The best low-profile PCIe x16 video card?

Low profile 9600gt would be ever so nice. Would make quite an upgrade from my 8500gt. Here's hoping that it comes soon.
 
$40 dollar rebate on the LP Galaxy 8600gt is back. Valid the entire month of June linky. Shows up as $70.38 after rebate before shipping. Wondering if I should bite or wait till a LP 9500gt comes out....whenever that may be :(. Hoping for one with a passive cooling solution. Don't want another fan in my 530s.
 
Low profile 9600gt showed up on Galaxy's website. Link. Looks like it requires a 6pin power plug =x. Now to see when it will be available.
 
I wonder if I remove the optical drive on my slimline I could use that power to run the above card. I haven't found an SATA to 6-pin adapter though. 6-pin adapters all seem to require two inputs. Strange that the card requires a 6-pin plug since 9600GTs at the highest consume 61 watts.
 
Massive power requirements here for the 9600GT Slim.

I was wondering if I can take a normal PSU and use it externally to power the the card if Galaxy can actually deliver. I just bought the 8600GT a year ago and now I want a stronger card. Man, I'm wasting so much money just for a better gaming experience.
 
Haven't seen this mentioned yet.

Albatron LP 8600GT with DL-DVI+HDMI, DDR III, and PCI interface -- PCI8600GT.

I presume there would be an SPDIF header given that it has HDMI, but the photos have HSF shroud is in the way. I wonder if the PCI bandwith would get in the way of smooth BluRay playback ...
 
Galaxy's low-profile 9600GT is available
Galaxy's low-profile 9600GT is available
Written by Lars-Göran Nilsson
Wednesday, 23 July 2008 07:05

It only took two months

Since the first details of Galaxy's low-profile 9600GT card popped up, it's been two months, but the cards appears to have finally launched, at least as long as you live in Japan. Impress spotted cards on sale at the Akihabara computer market in Tokyo.

The model name is P96GT-LP/512D3 and you're looking at a 650MHz core clock and a 900MHz (1,800MHz effectively) memory speed. Nothing special there, but considering the size of these cards, Galaxy hasn't done a bad job.

The cards have a single DVI connector as well as a TV-out connector and we'd expect them to ship with a DVI to HDMI connector as well, although there doesn't seem to be any mention of that on Impress. The only downside would be the 6-pin power connector, but it can't be avoided with a card like this.

If you've been looking for something a little bit more powerful for your HTPC that allows you to play the occasional game on your HD TV, then this might just be what you've been waiting for. Price wise you're looking at about €93, which seems a little bit steep, but that's the premium you have to pay for something out of the ordinary like this card. We just hope Galaxy will start selling these cards in other markets now as well.
Click to expand...

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8560&Itemid=1
 
That one from albatron looks nice, but isnt it like 150 dollars? lol..



That new 9600gt low profile from Galaxy requires a freakin 6 pin connector.


i looked on my psu and it doesnt have any of the slots to plug it into, so what can i do if i purchase one?

and uh

what about the 3650 low profile? ive seen some youtube videos with ppl playin things like Crysis, Cherbonyl, and assasin creed with it. on high pretty sweet budget card
 
9600 GT Low Profile was not good for my Dell 531s.. Dell's PSU has only 250W suply also there is no additional power connectors (6-pin) for this card.. I would sugest to 9600GT LP card manufacturers create some new PSU's with 400W+ for low profile cases.. otherwise this card won't find its place in the market.. had to do RMA and reorder GeForce 8600 GT Low Profile + LP Brackets.. so here we are as for now still with 8600 GT LP for slimline cases..
 
There are many other slim cases out there (Antec Minuet is one) that will fit PSUs that can power those kinds of cards. Not everyone has a Dell or HP.
 
So what's the word on that low profile 9600 from a performance standpoint?

Is it pretty much in line with the standard 9600s?

That six pin connector pretty much kills it for me though...I was looking at it for my Vostro 200 slim.
 
GENTLEMEN:

I have an HP s3620f (slimline PC). It contains one low-profile16x PCI-E slot. I am considering installing a SPARKLE, passively cooled, low profile 9400 GT whenever same becomes available in the NORTH AMERICAN market (http://www.sparkle.com.tw/News/SP9400GT_LP/news_SP9400GT_LP_EN.html). In doing so, I hope to improve upon the NVIDIA 7100 GT graphics solution that is INTEGRATED into the motherboard.

Do you all agree that this would be a good choice for my particular situation? I do not intend to play a lot of GAMES on this machine, but I would like decent 3D performance because you will never know where life will take you. Of course, I am subject to whatever limitations are imposed by the built-in 160 WATT power supply.

OTHER recommendations about my future graphics card would be appreciated.

BEST REGARDS,
YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT,
Horace
 
Get the galaxy 8600gt from ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
 
GENTLEMEN:

The Galaxy 8600 GT seems like a good option, but is not actually in stock anywhere (?). Is that card significantly better than the 9400 GT-based options?

Would anyone like to take a guess as to what the market will be like in a year, bearing in mind my power limitations?

