EVGA GeForce 210 Passive 512 MB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 DVI/HDMI/VGA Graphics Card, 512-P3-1311-KR

There is a 4-5 year limitation with this card but it's still a good card for low cost needs.This card worked well and lasted for about 5 years. The explanation is next.If you value NOISE-FREE QUIET over a RENEWABLE LIFESPAN card, this is that card.After 4-5 years or so you may see the temperature going up from its average startup temp of 37-39 C (Celsius) to actual in-use static operating temperatures hovering in the 75-77 C range.And that's a sign that the heat absorbing compound (called "thermal pase" -basically it's a type of grease ) between the GPU embedded in this card and the heatsink, over time has absorbed so much heat for so long it has dried up to a hardened dried up crusty-like texture (PC tech geeks are already familiar with this, from same issues with CPU thermal paste) and is no longer doing it's job. Thermal Paste purpose is to act like a go-between/sponge to DRAW the heat FROM the graphics card GPU and then the heat sink further pulls that heat from the thermal paste etc..)As the thermal paste gets older and drier out the card's temperature begins to creep up...etc etc.. The problem with this card is that you cant simply reapply fresh thermal paste like you can on other versions of this exact same card. You can get thermal paste for as little as $3.95 or so. There are videos on Youtube about applying putting on fresh thermal paste to cards in this product line, the GEForce 210 GPU Series. Because with other brands such as MSI etc, the heatsink is removable, and you can access the thermal paste and clean & replace it. With this version you can't.EDIT :: Inserting this paragraph [ HERE] to specifically point out that you can't remove the heatsink from this card simply by unscrewing it or otherwise. On other cards you can. This card does not have the heatsink attached with screws, instead it is factory-equipped with a type of non-extractable rods that insert like push pins thru standardly placed holes in the corner areas of the card but with Q-tip sized plastic buds that flair out once the forward end of the rod has been fully inserted. This is the case for all four of them. If you zoom in on the heatsink in the product image of this card (the big black boxy rectangular object with fins upright vertically) you will see in the corner area of the card the HEADS of what would be screws on other versions of this card. Instead, on this card, the heads are flat, you can't use a flathead or phillips or hexadecimal or Torx or any kind of screwdriver because there is nothing there, it's completely bare, totally smooth, from the factory assembly process. They never intend anyone to renew this card, extend lifespan with maintenance, as covered below. They expect you to use it, then discard, and either get another one over & over again, or get a different kind that you can service with maintenance. (Discussed next)So be aware of that when making your decision to get this specific version. There's a reason for this. This is a "quiet" card. There is not a fan that helps the heat sink on this card, like there is on the cards with removable heat sinks. On those cards, the fan can make a whirring or humming sound, degree of noticeability varying by individual system setup. Soo You have a tradeoff decision.. Do you want to be able to renew the card with maintenance in 4-5 years or so but in the meantime maybe have a little added system noise.. or have no noise, a silent yet comparably performing graphic card instead, but you have to trash it and get a new one in about 4-5 years ? That's what you are getting here.I'm not trying to talk you out of this card or into into another one... They cost only about $4 - $5 difference anyway, which is of negligible consideration... They are different form factors > NOISE-FREE QUIET or RENEWABLE LIFESPAN.As mentioned earlier, it depends on what you value more... for my bang, I prefer the NOISE-FREE QUIET... It's only a $39 card and sometimes you can get these even further marked down... I'm replacing mine after years, no complaints.

I have purchased 3 of these exact cards so far for upgrading the computers at work for use with dual monitors. They work great. The first one I purchased over a year ago and to date, I have had zero issues out of it. We have Lenovo Micro workstations, so it is nice that EVGA includes the low profile brackets with the card, so you don't have to purchase them. Using a dedicated GPU takes some strain off the CPU also, so it helps with speeding up the computer a bit. There are 3 outputs (1x VGA, 1x DVI-DL, and 1x HDMI), but only a combination of 2 can be used at a time. The HDMI doesn't appear to have audio pass through, as there is no NVidia HD Audio in the sound devices menu, but there is a digital audio menu in the NVidia Control Panel. I can't confirm that it has HDMI audio since I am using the VGA and DVI connections. If I get a chance I will check it, and post back. These cards are entry level cards, meaning they don't have a whole lot of power, so I would not expect to play a lot of Graphic Demanding games, like Skyrim, Crysis or Battlefield on it. They work good for running dual monitors, though. They are HDCP compliant and render videos in HD really well. You can Overclock the card, if you install EVGA's OC software, but you won't get much more out of it, and with the decreased life from the overclock, I don't think the benefits are great enough to even attempt it. All in all, if you need a decent video card for a general usage computer and don't want to spend a whole lot, than you can't go wrong with this one. Just remember after installing it to go to EVGA's website and register the card, so you can get the warranty. It will give you the open to purchase an extended warranty also, if you think that you need it. There is a link to register on the CD when you install the drivers, that will take you straight there, you just need to create a profile.

I bought this card a year ago for a Dell 755 Optiplex that I bought to function as my home theater PC. Low and behold, the 755 didn't come with a graphics card or even an HDMI out. So off I went searching for a graphics card and the GeForce 210 passive fit the bill.The card was selling for a good price, $35. It's absolutely silent and was incredibly easy to install. I've used it for a year mostly for streaming content (Netflix/Amazon/Comcast), DVD playback, and moderate web browsing (with anywhere from 4-10 tabs open at a time). The only issue I've had with it is that a few times under particularly heavy use, the card overheated, crashed, and did some sort of self-reset. It's only happened a handful of times and the self-reset only takes 20-30 seconds before everything is back to normal.I can't speak to its performance for games but all in all? The EVGA GeForce 210 passive card is an extremely capable, low-cost, & totally silent graphics card that's perfect for HTPC's.