need help with video card

[milosh]

i am in the market for a new video card and i need a good video

i will sound foolish for looking for one with these requirements

1 it cannot need a psu higher than 300 watts
2 it will be used for moderatly seriouse gaming
3 pci express

 

[Cybie1111]

I would suggest buying a 6600GT ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130251 ) since it dosent requre alot to power and it does a very good job in moderate resolutions with good detail. (800x600 and 1024x768).

I would like you to also take a look at the 6800XT ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130261 ) but I do not know the power requirement for that card right now. It seems to be less expensive but the downside of this card that it has lower clocks and uses regular 256bit DDR memory not GDDR3.

 

[milosh]

the 6600gt is a good card, as is the 6800xt
however, the 6600gt has a requirement of 350 watts
with a few moments of research, i have found that the 6800xt needs a 300 watt psu
i have a 305 watt, and am unable to upgrade
using a 305 psu would be cutting it too close

 

[peta01]

What kind of motherboard do you have?

 

[-=CrAnSwIcK=-]

the x1600xt is cheaper than that 6600gt...and it's quite a bit better too...i dunno about that wattage though, cause we don't know how much power you're already using...it's not like the card will be using the whole 300 watts....what are your specs??

peta, how the hell did you get your 9600 to hit those clocks?? my old 9600pro maxed out at 460/650...even with aftermarket cooling...

 

[trog100]

my laptop has a 90 watt power supply.. it powers a geforce 6600 go ultra and scores 2800 in 3Dmark 2005..

somehow if it really is a 300 watt power supply i recon we are inventing problems.. anything that dosnt requite a seperate plug in power cable to power it should be okay..

trog

 

[peta01]

I just cant imagine a motherboar with PCIExpress running stable with 300W PSU.
Can you post here your system spcecification please.

 

[giorgos th.]

no good.a 300W psu possibly wont give 17A on the 12v rail to have a fully working 6600GT.

 

[peta01]

peta, how the hell did you get your 9600 to hit those clocks?? my old 9600pro maxed out at 460/650...even with aftermarket cooling...

It has stock cooler, no VoltMod or anything else. It is the same as it came from the box. I think i was quite lucky with this card. But I have seen even higher clocks on 9600pro. With my new GTO2 I was not sio lucky. My max clock is only 505/580 with Arctic Cooler and that is not much for GTO2.

 

[trog100]

"I just cant imagine a motherboar with PCIExpress running stable with 300W PSU.
Can you post here your system spcecification please."

so how does my 80 odd watt pci.e laptop.. errr.. about 5.5 amps in total manage it then..???

a 6600 gt cant draw any more than 50 watts which at 12 volts would be about 4 amps..

what with this 17 amps stuff.. 17 amps at 12 volts is 204 watts.. ????

a good 300 watt power supply should piss all over it..

think about it dudes..

trog

ps.. i keep these little pics for just such arguements as this.. he he he

and yep it does seem less than we think we need.. and it does help to have a little in reserve.. which is why i have a 600 watt jobby i know i dont really need.. he he he

 

[peta01]

Troq, you cant compare notebook PSU with desktop PSU. Dont you know that your notebooks harddrive is much smaller, that your CPU is specialy designed to drain less power. All components in notebook are smaller and have lower power requirements than desktop systems.

 

[trog100]

course they are.. and of course i know that.. but they are not magic.. and 80 watts is still 80 watts.. and 300 watts is still 300 watts.. he he he..

and on top of that a notebooks 80 watts has to power its monitor as well.. a desktop power supply dosnt..

thow praps they are magic after all if it needs more than 300 watts to power a pissy arsed desktop 6600gt... he he he

basically it dosnt.. the pic i posted gives a good idea of real system power requirements..

6600 cards are fairly low power drawers.. my laptop version draws about 25 watts.. the laptop version of the 6800 for example draws more than double that.. over 65 watts..

the 6600gt is simply a faster clocked version of my laptop 6600 ultra.. it will draw more power because of this but not double.. which leaves us back to the max of 50 watts or just over 4 amps power requirements..

trog

ps.. the real problem here isnt that 300 watts aint enough.. its more than enough but most generic so called 300 watt power supplies will not produce 300 watts in total more like 150 watts..

they test the max output of each line seperately then add em all up and get say 300 watts.. in truth the supply will not deliver that power thru all the lines all at once.. a decent one will which is of course why i said a DECENT 300 watt power supply is more than enough..

 

[bruins004]

Trog is right.
Thats why you never use a generic brand PSU, esp. when you are going to upgrade.
Antec, OCZ, etc. list what it can do and not just the highest amount of watts.

Milosh, if you want to upgrade you are going to need a good PSU (prob. cost you around 70 bucks). Otherwise, its just a waste of money putting a GPU in there. You should at least look to get a 6800GS to have your GPU good for a while. That as you can see from Trog's picture on page 1 requires a lot more power. Go get a nice 520W PSU (either the Antec TruePower or OCZ PowerStream) and then get a GPU.

 

[milosh]

thanks all