I REMAIN,
YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT,
Horace
 
The XFX 9500GT Low Profile is your best option for now. Anything else is either too low powered, or too power hungry. The performance is suppose to be equivalent of 8600GTS. It's about ~$70 shipped on Newegg. The next option is 9600GT from Galaxy/KFA, but that requires the dreaded 6-pin power. It's only ~$20 more, but you might need to spend $30-40 more on a secondary power supply.
 
Thanks very much razor, that does seem like an excellent option. Anybody know how loud these are? (or if not, other similar XFX cards?)

I REMAIN, etc.
 
I hate conflicting sources! gah! I see information on the forums saying that the XFX 9500 GT is not power-hungry, yet I looked this card up in several locations and most either don't list the necessary PSU to run it or they say that it requires 400W!

My stock PSU is listed at 180W so I don't see how that isn't power-hungry. Could someone please explain that to me? I really want the XFX 9500 GT but if it's going to fry my motherboard I'd rather get something a little...er...less demanding. I do see a ton of different versions of it though. Sometimes I see the 9500 with a GDDR3 or just DDR3. Sometimes it's a 256MB card and sometimes it's 512MB. I don't know that much about the differences to make a decision on it. I just don't want to fry my computer *cry*

I found this other: XFX 8400 GS, 256MB which only requires 300W and it seems a bit safer even if I am sacrificing quality. What do you guys think? It has good reviews :)
 
Blaire said:
I hate conflicting sources! gah! I see information on the forums saying that the XFX 9500 GT is not power-hungry, yet I looked this card up in several locations and most either don't list the necessary PSU to run it or they say that it requires 400W!

My stock PSU is listed at 180W so I don't see how that isn't power-hungry. Could someone please explain that to me? I really want the XFX 9500 GT but if it's going to fry my motherboard I'd rather get something a little...er...less demanding. I do see a ton of different versions of it though. Sometimes I see the 9500 with a GDDR3 or just DDR3. Sometimes it's a 256MB card and sometimes it's 512MB. I don't know that much about the differences to make a decision on it. I just don't want to fry my computer *cry*

I found this other: XFX 8400 GS, 256MB which only requires 300W and it seems a bit safer even if I am sacrificing quality. What do you guys think? It has good reviews :)
Click to expand...

What other components are you running in your machine? Also, can you list the ratings on your psu (amps at a given volt...especially the +12V rail)? Is this a proprietary psu, or standard matx/sfx? Also, you can check out this link to get a rough idea of the power draw of your system:

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

For the cards that you're looking at, I would stick to 256mb of ram. The bandwidth of these cards is too low to take advantage of any more ram. Also, I'm guessing that "power hungry" is relative to higher end cards. If it isn't possible to upgrade your psu, I would recommend a card that does not need an external power connection.
 
That's a pretty good find! They are actually very similar to each other, but the one is obviously much cheaper. I read a review for it that said it came with the brackets also, so that's good. It seems like you'd get a lot for what you're paying for. It almost seems to be a crime for a card that good to be so cheap when people who get the same version that isn't made for slim computers have to pay top dollar.

It seems to have everything I'm looking for too:
1. Goes with my 180W PSU
2. Good budget price
3. A definite upgrade from my 7100GS
4. Fits my type of gaming....I'm not hardcore, I just like decent frame rates...
5. It should be able to play "The Witcher," which is why I'm upgrading it in the first place :p
 
How would that be possible...honestly. Look at this, directly from Galaxy's website:
http://www.galaxytech.com/Product_Details.asp?id=192&class1=1&class2=56

It specifically says nothing lower than a 400W PSU. Even if you wanted to try getting away with having a lower PSU, I wouldn't go lower than 300W. The Slimlines only have 180W!

I've heard nothing but horror stories from those people who tried to force it to work, without having to replace their PSU entirely.
 
wolf2009 said:
galaxy 9600gt low profile
Click to expand...

Blaire- the 9600GT would not be the best card for you, but in the spirit of the title of this thread, it is currently the best low-profile PCIE card available. By the way, did you run your system through the psu calculator linked above? 180W still concerns me even with a 8400gs.
 
So I talked to an HP rep today and asked about the Power Supply and he confirmed that a 8400GS would be compatible with the s3600t model I'm getting. He also confirmed that yes, it really is a 180W supply...so they weren't just shitting me, lol. It really sucks that bad.

But I found this!

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...&cm_mmc_o=TBBTkwCjCVyBpAgf mwzygtCjCVRqCjCVRq

The minimum PSU for this is 300W and I'd feel safer with something like this than something that required 400W. It's a little bit more, but I figure that XFX makes them and Tiger Direct is as good as New Egg to buy from. To me, it's a value budget card that definitely upgrades my 7100GS to something a little more respectable.
 
Hi guys, it's been over a year and I'm back to this thread.

I was wondering, what's a good card with an HDMI port? I'm planning to hook up my Inspiron 530s to my HDTV.
 
Yea, that's pretty impressive. It would be useful in some of the half height Dell's the teachers at my school got this year.
 
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