375W PSU - Which graphics card ?

[giriw92]

Hi,

My computer specs are below:
Intel Pentium D 930
2GB RAM
2x 250 GB Hard Drives in RAID 0 Array
Geforce 7300LE
375 W PSU with 35A on dual-12V rails

I am thinking of upgrading the graphics card - one that would be good for Windows Vista. Ideally, it should be under £100. I bought a 7600GT and tried it out on my system - but my PSU could not support it and I had rendering errors. So I returned the 7600GT. Now, I would like a graphics card that would run stable on my 375W PSU. I have no preference of ATI or Nvidia.

I was thinking an X1600 or X1650 based card (I heard these only require 300W) ?

Cheers

 

[pauldh]

Maybe you just got a bad 7600GT. They consume very little power, less than the X1600XT or X1650 pro. Any of these series of cards should work with the 35 amp 12V rails you have. Check out the link below.

Link to power consumption:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-x1650xt_4.html

 

[giriw92]

Maybe you just got a bad 7600GT. They consume very little power, less than the X1600XT or X1650 pro. Any of these series of cards should work with the 35 amp 12V rails you have. Check out the link below.

Link to power consumption:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-x1650xt_4.html

Do you think a 7600GS will work fine ?
They seem to consume hardly any power.

 

[pauldh]

A 7600GS has advantages of being a low power, cool running, even silent(passive cooled) card. It should run Vista aeroglass fine. Only thing is, the 7600GS is somewhat of a weak gaming card if you plan on doing any of that.

Are you running Vista now on the 7300LE?

 

[giriw92]

I am running Vista on the 7300LE. Of course, the Aero performance is slightly slow. That's why I'm looking for a cheap upgrade. I just want the desktop performance for Aero - I'm not going to game.

 

[pauldh]

In that case, I'd think the 7600GS would have enough power and VRAM(256MB/512MB) to do the job for you.

 

[giriw92]

Thanks for the advice.

 

[kinneer]

I have to agree with the suggestion that the original card could have been bad.

Just to share some info, I know someone running a 7800GT in a Dell with a 305W rated PSU for almost a year with no problems. He plays Oblivion, FEAR and other games without any hardware problem. Oblivion does crash to the blue screen but I have seen this with other machine and graphic cards so we put it down to software error rather than the card. HL2 and FEAR had no such problem.

 

[Trunkz_Jr]

Yeah you should be able to able a 7800GT just fine.

 

[enforcerfx]

Are you by any chance using a Dell? Specs look almost adequate to it. If hes not looking for a gaming card, then why recommend a 7800GT? A 7600GS or even a X1300 series card is fine for Vista.

 

[Eurasianman]

Just so you know, the only reason Dell computers can get away with such a weak power supply is because they manufacture their power supplies specifically for their computers. Therefore, they already know how much power all their computers require, thus, why their power supplies are rated so low.

Now their XPS, different story.

For the OP, you probably had a bad 7600GT. Perhaps, try a 7800GT... if it doesn't work, then go and try another 7600GT. If still unsuccessful, just go and buy another power supply! LOL! You can get a decent one fairly cheap now a days.

 

[Blacken]

For the OP, you probably had a bad 7600GT. Perhaps, try a 7800GT... if it doesn't work, then go and try another 7600GT. If still unsuccessful, just go and buy another power supply! LOL! You can get a decent one fairly cheap now a days.

I agree. 35 amps and 375 watts should run a 8800GTS - as long as your system isn't loaded. You should be fine for almost any option.

If it's an XPS PSU, thats fine also. I've read multiple posts about people running an 8800GTX on a XPS PSU - Dell sells them configured with 7950GX2's; which aren't light on the coal burners either.