PNY Verto VCG84512SPPB GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 64-bit DDR2 PCI HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card

Pros: PNY always works best with NVIDIA...bottomline...plus, its a verto edition...mid8 series might be getting old, but the gs version helps there too...fast memory wise...slim profile...PCI interface for fairly simpler system...DVI and VGA ready

Cons: there are newer geforce series and better editions/versions...PCI isnt as powerful as AGP, but now everything is PCI express apparently...kinda low windows rating...3.2 gaming...4.8 or 5 business...but i guess thats where ill be saving on power and heat anyway which is why i picked this card...so i shouldnt really complain here...

Other Thoughts: i like it...may not be as high tech as some of the higher end ones...but def. fulfills its duty/function...saves on heat and power draw...had my own reasons for this one cuz usually i buy $200-250 video cards, but its a different market/system setup now anyway...great card for the price..bottomline...if ur gonna go cheap and/or PCI...PNY, especially vertos are the best way to go...

Pros: I've had the card for over a year, and it hasn't failed me yet. Right now it's connected to my 42" LG via DVI to HDMI cable. I play my movies off my hard drive in either 720p or 1080p, doesn't matter because the quality doesn't change. They play without skipping or freezing.

Cons: When playing movies, the picture isn't clear, so not true HD. You get what you pay for. Requires a min 400w power supply. Those of you with impressive primary video cards and 130w processors need to take that into account. My causes a restart after shutdown that I can't seem to do anything about, it's most likely a compatibly problem with my motherboard.

Other Thoughts: I'm running:
Windows 7 ultimate
Pentium 4 2.6Ghz cpu
2 GB DDR pc2700
1 TB Seagate 7200rpm (internal)
Plus the 8400 gs
550W switching power supply made for P4s

I never have any problems playing my movies (all VOB files) as long as I don't add subtitles.

Pros: None

Cons: Did NOT fit in PCI slot, sent it back, Newegg sent another. Same thing. Double checked with another PCI Card whcih does fit in PCI slot on that computer. This card is poorly manufactured, does not fit in the PCI slot

Other Thoughts: Do Not buy

Pros: Great product for the price. Set up two monitors with ease!!!

Cons: None yet.

Other Thoughts: If you want an inexpensive dual head PCI card that will work in any desktop, this will do just fine.

Pros: Good value for the PCI dual output segment
Easy physical install in Dell Optiplex (170, 210, 320)
Straightforward driver install (Nvidia 261.xx on Windows XP Pro)

Cons: Performance level is expected for PCI

Other Thoughts: I needed to add dual monitor support to several Windows XP Pro workstations. They're all different generations of Dell Optiplex machines with either PCI (no AGP or PCI-E) or PCI-E 1x. The applications in my environment have absolutely no graphics acceleration needs, so these ended up being a good fit and value, even versus the PCI-E 1x selection in the newer machines. I've had five cards installed for around a month now and everything is still working great and driving dual-output 15" on some and dual output 19.5" on some others with no issues.

If you're unconcerned about graphics performance and are just looking for a good value dual output solution, this is a choice I'd recommend.

Pros: The cards are small and still have two ports. We bought and used them in IBM smalll form factor computer.

Cons: After about 6 months the plastic of the fan actually melted and of course stopped, resulting in the death of the card. This was most likely due to the overal high temperatures inside the small form factor case.

Other Thoughts: With proper airflow these probably would have worked much longer.

Pros: Low profile. Comes with mounting brackets for DVI and VGA. Packaged well.

Cons: Bought this card to power 2 external monitors (1 DVI, 1 VGA). It mounted in the PC just fine and I installed the drivers from nVIDIA's website. My primary monitor is attached to a Radeon HD 5570. After some bootup problems I found out I had to tell the BIOS to initialize the PCIe video card first, after that I was able to boot win7 normally. When the two external monitors were set up I was able to move the cursor across all 3. However, upon dragging a window to one of them, the computer would freeze, I would lose the image on the 2 external monitors, after about 30 seconds the main monitor (on the 5570) would go blank as well, and the computer would reboot. SOMETIMES I might be able to have a window open on the 8400GS for a few minutes before crashing. I tried *everything* - different drivers, disconnected one monitor then the other, even moved the card to a different PCI slot. Nothing worked. I'm not sure if this is a Windows 7 problem, a heat problem, or just a bad card.

Other Thoughts: The box claimed it could run Windows 7/vista features "smoothly and seamlessly" which obviously didn't happen. I was not willing to get rid of my 5570 so I didn't bother taking out the 5570 and using the 8400GS by itself. Now running 2 monitors on the 5570 without a problem, game framerates are not affected and I'm thinking of buying a displayport monitor for Eyefinity. All I really need the 2nd and 3rd monitors for is to spread out when I'm video editing. Right now I'm getting ready to ship it off for an RMA (I've been lucky and never had to RMA before so this is my first time).

Pros: Was able to return it for a refund.

Cons: I was not able to get the card to work correctly. I tried to use it in a Win 7 machine with another dual-head card in the PCI x16 slot. With the PNY card installed the computer would freeze up occasionally. Latest drivers installed. Also the fan was too loud for my purposes. Perhaps it was a defective card but I didn't want to spend anymore time on it. Ordered and installed a PowerColor AE4350 512MD2-H Radeon HD 4350 512MB 64-bit DDR2 PCI Express x1. That card works fine.

Pros: Price at the time we bought it. Now it's expensive at $50.

Cons: Take a look at that heat sink. Not much material there. PNY really cut corners on this card, including the fan. We had several dozen of the PCI-E flavor of these installed in various Dell Optiplex Small Form Factors and most of the cards died within a year due to fan failures. The fan is of such poor quality, it locks up, and there's not enough heat sink material to keep the GPU from melting down.

Other Thoughts: This same fan and heat sink design is used on several other low end cards. If you see it don't bother buying it unless you like throwing things in the trash.

Pros: its easy to install. decent graphics for lower quality games. nothing for COD or anything like that. you get what you pay for!

Cons: only one thing that is VERY annoying is when i start up the computer the fan on the graphics card makes noise like none other for about a minute.