4870 1GB or GTX 280?

[Webby]

No a 520W PSU will not be anywhere near stressed running an overclocked processor, a single graphics card (4870 or 260) and a couple of hard drives.

Take a look here (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/L...TX_285/24.html) for a whole load of comparative full system (Spec at the top of the page) power draws you will need to add a few watts for another hard drive and a bit more for a quad if you have one but the numbers speak for themselves really peak load GTX260 264W 4870 (512MB) 247W so you have plenty of headroom on a decent 500W PSU a decent 400W PSU would probably not complain.

The easiest way to check what you need is to get a kill-o-watt (power meter you plug into the wall and then plug the PC into it then monitors the power usage) and see what your current PC uses, find your graphics card on the TPU list and find the difference in power consumption for the new card and your current one add it to the currnet power draw if its less than 400W a 500W will be more than enough.

[raven1001]

Just go with a 260 and OC a little, saves money and you get nigh on 280 performance.

[alexfyxodef]

It will be fine but with a couple of hard drives, overclocked cpu etc you will start to push towards the top limit of the PSU. My Xclio 550W often has to have the fan spin up which can be quite irritating

I am running two of these beasts (HD4870 512 MB) on Corsair HX 520W plus WD Raptor 36 GB and overclocked E6750 (@3.52) 24/7 (folding@home) with no problems. I think this psu is really tough and very quiet! 4870 is a very good gfx but there is no potential for overclocking max 810-820 for core, I would probably go for GTX260 (good o/c and the cooler is better too)

[explicit4u]

as said before, the 280 is the better card however that doesn't mean that the 4870 isn't good, it handle every game out there with added bells and whistles. However, money allowing i would get the GTX280 if you can find one, but not the GTX285.