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Tough Decision: Quadro fx 4500 or 6600?

Joshuarocks

Joshuarocks

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 12, 2011
364
1
Somewhere in Cyberspace
Hello,

As many of you know by now I just got a G5 Quad.. works great, however the noisy GT 7800 is driving me crazy. I need to know which video card would be more cost effective and also which one is quieter..

I am in a decision to either get the 6600 which has no fan, but a huge black heatsink. or the Quadro fx 4500.

1. Which card is much quieter?
2. Is the Quadro x 4500 really the end of the line if I want a nice and powerful + QUIET and noiseless compared to what I have now the GT 7800?

Need to make quick decision.. as I want to get rid of this 7800 GT; its noise is too unbearable.
 
IIRC, the Quadro is the same as the 7800, but with a port for a stereo-3D headset.

I've got a 6600 in my PowerMac G5 and it's certainly whisper quiet since it doesn't have a fan. I'm considering an upgrade to an ATI X1900, though. I've got an X1900XT in my Mac Pro at work and I'm more than modestly pleased with it, but the 6600 is more than adequate for what I need at home.
 
SuperJudge said:
IIRC, the Quadro is the same as the 7800, but with a port for a stereo-3D headset.

I've got a 6600 in my PowerMac G5 and it's certainly whisper quiet since it doesn't have a fan. I'm considering an upgrade to an ATI X1900, though. I've got an X1900XT in my Mac Pro at work and I'm more than modestly pleased with it, but the 6600 is more than adequate for what I need at home.
Click to expand...

So, the Quadro fx 4500 is noisy like the 7800 GT? I mean, this 7800 GT is noisy as noise is spelt: N O I S E!!
 
has your 7800GT got a dual slot cooler on it? the Quadro does (its the same cooler as the pc 7900GTX had) and also the same as the pc 7800GTX.. i think the 7800gt had that sheity single half lenth cooler on it. if thats the case, just grab a aftermarket cooler and be done with it.

seriously stay away from that 6600le its a piece of junk...

then again, if you dont play any games at all, nor use the gpu then sure i huess why not, go for the 6600...

cheers
 
Problem semi resolved.. but noise prevails.

VanneDC said:
has your 7800GT got a dual slot cooler on it? the Quadro does (its the same cooler as the pc 7900GTX had) and also the same as the pc 7800GTX.. i think the 7800gt had that sheity single half lenth cooler on it. if thats the case, just grab a aftermarket cooler and be done with it.

seriously stay away from that 6600le its a piece of junk...

then again, if you dont play any games at all, nor use the gpu then sure i huess why not, go for the 6600...

cheers
Click to expand...

Ok, I decided to do some investigating on my own to determine the root cause of the excessive noise.. it appears that there was a lot of dust in the video card.. while I got most of it out, the noise still prevails, sometimes going away for a short while then returning.. I might just get the Quadra fx 4500 and be done with it.. but also get the 6600(NOT LE).. THE 256MB version which is also a 6600 nvidia.

I am going to buy some compressed air today and see if that resolves the problem once and for all.. as I said, I blew into the fan area and took the thing apart, applied new arctic silver to the heat sinks..

the fan noise is not as bad as yesterday.. but it isn't totally done away with. I am really not going to mess with this anymore as I started getting artifacts - probably my fault for not applying enough arctic silver.
 
These two cards are so different in performance that you shouldn't even bother comparing them. This is much more of a question of do you want a very average card (6600) or a very high end card?

That you would even consider a downgrade just because of a little fan noise is amazing to me. Not a good plan my friend.
 
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