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I am looking for a fanless vid card. I have checked newegg and found several. What makes a vid card good? I don't do much gaming but a little. Nothing too extreme though. The biggest thing I do is a lot of video editing and my wife likes to watch some 3d visualizations when listening to music. I was looking at a pci-e with 256 mg and found some from gigabyte and I think powercolor. What is your opinion on this? Thanks.

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started out asking about truly fanless cards and later looked at noisy high-end options; pointed to quiet alternatives and correctly warned that top-tier gaming cards are often overkill for light gaming plus editing. Priority for this use is: enough VRAM/driver support for your editor (that matters more than raw gaming FPS), and a cooling solution that matches the card's power draw. Adobe documents minimum VRAM guidance and explains when GPU acceleration helps in Premiere Pro. . ()

Fanless (passive) cards are only practical for low-power GPUs and depend on good case airflow; in small or low‑airflow cases a passive card can overheat or throttle. For any mid-range or higher card, a semi-passive design or a large low‑RPM cooler is the safer quiet choice. Streacom FAQ: Can I use a ‘passive’ cooled GPU in this case? (streacom.com)

When you want silence but useful performance, pick partner/AIB models that advertise semi‑passive or "0 dB" behavior, big fin stacks or vapor chambers, and well‑tuned fan curves—these let fans stay off or spin very slowly under light load. Real manufacturers document those features on product pages and reviews will show the acoustic difference. Example: ASUS ROG notes semi‑passive/0dB and large cooler designs. (rog.asus.com)

Finally, understand the two different noises: fan/airflow noise (addressed by bigger heatsinks, better fans, and case airflow) and coil whine (an electrical high‑pitch from inductors). Coil whine is often mitigated by capping FPS, modest undervolt/power‑limit reductions, driver or firmware updates, and sometimes PSU changes; extreme cases may require RMA. When comparing cards, rely on independent noise tests (dB(A) measurements) in reviews rather than marketing claims. [NVIDIA: Coil whine info/support] and [Tom's Hardware: how we measure GPU noise]. (support.nvidia.eu)

Summary checklist: pick a GPU sized to your editing resolution (watch VRAM), prefer semi‑passive/large‑cooler partner models for quiet operation, confirm noise dB measurements in reviews, and plan case airflow and PSU quality to avoid thermal or electrical noise surprises.

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Member Avatar for Member #23858

I have decided to go with a fan design mode with either the 7900 or 7950 GT. I still do want it to be as quiet as possible and some are quieter than others. Does anyone have any knowledge of card that does not whine as much as the others?

Member Avatar for Member #23858

So I have heard from many that leadtek makes a pretty quiet one but at newegg they are out right now. Does anyone know about xfx?

Member Avatar for Matt Tacular

You said you do light gamming, a little video editing, and your wife likes to watch 3d visualizations....

That card is overkill for what you do. It would be like getting a ferrari as a golf cart. Get one of the lower 7 series, still over kill but much better price to performance ratio.

But of coarse that all depends on what games you play when you do your "light" gamming. Do you play games such as Halo 1, or StarCraft, or do you play Call of Duty 2, Company of Heroes, and other modern games?

Plus, what are the rest of your system's specs? If the rest of your computer is too slow, then upgrading past a certain point for a graphics card is pointless

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