250W PSU, AGP 4x - Whats the best I can hope for?

[eldubya]

Title says it all, unfortunately.

I'm replacing a burnt-out Geforce Ti 4600 (great for its time) ... and I'm having a LOT of trouble figuring out what to get.

I'm limited by my 250W power supply (also connected is 1 ATA HD, a DVD-RW and a CD-RW, the latter two which I never use). I am also limited by my AGP 4x slot. Please note that it cannot support AGP 8x (ugg). Upgrading my PSU and/or Mobo is sadly not an option at the moment.

It appears as if the Geforce FX5500 is the top-of-the-line I can get on the NVIDIA side of things, but from what I've researched those cards are drastically outperformed by their ATI counterparts, and NVIDIA did some shady things with tweaking their performance specifically for performance testing.

I'm totally unfamiliar with ATI's product lines, so I'm hoping their is some hidden gem you might know about that would fit my specs. I know the RADEON9*00 line were a huge upgrade. I'm having a lot of trouble interpretting ATI's specsheets though.

What do you guys think?

 

[Grimmy]

It should be a 1.5v X4 AGP slot, so any X8 AGP card will work on it.

I'd go with Nvidia 6800GS or ATI X850XT.

Thing is, in order to run those cards properly, you need a good rated PSU. 250W will give you problems.

Try finding at least 350W, or go for 400W with 12+v rails 18amps(min)

I upgraded from 4600Ti by leadtek. I'm happy with it, but I also changed out the HSF VGA cooler to Zalman VF700.

 

[Ian]

Don't get an FX5500 whatever you do. As Grimmy says, an AGP 8X card should work, however your PSU might give you some trouble. It would be worth your while to buy a new PSU, doesn't even have to be that great. You could try running the card on the 250W first, and then if it doesnt work out, buy the new PSU later.

Check out the Short List for deciding what card to get: http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/Short-List-GAMING-VIDEO-MONEY-ftopict169937.html

Depends what your budget is.

 

[tenaciousleydead]

be carefull runing it though, somthing might malfunction due to lack of voltage. Peace.

 

[eldubya]

For various reasons I can't switch out the PSU right now, and I need a short term (6 months) solution to my video card woes. What do you guys think, on the very low end, is compatible with the 250W. I know I won't be running recent games.

 

[Grimmy]

Try putting in your hardware spec's to see what your system may be close in using, as far as wattage:

eXtreme PSU Cal

That might help ya decide, they have a list of common video cards there.

 

[MarkG]

Radeon 9600 may work: it only takes power from the AGP slot, not an external connector, so can't take more than about 45W.

It won't be brilliant, but it will be better than an FX5500.

 

[cleeve]

Step 1: Get a 400w PSU minnimum

Step 2: Get a used 9700 PRO/9800 PRO off ebay for $50 bucks



Or if you have the cash, get a nice X800 GTO or 6800 GS...

 

[Grimmy]

You know.. I did see that it maybe possible, they will come out with 7600GS, this summer. I can't say that is legitimate, since of the source, but I wouldn't be too surprised if it did happen.

I was surprised when nvidia made 7800GS AGP.

Thing is, that 7600GS won't be near as hungry for power, and should run nicely with this guys setup perhaps..

Here's the link, but I hate the inquirer:

7600GS AGP - This summer?

So that agp bus may have some life left for it to play out.