Most powerful graphics card I can get?

After a few years my 9800pro has died. I'm needing a new graphics card.

My PSU is a Macron MPT-300, +12V rail is rated at 10A.

It ran the 9800pro fine.

The rest of my system is-

Athlon XP 2200+
1.25GB RAM PC2700
DVD drive
2 Hard drives
Network card
Floppy drive

If I need more power then I could disconnect one of my hard-drives no problem.

So what AGP card is the most powerful I could get for this system?

Don't bother mentioning getting a new PSU as I'm going to get a new system later in the year and this card is only needed so I can start gaming again.

I mean regarding my power supply, what's the best card I can get that will run ok.

How about this-

http://www.compusa.com/products/pr [...] Video_Card

On searching some sites they say that PSU has ~15A on the rail, so I dunno.

I have a 420 W powersupply.. and with my setup including 2 dvd drives and 2 hd's i run 200 W peak at my electricity meter..

the box however states it requires a 450W powersupply with 30 amps on the 12 V rail

You might be able to get away with this. It'd be a decent upgrade from your 9800pro, and consume about the same amount of power.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121064

Well, if you're not in the States, then newegg won't work. But you should look at getting something like a 7600GS since they don't consume too much power, and it'd be a bit of an upgrade as well.

See this is what I was looking at http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=45F2 but I'm sure it needs more power, although another opinion would be nice.

the wattage of the powersupplies dont give a damn if the brand is not recognized, many companies mislead regarding this :|


I've seen a lot of 550 watts powersupplies who dont even pull more than 20 amps in the 12V , most of the amperage is tossed in the 5V or other rails, wich are.. kinda useless for todays systems...

so I agree with the first, GET a good power supply FIRST ...

I'd recommend the 7600GS as it only requires 27W vs 47W for the 9800 Pro. Technically a 7600GT would also work as it only requires 36W although it would probably be a bit of overkill (and costs more than the GS).

With the 7600GS you shouldn't have to change the PS and will also benefit from having SM 3.0 support.

Check the details here: Video Card Power Requirements.

Edit: If you get a 7600GS, try to get one with core=400MHz and memory=800MHz (effective) for max performance and not XFX or BFG as they only have 533MHz memory clocks. Another thing to check is the length of the warranty.

true true. perhaps as you should look for the passively cooled version, so that it doesnt have an extra fan to power up as well.
I was thinking that but I wouldn't say my case has that great airflow/cooling.


I've seen people's reviews on various sites (dabs, etc) complaining of overheating with them. I plan on playing games as well which are pretty graphics intensive and that will make it even hotter.

I agree with Mr. Blade that a passively cooled version would probably be your best bet, but you should still be ok with any 7600GS.

if your case isnt that well ventilated....just take off one side panel that should solve your cooling problems

make sure you clean the insides every other week though

well when i open the side my cpu temps and gpu temps drop by 10 degrees

well you can check their reviews.

You can get over heating issues even with cards with fans, so as long as the card you get has a warrenty....there is not much to be worried about.