Need new video card, low power requirements
 

I'm trying to pick out a new video card, but I can't get one that would need a new PSU, as I can't really afford that atm. Right now I have a X850 PRO running on a 400 Watt Ultra PSU. It has 20A current on the 12V rail.

The full specs of the current system are as follows:

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200 @2.93Ghz (BSEL and vCore mod)
Cooler Master Hyper TX2 HSF
Sapphire Radeon X850 PRO PCI-E VIVO 256MB
ECS 945GCT-M/1333 LGA775 Motherboard
2 GB DDR2 667mhz RAM ($3 a stick HP Ram)
AOpen 16x DVD/RW Drive
Western Digital 'Caviar' 160GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive
Zonet ZEW1601 PCI RT61 Wireless Card

I figure the best I could get is an 8600GT/S as that has even lower power requirements than the X850 Pro. It performs well and I could OC it quite a bit.

Any other ideas?

A HD 3850 would suffice too. I know someone who has one running on a 300w with 19a(also has a 45w AMD X2 tho). If you are a bit scared to do that tho I would pick up a 8600GTS or a X1950PRO :toast:

What are your other specs tho?

I turned down a used X1900XT because those have pretty large power requirements...I figured that wouldn't work on my PSU. Was I wrong to do that??? It was at a really good price btw.

3850 should be good depending on the condition of your psu... its really energy efficent.

Well if it was more than 120$ then it was a meh deal. A 8600GTS is around that price and its not as good but it has so many more advantages.

I should probably clarify that the absolute max I can probably spend on a video card is $90.

If you have PCI-E 16x your in luck
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102708

If you gotta pay for shipping and yadayada get this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102726

It was $90...I still don't think it would've worked though.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...T_256M/12.html

Since it was a 512MB version, I'm guessing it would've been 200 watts...which is a sizeable increase from the X850 Pro.

I was thinking about a high end GeForce 7 series card, but I don't think those perform better than the 8600GT/S.

Once the 9600s drop this week, the GeForce 8600GTS may drop in price, which would be cool.

UPDATE: Is the HD2600XT any good compared to the 8600GT?

Well it would have worked but honestly those things run so hot and cant OC for crap it wouldnt have been worth it.

And yea the HD 2600XT is better than the 8600GT(No one better link Tomshardware... I swear to god..)

Performance between the HD2600XT and 8600GT vary widely...it certainly looks like the GTS is considerably better though.

The 8600GTS gives you 1/3 the performance of an 8800GT, and the 8600GT will give you even less.

Also keep in mind the wattage the cards consume when loaded:

Afaik the 3850 consumes slightly more than the 8800GT which consumes 198W. Then the 8800GS (which gives twice the performance of the 8600GT) uses up 172W on load.

Check out that site where you can calculate your PSU requirements for your hardware (I don't know the url offhand sorry but you'll easily find it on this site or using google) because it makes a difference as to whether you have just one HDD and ODD or whether you have 4 HDD and 4 ODD and plenty other stuff.

EDIT: Check out here: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=19008

Do check it out for yourself but I read somewhere that 20amp on the 12V rail should be enough for an 8800GT (and more than enough for a GS) depending on how much more hardware you got sucking power from your psu. I also do remember reading that for the GT you need a minimum PSU total output of 440W and you have 400W so check on that, but maybe 400W is OK for the GS.

If you conclude that you have enough power try to choose the 8800GTS, second best the 8800GT, third best the 8800GS. Jmho but the 8600 series drops waaay too much in performance that it'd be more convenient for you to upgrade the PSU and get a better card.

(I've owned both an 8600GTS, and an 8800GT).

Your not gonna get a 8800GT for 90$ lol

get this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127286

or this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127306


when overclocked a good bit these cards are equal to the gts

90$? 8600gt

Should I look at buying a used 7900 GT or something of that nature for $80-ish? Would I get more out of that than the 8600 GTS?

Try this with only 24 PPL

http://cgi.ebay.com/GAINWARD-BLISS-7...mZ220203022321

You need to reconsider the $90 limit....seriously.

Regards,
jtleon

Dont get the X1950... its current hungry beast.

The HD2600XT is low power and is equivalent to X850XT in performance. So not a big upgrade IMO. Although you do get 2xDVI and SM3.0 support.

The HD3850 is probably the best bet.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

the 7900/X1900 cards are faster than the 8800GTS but they use alot of power and the 3850 costs too much since your on a 90 dollar budget, I would say get the MSI 8600GT Twin Turbo and overclock it to the 8600GTS clocks

http://www.ixbt.com/video3/g92-2.shtml

Should I go with the MSI or eVGA 8600GT? The eVGA has been shown to be verrrrrry overclockable with voltmods. Would power consumption still be low enough for my 400watt Ultra PSU with voltmods on the eVGA 8600GT?

I'm sorry I missed out your budget when giving my recommendations. For a max of $90 you might be getting this 8600GT 512MB. However there's a lacuna on that card - try to google out the benchmarks, it probably is too weak to be able to fully use up the 512MB of vram it is given.

My advice would be to wait 30 days or maybe slightly more. When the 9XXX nvidia series are officially out the 8XXX series will be further dropping in price and hence become more affordable. And your proc will be getting far better performance with anything better than 86XX...

It'd be a pity to bottleneck your proc with an 86XX or even 96XX series.

Or maybe browse ebay or some place to find perhaps someone who's ready to 'upgrade' and sell his nearly new 88xx series for less $$.

Personally I'm in that position... hopefully my dad will buy new components for me to assemble for daughter's pc.... and then (it'll be a couple of months :ohwell: ) I'll be putting my 8800GT in daughter's pc and getting a 98xx series vid card myself. (Apart from probably also switching cpu's... I'll coax him to get something so obviously better than an E4300!!! :D shhhhhh!) ;)

After a long hard thinking thread that I made myself, if you need something for the $90 price range, go 8600GT if you cannot find an HD2600XT with DDR4, BUT if you can find an 8600GTS for same price do it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127306

this card is the best bang for your buck that will run on your PSU

(i know this card was already posted by KainXS)


dont get a 2600XT the 8600GT is much better in everything

That MSI card is good because it has memory rated at 900mhz, which should overclock very nicely

Any other recommendations?

Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 GDDR4
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.ph...&limitstart=11