third page in the Video Cards category.
 
Intresting thread.

I am also looking for a Half Height PCI express card. I am NOT a gamer, but want to drive my Sony Bravia 40" via HDMI so that I can surf, watch Netflix movies, etc... My biggest concern is power, but from what I am reading in this thread I should be OK with a MSI NX7300GS-MD256EH GeForce 7300GS, 256MB 64-bit GDDR2, PCI-E x16, HDMI

My system
Dell Optiplex GX620
2.8 Mhz, 2Gb RAM
320GB SATA..and sadly.....280W PSU Desktop case

Not being a Video Card expert, Any insight any of you could provide on what card I should get would be appreciated. I can go up to $200, just has to be Half Height, Low Power and would prefer an HDMI output.
 
If you want to view HD material it would be best to get an 8500gt or 8600gt since they have the good HD decoders. The MSI NX8500GT-MTD256EH is your best bet. It's silent also which is a huge plus for a HTPC. Your 280W PSU will drive that card just fine. The only possible problem you may run into is that the heatsink is quite large. If you have a PCI card next to it it won't fit. But then the 7300 you mentioned also has a huge heatsink so I don't think you'll have a problem.
 
Thanks for the prompt reply omjeremy. I will go this route. Any idea if it comes witht he low profile bracket? The online pics don't seem to show it.

Thanks again
 
I purchased an MSI 7600GS Low Profile card before I got the Galaxy 8600GT and it didn't come with a Low Profile bracket. So I contacted MSI tech support and they sent me one for something like $7 S&H. Actually if you look through this thread I'm pretty sure I documented what I did. Good luck and enjoy!
 
Thanks omjeremy

I read back up the thread and found that after I posted "I'm not smart like the other kids". Will call into MSI once they open for business.

Again, thanks for the advice, will post how it performs once I get it installed and running next week.

Cheers
 
That is a good price littleming82, but of course the $49.99 price is after a $40 MIR and it doesn't have HDMI. Still, that's a nice find. KFA2 is probably the same company as Galaxy, for those interested.
 
littleming82 said:
I dunno why so many people are suggesting to buy MSI 8500GT. I am using this Video card http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3246361&CatId=1826 . it's only $49 now and plus it has 512MB. it's very queit and I don't hear any noise when I am using it. the most important thing is $30 CHEAPER than MSI 8500.
Click to expand...

Except that you will never see the rebate from Tigerdirect and there's no dedicated HDMI port. I also heard plenty of complaints w/ HDCP compliance when signal is passed via DVI to HDMI adapter from pc to TVs & projectors.
 
I wanted to upgarde my HP Slimline machine for HD/Blu Ray playback. It had the original AMD 3800+ @2.4 Ghz SINGLE CORE processor and on board video. So I decided I am going to have that problem addressed by ordering:

MSI NX8500GT-MTD256EH GeForce 8500GT silent card (Slimline only takes low profile card)
AMD Athlon X2 BE-2400 Brisbane 2.3GHz 45w processor.

I decided to skip the 5400+ 2.8 GHz 65w processor in favor of slower clocked BE-2400 2.3 GHz 45w processor, due to my power supply limitations (only 160W on HP Slimline PC) as well as I hoped (I still do) that 8500GT will handle the Hardware decoding of HD content.

But now I start to have doubts about my decision. 8500GT only handles the h.264 or MPEG 2 encoded movies but not the VC 1 content or at least that what everyone keeps saying. So does it mean that I will not be able to get flawless playback of VC-1 HD movie on 8500GT hardware alone. By the way, the 2.8 Ghz is not just random number - this is the lowest clocked AMD processor (5400+ or 5600+) 0 that can produce flawless playback of VC-1 encoded content.

Do you guy have any problems playing the VC-1 based HD DVD or Blu Ray disks w/ 8500GT card on your machine? 300 Movie (both Blu Ray & HD DVD editions) is good example of VC1. How fast is your CPU?
 
svt_02 said:
But now I start to have doubts about my decision. 8500GT only handles the h.264 or MPEG 2 encoded movies but not the VC 1 content or at least that what everyone keeps saying. So does it mean that I will not be able to get flawless playback of VC-1 HD movie on 8500GT hardware alone.

Do you guy have any problems playing the VC-1 based HD DVD or Blu Ray disks w/ 8500GT card on your machine? 300 Movie (both Blu Ray & HD DVD editions) is good example of VC1. How fast is your CPU?
Click to expand...

i would also like to know if the 8500GT would be good enough to do VC-1... but i will probably be using a core2 6600 or something like that
 
Nexnecis said:
Ars Technica did a review of the 8500/8600's and the ATI's HD playback you might want to check out. Looks like the 8500 did fine with VC1.
Click to expand...

Great find. Thank you. I noticed that nVidia recently changed the PureVideo name for their decoding technology to PureVideoHD. Makes more sense that way. Also, what was the image quality comment in regards to HD TV 1080i decoding:" While the 8800 GT produces an image that rivals anything ATI can offer, both the 8500 GT and the 8600 GTS display a significant amount of noise?" What is 1080i decoding anyways?
 
