A couple of years ago, I bought basic, fanless, video cards for my PC's to handle DVI and LCD monitors via a switch box.

What I gave up:

1. Ability to turn on the computer without having the switch box set to that computer

2. Screen saver and display responsiveness.

I'm not a gamer, but i do want not to be annoyed by problems refreshing after the screen saver kicks in and good responsiveness with movies, etc.

Oh, and good bit depth for image editing is important.

At the time, avoiding a fan was important to me, because I don't need extra noise. I chose low end Asus cards that work okay except for the problems I mentioned above.

With my old analog/monitor setup I could turn on a computer anytime. When Is switched to it everything was fine. But with my DVI setup, if i do this the screen resolution defaults to a low setting. Sometimes I have to reboot to get what I want. I also gave up on screen savers because they would cause problems if they kicked in while I switched away to a different computer. At minimum a delay, sometimes worse - don't recall.

So, now I'm thinking about upgrading. I want to minimize noise (i.e., quiet fan) but of course avoid extra heat and get decent responsiveness.

I'm asking on this forum to find what is available easily in Thailand, or to determine if I have to get if from overseas somehow.

Thanks!

I don't know about DVI and a switch box, but there are many companies that offer mid-to-high end graphics cards that are based on heatpipes with no fans. There are also third-party heatpipe replacements for graphics cards that originally use fans. Both are available in Thailand... the silent cards can be found at bigger shops, while the replacement coolers can be found at the exotic cooling places like jedicool. I think with some settings in the drivers you can avoid the DVI resolution issues.

As for bit-depth, it really shouldn't be an issue with modern video cards.