ZOTAC GeForce GT 240 DirectX 10.1 ZT-20404-20L 1GB 128-Bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

Pros: Fanless. Did I mention that it was _fanless_ ?? And therefore *** SILENT ***. And no worries about a fan failing and burning the house down while we're away. The GT240 has 96 shader units, which VDPAU can put to good use for The ultimate MythTV/VDPAU video card. Advanced 2X temporal/spatial deinterlacing, sharpening, noise-reduction, and inverse telecine. A 9500GT card would stutter occasionally with all of those on, but not the GT240. The card runs 5-8 degrees (C) cooler than the fanless Sparkle 9500GT card it replaces.

Cons: The passive heatsink was too tall to fit inside our Antec Fusion HTPC case. What were they thinking??? I trimmed the top two (smallest) fins of the heatsink by about 3/16", and now it fits inside the case. No noticeable difference in cooling. Like most passively cooled cards, this one takes up a full *two* slots.

Overall Review: This is currently the most powerful silent/fanless card out there for MythTV/VDPAU. Highly recommended!

Pros: Silent and cool, sitting in a low end Rosewill case with front and back 120 mm fans. That massive heat sink does it's job. Flawless installation, perfect performance, 5.9 rating in Win7 64 Bit. I play a lot of Hi def video from a variety of sources using a variety of codecs. Everything plays smoothly.

Cons: Not being a gamer, I can't really speak to this card's limits.

Overall Review: The highest end cards would be more attractive if they were so quiet and well behaved.

Pros: Easy installation Silent Stays cool while idle Windows7 drivers installed easily Nice improvement over onboard video (HD4200) in games and overall look of Windows7.

Cons: None so far. Installation disk did not come with Windows7 driver, but that is hardly an issue when the drivers are available at Nvidia.com. Gets hot under load without ventilation and takes up 2 spaces but that's granted with a card w/heatsink.

Overall Review: I bought this for use with an HTPC/Myth TV build, but it works great in Windows 7. Recommended for the guy like me who dual-boots, watches movies, and lightly games.

Pros: * Good temps in a LIan Li case * set it and forget it(no fans) * Nvidia Drivers make DXVA a no brainer * HDMI, DVI and VGA +

Cons: none yet

Overall Review: Bought it and connected it to a Mits 73" DLP and couldn't be happier. 1080p plays without a hickup with Media Player Classic Home Cinema and DXVA. Havn't tried to game with it yet but I'm sure it will be fine. If it ever runs hot I could always direct a little extra airflow to the heatsink :)

Pros: This card is in a mid-tower ATX case with 120 mm fans front and back in a cool (67 degrees F) basement room. At idle, this card runs at a remarkably cool 30 C. I have never seen any card run that cool. It then warms up to 35 to 37 C in general web surfing. I don't do 3D games, and can only stress it by running Folding@home. Then it gets up to about 66 C. I expect this summer when the room warms up it would be more like 70 C or so, but that is still very reasonable for a graphics card of this capability.

Cons: It takes up 2 slots, but that is the norm for most passively-cooled cards, and a lot of fan-cooled ones as well.

Overall Review: Since it is passively cooled, you will need some airflow in the case to keep it cool. But if you have that, then this should do the job. I am using this mainly for general PC use and editing videos, not any games. The CUDA technology will also come in handy for accelerating video encoding, as with BadaBoom for example. Note that if you want the fastest 3D games, you may want a card with GDDR5 memory. But the DDR3 here is fine for my use, and may even save power.

Pros: Silent Cooler than expected

Cons: It's not faster than a GT240

Overall Review: Works great, temperature is lower than I would have expected during heavy use or idle.

Pros: Well Built. Low Temperatures at Idle. Comes with overclocking software. (I actually underclock it when I am not gaming). A great choice if you want HD playback and are an occassional gamer. Love the fact that it is silent. =)

Cons: Does not support Direct-X 11, but not a very big deal. Takes up the space of 2-PCI slots. May not be good for a small HTPC Case.

Overall Review: I bought this card over the PowerColor HD 5670 (passively cooled ) even though it is a little less powerful. The reason is because my research tells me that this card would take up less power and run cooler. In my mini-tower with only 1 case fan sucking air out the back, my system idles at 32 Celcius and this Video Card idles at the same temp. While playing Company of Heroes, it goes up to 50 Celcius. Also, I am only using a 350 watt power supply!

Pros: Silent with fanless cooler, and HDMI with 1GB .

Cons: Heatsink wraps over the top edge of card causing it to be too tall for the nMedia 5000B case I just puchased.