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XFX GeForce 8400 GS Video Card

GeForce 8400 GS Video Card

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Most recent User Reviews for

XFX GeForce 8400 GS Video Card

  • Reviewed by: msdibble

    02-08-08

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Reasonalbly Priced

    Weaknesses:Not sure yet - but suspect blackout source (heat?)

    Overall Evaluation: I have a new, Vista Dell 530 desktop. I have replaced this card once, added memory (PC6400@4G's), replaced monitor once and installed new 650W power supply - Screen still blacks out/returns in higher-motion activity (like games & vid-streams). It's driving a Samsung 2220WM larger LCD. Any thoughts on problem source or compatability? Thanks

  • Reviewed by: yanusbfd

    02-05-08

    Duration of ownership: 3 Months

    Strengths: Cheap with rebate, good analog output quality, quiet

    Weaknesses:64-bit memory path, gets hot

    Overall Evaluation: I've just finished trying out a trio of low-end PCIe graphics cards based on NVIDIA chips, and this is the third of the batch that I fired up. I like to keep a range of spare components around in the case of failures in my main systems or in those of my friends and family, and these three cards could all be had for ridiculously low prices thanks to manufacturer rebates.Unlike many of the reviewers of this card, I don't care about nor do I comment on performance in games. However, I do a lot of image editing in Photoshop Elements and other programs, so I'm primarily concerned with how any video card performs in these applications and in Windows, in general.I'm also trying these out in my soon to be new system. While I didn't intentionally build it this way, my soon to be new system is fairly quiet. It's housed in an Antec Solo case and has an Antec EarthWatts 430 power supply. The processor is an Intel Core 2 Duo 4400 with the stock cooling solution. The PCIe video card I intend to use is by VisionTek and has an ATI X800 GPU with a 128-bit memory bus. The Antec power supply, Intel heat sink, and VisionTek video card fans are all fairly quiet. Even with the side panel of the case open, there is only a minor whirring, which is mostly drowned out by the noise from my old system (Intel Pentium IV 2.6 GHz, Antec TruePower II 480 power supply, and fanless ATI 9600-based video card).So, the first thing I noticed when I installed this card into my soon to be new system was that it was still quiet. Most low-end NVIDIA cards have a fan, and it's usually quite loud. This XFX card is passively cooled by a sizable two-piece heat sink on the front and back of the PCB.As other reviewers have noted, this heat sink gets hot. In normal use, though, it did not seem to run any hotter than DDR2 DIMMs, which seems entirely reasonable. The heat sink on the back of the PCB does, however, extend several millimeters beyond the PCIe slot and almost touches some tall electrolytic capacitors that are part of the motherboard voltage regulation circuitry. I have an Intel DP965LTCK, the layout of which is quite intelligent and generally provides plenty of clearance for plug-in components. I can imagine that similar capacitors might not be as carefully placed on some motherboards and could interfere with the seating of this card.Performance under Windows XP and Photoshop Elements was fine. I tend to work with large images, and the sample image I edited during testing did not conspire with the video card to slow system performance. The fact that this card only has a 64-bit wide memory path seems to matter little or not for imaging applications.This card has very sharp analog output quality, the best of the three cards I tested. As you can see from the picture provided by PriceGrabber, this card has the DB15 connector attached to the PCB via a ribbon cable. This can lead to poor video quality, because each wire in the ribbon cable acts as an antenna, picking up stray electrical noise within the system that interferes with the analog output driven by the DAC in the GPU. Higher-end and better quality video cards keep the DB15 connector soldered to the PCB, where the signals from the GPU DAC can be shielded by keeping them adjacent to appropriate ground traces and the PCB ground plane.For whatever reason, the ribbon cable connected DB15 port on this video card does not seem to affect analog output quality. Although I'll be connecting my soon to be new system to my flat panel monitor via DVI, I'm currently using the monitor's ability to switch between its analog and digital inputs as part of a poor man's KVM. This card was connected to the monitor using the analog port, and image quality was virtually indistinguishable from that of the DVI-connected ATI 9600 card in my current system, at 60 Hz, no less (anything higher is pointless, because most LCD monitors only refresh the panel at 60 Hz, regardless of video card setting).So, this card rates better average. Performance is fine for regular PC users and certainly seems suitable for any kind of image editing. Analog output quality is very good, a nice bonus if using this card with a CRT monitor or LCD monitor without DVI. Points get deducted for the lack of a 128-bit wide memory path, although, really, you have to upgrade to the GeForce 8500GT to get this.The current price for this or several other 8400GS-based cards is about $45 before any rebate, which seems perfectly reasonable for a PCIe video card with nice output quality. The kicker here, however, is fanless. Nearly all of the 8400GS-based cards currently available have a fan, and I wouldn't be surprised if most of them are quite noisy. In fact, from what I can tell, only this card, one from Asus, one from Gigabyte, and one from MSI are available without a fan. You have to be be careful, too, because all of these manufacturers, including XFX, have versions available with a fan, so buyer beware.

  • Reviewed by: stockshowgypsy

    01-31-08

    Duration of ownership: 2 Weeks

    Strengths: silent, economic card for HTPC

    Weaknesses:runs hot

    Overall Evaluation: This directX 10 card is suitable for non intensive tasks. Not a good gamers card. Low profile bracket is available but card needs adequate ventilation. The card is somewhat crippled and runs too hot. I will not purchase another card of this type for any of my builds.

  • Reviewed by: Ranyuncho

    01-29-08

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: silent, cheap

    Weaknesses:not to much 3d power

    Overall Evaluation: this is a good basic card but not for games for movies, office and 2d its a winner it does get pretty hot but i wouldnt worry too much for less than 30 its a decent card just don expect the world from it

  • Reviewed by: deshwasi

    01-29-08

    Duration of ownership: 30 Days

    Strengths: inexpensive, quiet, good hi-def performance

    Weaknesses:not ideal for gaming

    Overall Evaluation: This is a excellent PCI-express video card that is inexpensive and yet performs very well on video watching applications. well-suited for a home theater PC. its not a high-end gaming card but works well for normal day-to-day use.

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