Search
Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

Best Card for a 450w PSU - 12v 25a

Last response: in Graphics & Displays
Share

I know this thing gets asked regularly, but I think I've researched the subject as far as I can without help.

I'm trying to find a good graphics card for my pc. It's brand new so I don't want to upgrade the PSU but I think it will be powerful enough for a fairly decent card. I'm looking to spend under £150. The spec is as follows:

450w PSU
12v line 25a
5v 22a
3.3v 18a
Intel Core2 Duo e8400
160gb SATA2 7200rpm
2gb DDRII ram
GIGABYTE Mobo - GAG31MF-S2 S-SERIES

I'd like to get a decent card but one the PSU can handle comfortably. I'm no expert but I image the Intel Core2 duo E8400 saps quite a bit of power? Does this reduce my possibilities for graphics on this psu?

I've been looking at the following:
1) Toms Hardware - Recommended the 9600GT for £135. I don't think I could run this card because according to the spec it needs 400w with 12v 26a so that seems to rule out that card.

2) According to NVidia. The best card I can run is the 8600gts, or the 8600gt. What do you think of these cards? Is NVidia being generous with what I could spend for my system?

More about : card 450w psu 12v 25a

Register or log in to remove

What model PSU do you have? Just listing the Wattage and +12V amperage doesn't tell us much about the quality of your power supply.

A decent quality 450W PSU should be able to handle a 9600GT along with the rest of your system.
Related ressources
Ask the community
Graphics card Master

The 9600GT will run fine on your PC.

I consumes 60w of power, or 5amps which is well within the capabilities of your PSU given the components you listed.

I only have one hdd, and a pretty empty case, so if the power is ok then I'll go for the 9500 GT, thanks for all your help everyone.

Homerdog. I opened the pc again just for you and it is a WinPower Model ATX450, there was nothing else on the PSU.

Invisik - nothing overclocked.

I meant 9600gt. I tried to edit my post but it said "you are not allowed to edit this post". Why the hell not? I tried to refresh only it said "this thread does not exist". ??? I went back to the forum and the post was still there so god knows what's up with the code.
Graphics card Authority

Was that total system wattage, perhaps. It is physically impossible for the 9600gt to consume that much (not enough power connectors). That is 2900xt/9800GX2/3870X2 territory.

Ninjabear said:
I only have one hdd, and a pretty empty case, so if the power is ok then I'll go for the 9500 GT, thanks for all your help everyone.

Homerdog. I opened the pc again just for you and it is a WinPower Model ATX450, there was nothing else on the PSU.

Invisik - nothing overclocked.

I can't find any information on that power supply, so I can't guarantee that it will work. I'd say the odds of it having a 6-pin PCIe power connector are low, so you'll probably have to use an adapter. Most videocards that require a 6-pin connector come with such an adapter, but you might want to make sure before you make a purchase.
Ninjabear said:
That aside, I've just looked up the Palit card for this and it says it will use 221watts, I can't spare that. Is there a better card for me to use for the 9600 gt?

As others have already stated, that's just not possible. This graph shows a power draw of less than 200W for the entire system under a heavy load:

Can confirm that the ASUS card (from what I can tell is the fastest, quietest and has lowest power consumption in most circumstances) has a pcie 6-pin adapter so I will be fine in any event.

Thanks again.
Graphics card Master

Read the link
http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=7&t=9354

You would be surprised how much you can run.

My antec TP380s(Sonata Edition)

Can run a E6600 + X1900XT. Thats nearly the same as the 8800GTS 640. So a 9600 with be no problem at all...

To confirm, what psu do you have?

@ crusoe74 The 26 amps is listed for a fully loaded system not just the card. Your card takes at most 100 watts and in most cases less.

Hell my full system takes less then 26 amps @ 12 volts


My system going full balls 100% cpu and video load with ati tool(no game takes this much power). Take away about 210 watts from the total for my other computer, the screen, 1 router , 1 switch , set of speakers and 1 modem and you get my power use. 343 at the wall. Take off 20(this is a best case scenario) percent for losses and you get about 275 watts for the system.

I am not saying to get a 8800GTX, but a 9600 should work with ease...

PS. Final newbie question: This card uses a PCIE 2.0 slot. I assume that this is backwards compatible with PCIE1? My mobo has 1x pcie x16 slot. Is this PCIE 1,2? How would I know.

Ninjabear said:
PS. Final newbie question: This card uses a PCIE 2.0 slot. I assume that this is backwards compatible with PCIE1? My mobo has 1x pcie x16 slot. Is this PCIE 1,2? How would I know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#PCI_Express_2....
Quote:
PCIe 2.0 is backward and forward compatible with PCIe v1.x. Graphic cards and motherboards designed for v2.0 will be able to work with v1.1 and v1.0, and vice versa.

Citing Wikipedia goes against everything I believe in, but it's so convenient... :) 
Register or log in to remove
 
Ask the community
Read discussions in other Graphics & Displays categories
!