I'm looking for a video card to upgrade too on my hp m8125x media center pc. The video card it came with was a Nvidia 7350LE. I'm looking for a fast/good video card for playing games at 1440 x 900. My PC has only 1 case fan (exhaust) and does not have any intake fans, so my case doesn't have good enough airflow to handle cards that give out a lot of heat (like the 8800 gt, which caused my CPU temperatures to rise alot). I have already upgraded the stock power supply to a 500 Watt Enermax Liberty. So what good video card would you recommend for me that won't increase my case/CPU temperatures?

What's your budget like? The 9600GT is a nice card that can be had in a dual-slot "flavor" for around $100. Just make sure it'll fit in your case. Here is a link to one.

my budget is $200 but im not sure if my case could handle the heat of the 9600 since my airflow sucks... can someone confirm this?

The 9600GT is a dual-slot card, so all the heat from the card will be exhausted out of the case, and the same is true for almost all dual-slot cards. For your budget, I recommend this card.

Thanks for your quick replies I probably might not get the HD 4850 since even though it had that new heat sink, it runs hot and i would have to run the cards fan at 100%, and since i leave my PC on overnight i would like to avoid that.... Do you know any nvidia cards that can run cool and quietly?

The maximum temp is 62C, which is fairly decent IMO for a dual-slot card. Also, why not just buy a cheap PCI slot cooling fan like one of these along with the card? It'd help case ventilation a lot IMO.

In any case, the other alternative to the HD 4850 is this card. Dual-slot cooler, 55nm and it should run somewhat cooler than the HD 4850.

I'll try one of them out. Thanks for your help