x1950pro vs. 7900gs vs. 8600gt PSU DEPENDENT

[hayes]

hello peeps,
i recently bought a new pc off ebuyer (Maxdata Computer System Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 2048MB 500GB DVD-RW card reader Windows XP Home 2 yrs RTB Warranty - Ebuyer) and want to put a new graphics card inside. I don't have much to spend, under £100. Now the main problem for me is that under warrenty I can't put a new psu in so im probably quite limited as to what graphics card I can buy (the psu itself is a generic 350watt and there is a power connecter for a graphics card). I would like to get the x1950pro (PowerColor X1950Pro AC2 512MB DDR3 256bit Dual DVI PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer) or a 7900gs would the psu be able to handle these? if not i could get the 8600gt for around the same price. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

James.

[Agent]

You need to tell us the amps of the PSU.
It should be printed on the side and look something like this:

[hayes]

hope this helps

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would definitely get a better PSU as 300w is not that much if you are going to add a graphics card!! You could always get one of those graphics cards PSU and put in your front drive bay:

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

I would say 7900GS or 8600GT as the X1950 pro has higher power comsumption although it is a better performing part.

Since the 7900GS has higher performance than the 8600GT for games I would say the former is the better choice.The only thing is that the 7900GS is not a DX10 part although the performance of the 8600GT in DX10 games is questionable.

However why get a 7900GS when you can get a 7900GT for under 70 quid from Ebuyer:

Nvidia GeForce 7900GT 256MB DDR3 DUAL DVI PCI Express - Ebuyer

This is faster part than the 7900GS and I also think it will be faster than the X1950 pro too!!

[hayes]

thanks for the quick reply i think i will most likely go for the 7900gs as i'm not fussed about dx10 atleast for this generation of cards. shame about the extra power comsumption of the x1950pro but i wouldnt want to risk it.
cheers, James

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Go for the 7900GT if you can!!

[hayes]

that vga psu is extremely interesting i think i might just buy one. Also i think i will get the 7900gt instead as it is practically the same price. thank you.

James

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

that vga psu is extremely interesting i think i might just buy one. Also i think i will get the 7900gt instead as it is practically the same price. thank you.

James

Glad to be of some help!!

[Pob255]

Well you shouldn't invalidate the warranty by replaceing the PSU. The prebuilt systems I've seen where you invalidate the warranty have warranty seals on the case so you cannot open them in the first place.

That said there's a chance that they'd try to blame any fault on your replacement PSU (even when it's a better one) or your fitting of it.
Depends on the company, dell is actually surpriseingly good on this front.
Probably worth contacting Maxdata and asking them.

That said the 7900GS is a very low power draw card and runs quite well at 1280x1024 or 1400x900
You may get away with it on that PSU

Quite a few of the reviews say they are running 7600gt or 8600gt on it ok.

One thing to note

Oh, one small issue, you will have to replace the ATX power supply if you fit an 8800GTS, since the maxdata doesn't come with a PCI Express power block. Most modern PSU's come with this especially with a motherboard that has a PCIexpress port, so a bit of an oversight really but that's my only grumble and loses 1 star in my rating.

Umm I think he means there's no 6pin PCI-E connector which means you'll need two spare molux connectors (the 4 pin ones) and an adaptor (normally comes with the graphics card)

[IAmATeaf]

For the price of the booster PSU I'd be personally inclined to just go out and get a better PSU, you can then also go for the x1950pro.

The Corsair VX 450 or 550 should fit the bill.

Also, keep the current PSU and if there's a need to make a warranty claim put it back in.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Anything more than a VX450W is not needed for a system of this specification.The VX450W is a very solid PSU. If you are on a tight budget however even a FSP 400W PSU will be good enough:

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

My mate had a 350W FSP PSU(same range as the 400W) in his computer and it lasted him nearly 4 years(P4 3.2ghz,2gb ram, 2 dvd drives,2 hdd and a 9800XT).

[Dreaming]

For a 270w system I recently got a HD2600Pro as it uses barely any power and runs most stuff fine at 12 x 10.

My thread

Brilliant resource for power requirements of different cards

[hayes]

this prebuilt maxdata pc doesnt come with a warranty sticker which is very handy. i decided id just buy a 7900gt as it seems to be a fairly low power consumer. you never know i might never need to use the warranty anyway, though i somehow doubt it anyway when it arrives il tell you how it copes with a generic 350watt psu! (somehow i feel im tempting fate) thanks for all the extra help and info and thanks for the links they were very useful.

James

[hayes]

just thought i'd let you all know, the 7900gt came yesterday, turned out to be a nice overclocked xfx 7900gt 450m and on my 350watt psu it seems to work just fine (touch wood) and on crysis with a bit of tinckering i get about 20 - 30 fps on around medium settings and above with 1152x864 res. happy days.

peace out James

[Chasser]

For the price of the booster PSU I'd be personally inclined to just go out and get a better PSU

Likewise, however, very intrigued by these VGA PSU's. Anyone on here actually using one?

[Pob255]

Not that I'm aware of, the main drawback is that it's a little pricey.
For £50 you can get a pritty good PSU and if you can afford a meaty SLi system then you've probably got the cash for a meaty psu as well.
If the psu booster was around £25-30 it would be more tempting.