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Power draw of mid-range cards

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Power draw of mid-range cards

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I bought an el-cheapo system from Best buy (with the intention of upgrading here and there to at least make it usable for the short term until I can afford to build a new rig). I've already bumped the RAM up to 2.5 GB and added an audio card, now the only thing I need to do is throw in a video card. I don't want to spend a fortune on this (only spent $350 on the PC, $100 on the RAM, and $30 on the audio). Odds are the video card will end up bein a xmas present.

First off ... any suggestions on what I should be looking for in the <$150 range? I was thinking a Radeon x1950 GT 512 MB or a x1950 Pro 256 MB? Of those two, which is better? Or are there any other cards in that price range that would be better choices than those two?

I do have Vista and plan on playing Directx 10 games (though not at any resolutions beyond 1280x720)

The other big question is ... can any owners of such mid-range cards let me know how much power those cards typically draw so I can figure out if I need to upgrade my power supply?

Any help you can give is appreciated.

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Does it have an AGP slot or a PCI-Express slot or only PCI slot?

Reply to evongugg

PCI-express

Reply to topgun505

The X1950GT would probably be a great choice running at that resolution. There's also a good chance you can overclock the card to X1950 Pro speeds as well and it's only $109 at NewEgg. It good you asked about your power supply however. A lot of people get a nasty suprise later on when they go to use their card. According to ATI, the recommended specs for the X1950GT/Pro cards are a 450w power supply with 30a of sustained/continuous power on the +12v rail or combined rails. You may get by with as little as 25a, but that's a crapshoot. What power supply do you have now?

Here is one of the best value power suplies I know of with 33a on the +12v rail ....

http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-vx [...] 66485.html

Message edited by honestjohn_ on 10-11-2007 at 05:51:22 PM

------------------------------ Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R / Core2Duo E6600 @ 3.4 Ghz.
Enermax Liberty 620W / Corsair XMS2 4GB (4x1GB)
EVGA 8800GTS 512MB / Creative Labs X-Fi Xtreme
Samsung 500GB Spinpoint HD (x2) / Sony 810A DVD
Reply to honestjohn_

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