Re: Best possible PCI-Express video card for DAW

[Dave Phillips <dlphillips@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings:

I've had some interesting experience with video cards lately. My 
GigaByte mobo does have integrated video (nVidia) but for some reason it 
didn't work with either nVidia's proprietary driver or the kernel nv 
module. It worked in Vesa mode, but that kinda sucked so I ordered a 
PCIe card with an nVidia 7300 chipset. The card was fine at first, but 
after a week or so it started delivering a constantly shaky display. I 
sent it back to Newegg, but I needed something right away so I purchased 
a PNY 7300GS-based card from Staples. This card was fine too, and it's 
still in the machine. However, I quickly realized that its fan noise was 
unacceptable, and I'm now awaiting my third card for this machine, a 
fanless GigaByte 7600GS card.

Be forewarned, the noise from video card fans can be intense. You can 
choose to replace the stock fan, but it's a non-trivial procedure. Me, 
I'm done mucking around with hardware at that level.

Fortunately I can put one of my extra cards to work in another machine, 
one that doesn't need to be so quiet. The other one can wait in a pile 
in the corner along with other stuff slowly shaping itself into yet 
another machine. :)

Best,

dp