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Radeon 9600 with a 250w PSU?

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Radeon 9600 with a 250w PSU?

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gimmpw   08-17-2007 at 07:00:40 AM

I'm looking to upgrade my old Geforce 4 MX420 on my Dell Dimension 4500. I found this Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro on Newegg that looked great for me, as it's inexpensive and I don't want to put much more money into this computer as I will soon be building a new one. The only problem I saw with it is that I'm not sure my stock 250w PSU will be able to handle it. I've read many places with people asking similar questions and mostly I've found positive answers but I just want to consult with you guys to be sure there will be no problems.
Here are my other specs:

Code :
  1. Intel P4 2.40ghz
  2. 768MB PC2100 RAM (256+512)
  3. 2 IDE HDs (40GB, 250GB)
  4. DVD-ROM, DVD-RW drives
  5. Dell 1504FP Monitor
  6. Creative SB Live Value Sound Card
  7. nVidia Geforce 4 MX 420


I'd appreciate any help you guys can give me. (Other than "buy a new PSU" :))

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Gravemind123   08-17-2007 at 08:35:40 AM
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Having used both a 9600 and a Geforce4 MX440 on similar CPU and ram, you will see a great improvement! 9600s aren't power hungry at all, so you should be fine.

Reply to Gravemind123
macer1   08-17-2007 at 09:05:13 AM
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I ran a 9600 se for years and got 100 fps on cs:cz and around 42 fps on cs:s @ 1280 x 1024 at average quality


the 9600 series was a good card for me :)

enjoy

Reply to macer1
pinhedd   08-17-2007 at 09:47:24 AM
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The 9600 Pro operates entirely off the AGP controller's connection and requires no external connector. I used one for quite a while, wasn't a great card by any means (even for it's time) but it can do a decent overclock and since it has no external connector it's almost impossible to fry.

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rammedstein   08-17-2007 at 11:06:06 AM
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depending on what one you get you may even be able to convert it to an 9800xt

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Reply to rammedstein
Nitro350Z   08-17-2007 at 08:50:43 PM
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wasn't it only possible to take it to 9800SE or Pro levels, The XT version was out of reach for the 9600.

First try the soft mod to see if you can unlock it, then a bios flash will unlock it for good. If it's not stable with the soft mod, the bios flash will not help.

Reply to Nitro350Z
Anoobis   08-18-2007 at 12:54:27 AM
- 0 +

I've never heard of anyone modding a 9600Pro to a 9800XT. I've never heard of anyone modding a 9600 anything to a 9800 anything. IIRC it isn't physically possible. I think you're thinking of people modding a 9800Pros to an XTs.

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Message edited by Anoobis on 08-18-2007 at 12:55:46 AM
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This forum format sucks. Bring back the old one.
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emp   08-18-2007 at 01:04:31 AM
- 0 +

I think you should drop the issue and just save up for a new build altogether, it's not going to be worth it.

------------------------------ Anxiously awaiting the Hydra 100 and the Hydra Engine...
www.lucidlogix.com
 Reply to emp
Gravemind123   08-18-2007 at 02:28:05 AM
- 0 +

I'd say it would be plenty worth it, and much cheaper then a whole new computer. Sure it isn't going to play some of the more recent games, but it can run things like Half-Life 2, Doom 3, Counter-Strike: Source and Command and Conquer 3.

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Silver Graphics badge TheGreatGrapeApe   08-18-2007 at 02:30:12 AM
- 0 +

rammedstein wrote :

depending on what one you get you may even be able to convert it to an 9800xt



Not possible.

the only succesful mod of an R9600 to R9800 was by me very early on, and while it's really easy, it's not very effective.

I'll recreate it here;

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401 [...] dedal5.png
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219 [...] modpz0.jpg

:whistle:

It was a great chip for what it was built for and a fantastic overclocker at the time, but there was no mod opportunity for the R9600 to make it an R9800 other than the pencil/marker/photochop method above.

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 Reply to TheGreatGrapeApe
emp   08-18-2007 at 02:44:49 AM
- 0 +

Heh... that was almost funny :) Made me smile at least...

------------------------------ Anxiously awaiting the Hydra 100 and the Hydra Engine...
www.lucidlogix.com
 Reply to emp
turboflame   08-18-2007 at 03:45:40 AM
- 0 +

Gravemind123 wrote :

I'd say it would be plenty worth it, and much cheaper then a whole new computer. Sure it isn't going to play some of the more recent games, but it can run things like Half-Life 2, Doom 3, Counter-Strike: Source and Command and Conquer 3.



Hell yea, hardware transform and lighting is going to rock the OP's world.

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to turboflame
cpburns   08-18-2007 at 04:40:41 AM
- 0 +

turboflame wrote :

Hell yea, hardware transform and lighting is going to rock the OP's world.



All the Geforces have hardware T&L :-) It's why the brand was introduced. It was a big improvement over the TNTs.

On another note... how is C&C3 in the same category as Doom3 and HL2? :-P

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 Reply to cpburns
Ananan   08-18-2007 at 05:31:58 AM
- 0 +

My 8100 had a 250 W PSU and the 9600 I stuck in there ran great.

Reply to Ananan
turboflame   08-18-2007 at 05:34:12 AM
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cpburns wrote :

All the Geforces have hardware T&L :-) It's why the brand was introduced. It was a big improvement over the TNTs.

 

On another note... how is C&C3 in the same category as Doom3 and HL2? :-P

 

Really? i had a Geforce MX4000 and it didn't have T&L, could that be the only exception?

 

EDIT: nevermind, idk what I'm talking about, I got T&L confused with pixel shaders,


Message edited by turboflame on 08-18-2007 at 05:39:30 AM
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