What graphics card can this PSU support?
Ok for my girlfriend's system she's using onboard graphics and wants to free up the memory / cpu and get a discrete graphics card. My only concern is she isn't using the worlds most powerful PSU:
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
That's running an Athlon X2 3800+ (the low power model)
2 gb micron major DDR2 @ 667mhz (I think)
2 sata hdd (160gb WD / 250gb samsung)
1 optical drive
Abit NF-M2N
or and a wifi card
Enermax's website says: Enermax Technology Corporation
Up to 20a on the +12v and up to 240w (if I'm reading it correctly). However I don't know the kind of GPU I should be looking for. Obviously low-endish, with 256mb of vRAM (it's just to run games like Colin Mcrae rally and sims, nothing exremely demanding).
Currently she's using the onboard geforce 6150 with 256 memory stolen from the RAM. The board is pretty good and has a PCI-Ex16 expansion slot.
Re: What graphics card can this PSU support?
First up nothing that is going to need PCIe extra power cable so that eliminates most of the higher cards :P
Depending on the requirements of the games and the monies available I would say you should look in ATI's camp at the 2400 and 2600 and in nVidea's the 8500 and 8600 older cards are available however with their older technology to get the same performance requires extra power, something you are lacking :P.
Re: What graphics card can this PSU support?
I would have thought something like this is probably ideal: about 25W according to this site and cheap with 8 pipes instead of your current 2.
An 8600GT is the same sort of power usage and must faster, but costs twice as much.
Do you have a budget in mind?
Re: What graphics card can this PSU support?
Not as such, but it doesn't have to be top end, just something that copes alright to free up the system RAM and let her play girl games really. The sims, and so on. I wasn't expecting to pay loads because I don't think it's necessary really.
I have a sinking feeling she's going to want to be able to play spore next year (well, who wouldn't). But mainly, racing games, arcade games but nothing too serious. A minute possibility of UT2K4 :p
Re: What graphics card can this PSU support?
used 6600gt's are dirt cheap , run a lot of older games pretty well and dont require extra connectors, you may even find a passive low prfile one if thats any help.
Re: What graphics card can this PSU support?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
errata
used 6600gt's are dirt cheap , run a lot of older games pretty well and dont require extra connectors, you may even find a passive low prfile one if thats any help.
Aye but the 7300 posted above is more powerful than a 6600, uses less power and dirt cheap to boot. Looks like a potential winner.
Will a geforce 7300 outpace (sounds like a dumb q) a 6150?
EDIT:
I think I'm just going to get this:
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
cheap as chips and looking at benchmarks, whilst it's by no means brilliant it runs CoH 1024x768 med settings at an average 76 FPS which I think is pretty impressive! Especially since my 8800 struggles with max settings and AA is out of the question. But that's probably more down to the fact DX10 drivers are quite *poor* to put it one way. It will be running on a vista box but it looks just about perfect. My main concern is the fan has no speed monitor, may be noisy. I don't know if my girlfriend will let me mod her PC much though, she refuses to allow me to install a fanmate to reduce her two 2000rpm 80mm down a bit (I bought them with the intention that the motherboard would control the fan speed but it appeared after setting it up the NF-M2N does not have this feature, and I couldn't get speedfan or any other programs to work correctly in vista either :().
Re: What graphics card can this PSU support?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dreaming
used 660gt is very simialr to the new 7300gt your looking at, should be less than £15 used, 2400pros alos good but may as well get a passive one for the same price
any of the above will beat a 6150
Re: What graphics card can this PSU support?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
errata
used 660gt is very simialr to the new 7300gt your looking at, should be less than £15 used, 2400pros alos good but may as well get a passive one for the same price
any of the above will beat a 6150
I went mad and got a 2600pro which has double the performance of the 2400 but is only £49 compared to £30. Thanks a lot for your help :)
