MSI NX8500GT-MTD256EH GeForce 8500 GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Silent Heatsink Video Card

Pros: Amazing Card. Works Great. Instalation was simple. I absolutly love the HDMI out. Bought this card for my brother so he could watch netflix on his 50' LCD from his computer, and it's amazing quality. (With HDMI Cable)

Cons: I didn't understand how to mount the yellow video out cable through the hole in the back of the card, so I'm not using that feature,. but nonetheless, there were no instructions on how to mount it, without it just hanging out of the back of the computer.

Pros: Works pretty well under Linux when it isn't having memory problems.

Cons: As soon as the card was out of warranty it starts to cause the system to hang and video output to turn green. Only way to resolve this is to restart the X server or restart the computer. I'm fairly certain that this card has some bad video memory on it that is causing this.

Other Thoughts: Replacing with an ASUS 8400 based card.

Pros: good performance so far, great connectivity, easy options for getting digital sound to the HDMI output, no-fuss install and driver/app setup

Cons: definitely gets warm, will have plenty of case air circulation to avoid overheating, heat sink blocks any adjacent slot (pcie x1 in my case) so I cannot install a dual digital pcie tv tuner...will look for other tuner options.

Other Thoughts: haven't tested with 1080p output yet...jury out

Pros: No fans!
Works great with MacOS X, with 2 flat panel screens. (You need HDMI to DVI cable)
Inexpensive.

Cons: For my purpose, none.

Other Thoughts: It's less popular than 8600GT for hackintosh users, so I have to do a bit more manual labor.

Pros: Small, easy to install and worked with Ubuntu as well as Windows. This was just the thing for my HTPC running XBMC. In fact, it was a better gaming card than I figured, and got excellent performance playing the Lego series, and Portal (I know not the newest games, but I had fun). The HDMI make hooking it to the TV a breeze.

I'd say more good things about it, but I RMA'd it back.

Cons: What can I say, the card gets incredibly HOT. During said game of portal, it hit 99C !

For a silent card, it's darn loud. That thing heated up the whole inside of the case so much that the CPU fan topped 3000rpm and it was waaay louder than the card w/fan that I replaced it with. I can't hear the new card's fan at all, and the CPU Fan stays around 1600rpm.

Also, not a true con, but I was dissapointed that the S-Video out couldn't be made to mirror the 1920x1080 HDMI screen. (Yes, I know that you can't send HD over S-Video) I would have been happy with a blur, just so we could also get the image in the kitchen. S-Video out is limited to 1280x1024 (Not bad I guess)

Other Thoughts: If you need a low profile card (I didn't) or absolutely can't bear to have a fan in there, I think this one is pretty good. Better have a good case fan though.

I'm still happy with the performance even though I sent it back, just couldn't live with that heat and noise, so I can't justify 5 eggs. Just be aware of what you'll be getting.

Pros: 1/2 height fits into audio component style Antec 430 PC case. Works with PowerDVD Bluray and hasn't given me any problems since I built the HTPC over a year ago.

Cons: Only 256 meg ram

Other Thoughts: This is one the vc cards recommeded in the Extremetech.com how to series. This 15 month old article is still probably a good way to go for a HTPC build today.

Pros: Can't beat the price. Its a very decent graphic adapter for the price and the HDMI is a great plus.

Cons: Didn't bring the HDMI cable as advertised. They can't guarantee that they will ship one to me either and suggested that I call the manufacturer. (not very happy about that)

The Drivers don't work. You have to go online and update them. www.msi.com.tw

Other Thoughts: You can save a few bucks, but its a real headache.

Pros: Completely silent. What can I say this is the main point of this card's design. Perfect for my HTPC.

Cons: This card was clearly designed to fit into a low profile slot. But there is no low profile bracket included in the box. That oversight is the only thing keeping me from rating this card as "five eggs".

Other Thoughts: I run this card in my HTPC. This computer only has one fan (OEM intel CPU fan). Everything else is fanless (power supply, etc.) So there is basically no airflow in the case.

The heatsink on this graphics card gets very very hot. So far there is no problem. So I am not complaining. But It is a concern.

Pros: I've played quite a few games on this card now (Titan Quest, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and a couple of others) and I am impressed with how well it performs.

HDMI output with HDCP.

Finally got me that 5.0 score in Vista x64.

Cons: Immediately add $8 onto the price of this card. You get no low profile bracket with it, and it must be ordered separately(it's proprietary). It's an awful process, and I had to fire off six or seven e-mails before I was finally redirected to some guy "Alex" who I had to give my credit card information to over the phone. Sketchy.

On top of that, the card runs SCORCHINGLY hot. I had it idling at over 80 degrees (stock). With some Arctic Silver and a SilenX fan strapped onto it, I got it down to 71/72 idle and 85 under load. This is still excessive, and in a small case it heats up everything else in the PC.

On top of all that, after using it for a while you may notice slight refresh issues with your monitor (the top left corner for me). This seems to happen after it's been on for a while (and has basically just been cooking).

Other Thoughts: Unfortunately, the negatives outweigh the positives here. If I knew all of the hassles I'd encounter with this card, from the overheating issues to the total pain of ordering the bracket, I would have avoided it altogether and waited for one of the low profile 8600GTs on Newegg now.

The card performs well, but definitely is not worth the headaches.

Pros: Love the fanless architecture. It's the fastest card available that still fit in my low profile Dell Vostro 200.

Cons: No low profile bracket included! Would be 5 stars if they included one.

Other Thoughts: I did a ton of research to find out that my choices of owning a fast video card, that still fit in my low profile Dell Vostro 200 case, were slim. All the benchmarking research pointed me to this GeForce 8500 GT. Luckily MSI put the chipset on a low profile card. They fell short by not including a low profile bracket!!! What were they thinking? I am a rare customer that was able to overcome this problem because I own a machine shop and I was able to custom machine my own bracket from blank ones that came with the computer! Whew!

Also, if I remember correctly, I believe this card requires a 250W or greater power supply. Just to let you know, I'm running a 200W supply with 1 HDD and DVD drive with no power problems.