On Sun, 27 Jan 2008 20:33:15 +0100 (CET), FB Inc
<fbhas@nomail.com> wrote:

>kony <spam@spam.com> wrote in news:s8aop31dgp7c7a0vjpeqd87d5o47sa20dl@4ax.com:
>
>> For now you don't need to worry about this beyond returning
>> the video card since it already needs it to combat the
>> failing fan. Once you have a replacement card you can hope
>> that variable is ruled out.
>
>I see that the shop I bought it from has only a few agp cards in stock,
>one is a gecube 2400 Pro:
>
>http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/...ro-AGP8X-2.jpg
>
>and the others are Sapphire ATI RADEON™ HD 2600 XT and Sapphire ATI RADEON™ HD
>2600 Pro, which are basically the same with the difference of chip and memory speed,
>and an enormous difference in size and cooling:
>
>http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/g...o-agp-512mb/3/
>
>http://www.ingame.de/pics/27621_300_191.jpg
>
>and
>
>http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/im.p..._HD_2600XT.jpg
>
>(the last one is the pci-e version)
>
>Since chances are I will have to choose one of them, I wonder which I should go for.
>I would like something that doesn't run too hot or noisy, but I guess I am not in luck here.

None of these fans looks particularly impressive, it is hard
to predict if one version would be more reliable than
another.

As for heat and power, 2400 Pro is lowest, then 2600 Pro,
with 2600 XT highest. It also means 2600XT has highest
performance, but we don't know how much you need 3D gaming
performance or any other feature that might differ between
these cards. Generally if you were 3D gaming I would go
with the 2600 Pro for old games, or replace the whole system
(Motherboard, CPU, memory and video) moving to PCIe video
card for more modern gaming. 2600XT would make the most
sense if you were desperate to hold on to the rest of the
system as long as possible while playing last-generation
games with some eyecandy turned down, but frankly with the
added cost, it would be better to put that towards a new
PCIe platform today.

Without gaming the 2400 Pro is a more cost effective and
lower power solution (assuming it is on 65nm process too, I
can't remember), but it's fan life may not be so much
different from 2600 Pro, and your current PSU should be able
to handle either.