Hi!

I'm planning on buying some hardware because my comp now is really old and it's not working error-free either. My Abit IS7-E looked a good deal 4-5 years ago but it's definitely crap, won't buy Abit ever again.

I'd like to buy only the main part, because I got everything else. I need it only till around next summer, then I'm gonna buy some of the newer stuff and this machine will go over to my parents for office work/net browsing on Vista.

My list is this:
Asus P5B
Intel C2D 4500
Corsair Twinx 800MHz 2x1GB or Geil (cause Corsair is out of stock :( )
Leadtek 8600GT 512MB
(~$425-450)
Are these parts capable of running let's say UT3 @ 1280x1024 with highest settings, or the gpu is too bad for this? Is the C2D 4500 not good enough for UT3 or Vista?

I've seen reviews but not with a line-up like this. I know the memory is good, the motherboard is good, but I've got very little info on the cpu and gpu. I obviously don't wan't to spend much on these but the next level costs around $100 more (*2 for both).
I don't want to play Crysis at all before you ask cause it simply didn't get me as a game (great new tech for games but it won't last long as a game). My highest aim is to play UT3 with high(est) settings and to run Vista comfortably.

Thanks for reading!

--
P.S.: Please don't tell me Vista is crap, etc., cause I tried it and I see the potential but I will use it when it fully gets together.
 
It'll run Vista just fine. I've been using Vista HP for four months and I really like it, so there!

About UT3, you might be able play it at 1280x1024 on the highest settings, or at least you should get close to it. I seem to remember that it ran perfectly at that resolution on my computer. UT3 isn't as demanding as Crysis but it still looks awesome. You can also get an E6550 (roughly the same as E6600) for only about $40 more than an E4500 if you're worried about the CPU holding you back.
 
mufcfan said:
Hi!

I'm planning on buying some hardware because my comp now is really old and it's not working error-free either. My Abit IS7-E looked a good deal 4-5 years ago but it's definitely crap, won't buy Abit ever again.

I'd like to buy only the main part, because I got everything else. I need it only till around next summer, then I'm gonna buy some of the newer stuff and this machine will go over to my parents for office work/net browsing on Vista.

My list is this:
Asus P5B
Intel C2D 4500
Corsair Twinx 800MHz 2x1GB or Geil (cause Corsair is out of stock :( )
Leadtek 8600GT 512MB
(~$425-450)
Are these parts capable of running let's say UT3 @ 1280x1024 with highest settings, or the gpu is too bad for this? Is the C2D 4500 not good enough for UT3 or Vista?

I've seen reviews but not with a line-up like this. I know the memory is good, the motherboard is good, but I've got very little info on the cpu and gpu. I obviously don't wan't to spend much on these but the next level costs around $100 more (*2 for both).
I don't want to play Crysis at all before you ask cause it simply didn't get me as a game (great new tech for games but it won't last long as a game). My highest aim is to play UT3 with high(est) settings and to run Vista comfortably.

Thanks for reading!

--
P.S.: Please don't tell me Vista is crap, etc., cause I tried it and I see the potential but I will use it when it fully gets together.
Click to expand...

Abit is not crap. The IS7 board is one of the most sought after and well reviewed boards of all time. They still fetch nearly $100 dollars on ebay used. Abit was top of the game in the P4 socket 478 days and have returned to the top of the list according to many top review sites with the P35 boards.
 
Okay, just checked and my system runs UT3 @ 1280x1024 perfectly at the highest settings (no AA).

Anyway... I just realized that your question has really nothing to do with low-profile PCIe x16 video cards :rolleyes:. We should end this discussion here and if you want to, talk about it in another thread. Let's stay on topic.
 
Well, sorry for off-topic.

I decided on a Galaxy 8600GTS 256MB DDR3 card. Because it has 2years of warranty, better cooling (zalman I think) and it has a better performance for around $15-20 more.
(Decided on E4500, P5K Pro and A-Data 2x2GB 800MHz ram.)
 
Hopefully some manufacturer will release a low profile version of the new ATI HD3650. The new HD3450 is half height but not powerful enough for my needs.
 
Good thread with Great information! Im just building a slim pc and was looking at the Galaxy 8600GT. I see some comments about the fan noise and Im wondering if anyone has tried to install some aftermarket cooling? Be it a small, silent purchased aftermarket cooler or a mod'd cooler (chipset cooler, small cpu cooler, or hell a hunk of copper strapped on). I need more power then a 8500 can offer but want silence.

Did any low profile 2600s come out or and word on half height 36x0s?
 
Hi I have the new 3315 uk and I just stuck in an MSI 8600GT, it didnt come with the low profile brackets as promised by Komplett but they assure me they are going to send them PC running fine with the AMD5000+, 2 gigs of ram and a removable 80 gig shuttle drive.
 
Awesome! Let us know how the MSI 8600GT is. I really wanted to get it but couldn't find it anywhere in the USA.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top