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I might at some point build machine with a high-end GPU for AI stuff but so far I don't do that and I do not game at all (except on my vintage arcade cab once e
by TacticalCoder 3y ago
I might at some point build machine with a high-end GPU for AI stuff but so far I don't do that and I do not game at all (except on my vintage arcade cab once every blue moon) so I love CPUs with an iGPU.
> These days these cards are mostly extinct
Precisely. It's really hard to find a GPU that is passively cooled and typically GPUs have fans that are ultra-noisy when under load.
I had an AMD 3700X CPU (no iGPU on that one) and I really didn't like it.
So one year ago I built myself a little rig: AMD 7700X CPU, Be Quiet! tower, Noctua fan, 32 GB of DDR5 and that series of CPU does have an iGPU. I put it in eco mode (I think at peak it'll draw 95W instead of 105W: no discernible difference which I tested with, for example, compiling the Linux kernel or compiling Emacs) in the UEFI/BIOS and when I use it it's often running in powersaving mode (for example when I switch to a browser, the CPU automatically goes to powersaving mode but if I switch to Emacs or an IDE, it goes to performance mode).
The thing is exceptionally quiet. When it's compiling on all cores I can slightly hear the CPU's fan (a Noctua one) ramping up and that's how I like it: it's very muffled, very subtle, but I can hear it. When I do something else than compiling, it's inaudible.
If you want a really quiet desktop and don't game, a CPU with an iGPU is the way to go IMO.
- rjsw 3y ago> If you want a really quiet desktop and don't game, a CPU with an iGPU is the way to go IMO. Or a modern CPU and a really old PCIe GPU.
- doubled112 3y agoMany old PCIe GPUs had noisy fans and drew tons of power though. It's not the whole story. You can, however, buy something like a passively cooled Nvidia GT 710 for really cheap, which I think is what you're getting at.
- RedCardRef 3y agoJust my 2c. I daily drive a GT710 passively cooled from MSI, it has a HDMI DVI-D and a VGA port. One of the newer GT710 models from ASUS has 4xHDMI. Displayport quality is miles ahead compared to the above on the same monitor. (I daily drive 2x Dell P2419H) If you are going for a multi monitor build then the GT710 is a bad choice if you care about quality. I would suggest something along the lines of a proper GPU which has a silent mode in which fans do not run unless they are under load. IIRC Asus STRIX cards and Zotac cards had the feature and I am sure other vendors also have something similar. Ofcourse the best option would be to find a motherboard with a ton of displayport connections, but I did not find any!
- wlesieutre 3y agoYou used to be able to passively cool a high end card though. I remember having the Accelero S1 cooler, which supported the top of the line GeForce 9800 GTX. Though I think mine was on an overclocked 8600. https://www.quietpc.com/ac-acc-s1rev2 https://www.quietpc.com/ac-acc-s1rev2 Back when a high end gaming GPU was $300
- jaredhallen 3y agoTrue. I'm using an old desktop (2009) as a little home server. The only gripe I had was the worn out GPU fan on the old radeon card. Picked up a fanless Nvidia quadro for $6.99 on ebay. Problem solved.
- olavgg 3y agoI just use the IGP in Ryzen 7950x, so I can use the 16x pcie slot for 100GbE network.
- randerson 3y agoAnd if you do game, Asus sells an Nvidia 4080 with a Noctua cooler.
- nightowl_games 3y agoYou can game with the AMD iGPUs. Especially if you are going for 1080p. AMD iGPUs are basically perfect for an under the TV console style gaming machine. Personally, I'm fine with 1080p on a TV.
- brucethemoose2 3y agoSpeaking as a Vega 8/4900HS owner, they are really not. The new 8000/7000 series APUs may be a step up, but its still below the bar for even really old games, at least if you dont want any hitching at 60FPS.
- nightowl_games 3y agoI have a rx580
- wmf 3y agoBe careful; some AMD iGPUs (like the 7700X mentioned above) are incredibly weak (1 WGP) and not usable for gaming.