Sn68sg2

[edp33]

Hi

My friend has just purchased a SN68SG2 AM2 Shuttle and is using onboard graphics (NVIDIA GeForce 7025 ) at the moment. He's just started playing Dawn of War - Dark Crusade and is thinking about trying a few more games. Can you recommend a graphics card that will fit in the case and work ok with the 250W PSU? He's got a 17" TFT so max res will be 1280x1024, using Windows XP so Directx 10 isn't that important.

I'm thinking something along the lines of
8800GT,8600GT or X1950 Pro

But think that some of these may require more power/bigger case, if there's any cards that run fairly quietly but give good performance that would be an added bonus!

Thanks

James

[Webby]

I'm fairly sure all three of those require a six pin PCIe power cable and would be surprised if the 8800 GT would run on a 250W PSU in fact I can be reasonably sure saying that it wont!

The recommended PSU is 450W for a x1950 but thats the same for an x1950GT all the way up to the x1950 xtx but again I think the power supply may be the limiting step...

You may have better luck going for a lower speced card or maybe a HD 2600 pro/xt as they do not require the extra 6pin power so the power requirements are lower. I can't guarantee that they will fit as I have no experience with shuttle cases but they are not large cards.

Just checked a review and a Athlon X2 6000+ system drew 174W at load with an HD 2600xt so it is reasonable to expect the 250W PSU to cope with one of these cards.

[edp33]

Thanks, I might look into a 8600GT, 2600XT/Pro or a X1650XT/Pro they seem to take less power and be fairly decent.

Was going to give my friend an old 6600GT when I upgrade but going to turn that into a media pc !

[DanceswithUnix]

Might be useful to know which CPU he has in there. I would be nervous putting a stonking graphics card in there if he is using a 125W cpu, but a 45W energy efficient one would leave loads of headroom.

Shuttle do have a compatibility list, try this link and use your browser search to find "68sg2"

They list an ASUS 8600GTS and a Leadtek 7900GT so if you can find something single slot at that spec or less you should be good to go.

[edp33]

Thanks that's really helpful, the CPU is an Athlon AM2 4200 X2, might be a 4400 as I think the cheapest one was out of stock at the time.
<edit> so that might be 65W or 90W will have to double check.

The link Shuttle Global - Home graphics tab also shows graphics cards just for the SN68sg2, seems a 2600XT might be ok.

Hmmz, seems the 8600GT is better than the 2600XT from reviews. They start from £64 on Scan, if an 8600GTS is supported, the 8600GT must be ok too?

[Pie_uk]

just to let you know the PSUs in shuttles are very powerful. dont let the 250w put you off. people run the 800GTX on a 300watt psu from shuttle.