Good video card for a 250w power supply

[bobgreen5s]

I have a friend that has a 250w power supply and has a graphics card that is unable to play Battlefield 2. He is interested in a video card under $100 that could play Battlefield 2 with medium settings. I was wondering if you guys could help me out.


PS: and no he can't upgrade his PSU because its one of those proprietary dell's

Thanks in advance

[Jonny]

Errrrrrm....

No.

I really doubt the existence of a sub £60 card that will run off 250W and play BF2 on medium settings.

Tell him he needs either a new PC, or an older game to play.

Sorry, but it just isn't do-able.

[RavenNight]

To help we really need to know what type of Video card he needs, AGP or PCI-E. Although a few cards may run on a 250W PSU there are probably going to be stability issues, a friend was in the same position and was able to borrow about 8 cards from a relative that runs a PC store, they all ran but after about 20 mins of hard gaming the system would crash. My advice is to save up and get a new system and salvage as many bits (like HDD, FDD, CD/DVD etc.) from the Dell as possible.

[MON]

yea same here. i replaced my 250w in 2000 and that was when i had a geforce 3 this is fast than the fx 5200 but not the 5600 and the 5600 will not run the bf2 at medum settings

if it is the origanel power supply with the gear inside must be pre 2000 .. you need a new system

....

[bobgreen5s]

thanks for the replies, the motherboard supports agp, but I was thinking that the

PNY Geforce 6200 256MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133151

or

Sapphire Radeon 9800SE 128MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102303

might run battlefield 2 close to medium settings at least?

[MSIC]

The Radeon will run faster than the 6200. But (from my memory) the 9800 SE version has a 128-bit memory interface, rather than 256 which is desirable. Still, better than the 64-bit memory of the 6200.

In theory, 250W is actually enough for most systems. Check out this very useful PSU calculator here. That said, this is only true if the power supply is any good and is actually correct, something which cheaper brands reportedly do frequently and with seemingly little remorse! I don't know what Dell PSU's are like i am afraid!

[sgoaty]

Try and pick up a second hand 9800 pro that should do him proud

[Elessar_VPR]

Whilst a bit pricey, you can get replacement PSU's for Dell's from PC Power and Cooling, Dell Power Supply Selector. Depends on how much he is willing to spend.

What's the rest of the system like? As it may well just be worth starting from scratch, as other have said.

[Flibb]

Its is also possible to get conversion cables to allow a normall PSU to be used in a Dell. I can only find one in the USA at the moment ($14.95), anybody seen one in the UK? Also a 9700 pro or 9800 pro would be the way to go on a budget.

Do you know what dell it is? Quiet a few take standard PSUs now.

[MON]

that PSU calculator is handy...

[bobgreen5s]

thanks for all the replies, using the psu calculator it said the following:

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 B 2400 MHz Northwood (59.8 Watts)
RAM: Two Pair Rambus RDRAM (20 Watts)
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 6800 GT (75 Watts)

IDE HDD 5400 rpm: 1 - (10 Watts)

DVD-RW/DVD+RW Drive: 25 Watts

56K PCI Modem: 4 Watts
PCI Network Interface Card: 4 Watts
Sound Blaster - All Models: 7 Watts

USB: 1 - (2.5 Watts)

Motherboard, keyboard and mouse: 43 Watts

PSU Utilization: 80% (default)

Total: 223 Watts

so am I missing something are shouldn't I been fine with a 6600gt?

[Jonny]

Despite your PSU being rated by Dell as 250W, this will likely be its maximum possible, and not something it could run at for an extended period of time. Also, you only have your PSU utilisation set to 80% there.

[bobgreen5s]

thanks for clearing that up Jonny

so would I been fine with this 9600XT

(I don't know if all 9600XT's require the same amount of power)

JetWay Radeon 9600XT 256MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814153012

[KowShak]

When the Athlon came out, AMD were recommending 300W PSUs, not because the system would need 300W but because not all 300W PSUs can deliver 300W constantly. Dell aren't exactly famous for using quality components, I've seen some of their proprietry kit and it isn't pretty so I think you're going to struggle with this one.

If you want a graphics card that will be low power, you'll want either an old mid range one or a newer low end one. High end cards are almost always very power demanding, e.g. Radeon 9800 Pro has its own power connector so does a 6800 GT etc.

A 9600XT is a old mid range card, its probably not going to be powerful enough for your needs. You might be better off considering a GeForce 6600 instead if budget (power and money) allows (the 6600 with thrash a 9600 XT). There doesn't seem to be an up to date ATI card for AGP.