Best (FAST) PCI-E Card for a 18 amp on 12v line PSU

Hello Folks,

This is my first e-mail here, but I'm pretty sure it will not be the last.
I'm trying to buy the best video card available to my PSU. I have shipping problems so, getting a new PSU is for now, out of the question.
I bought this Thermaltake Purepower 430w without deeply searching at the WEB, as I do usually. Later I found that's a real crappy one that can only supply 18 amperes on the 12v line.
I'm using it on a Asrock 4coredual-sata2 motherboard with a Q6600. My old 6800gt AGP is dead, and now I need to find a good pci-e replacement.
I friend of mine will buy the card on newegg and ship it to me. I can spend even around 200 USD but I need to make sure that my PSU can handle it.
My 1st option is for nvidia, most because of Linux support (and even osx86).
For the price, I think I could even get a GTX 260, but I'm pretty sure it will blow my PSU!

I only found some information about amps on the EVGA website.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130438

This one uses the newer processor made with 55un. And EVGA wrote that it could be used with a 18amp psu. Unfortunately it's now deactivated...
Someone can give me other (and maybe faster) options?

Thanks in Advance...

Your psu is as you say real crappy
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/332

I wouldn't trust it with a 9600 GT, it will never power any GTX260.

Thanks. I'm reading that post.
BTW, what about this:

"Graphics card upgrades - we know that the pci-e slot isn't 16x
This presents a problem to NVidia, so seek out ATI cards."

Why? Is there any nvidia alternative?

Just now I'm starting to understand the ATI terminology. I left ATI since by good and old 9700.
looks like the high-end ones are xy70, right?
And what the y means? I saw some reviews saying that the 4830 is way better than the 4670. What's the catch?

And what about the 3870? Isn't better than the 4670?

what about this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102818

DDR4 sounds great.


Anyway, my only concern is: Limited Linux drivers (proprietary) and not sure if it's compatible with OSX (osx86).

Well, thanks for the advice.

Well, I was browsing and I found two things:
1) 4670 is way faster than the 9500gt
2) 4670 is not yet supported by OSX86
3) Maybe ATI is working with Novell to build better open source drivers to it's products

So, it's a tough decision...
Maybe I should bet on it. It's a good price $90...

And what about the 4830? Draws too much power from my crappy PSU?

Unless you are running a bigger screen than a 19" a 4830 isnt really going to be needed. They are made on the same board as a 4850 (well not all of them but most are). As such they use the same amount of power, some of them are said to be defective 4870 chips which is why they run on the same power layout.

Mactronix

Well, my monitor is a 19" Samsung that's only capable of 1440x900. Probably the 4670 should be just fine then.

Now my only concern is related to OSX86. On Linux I think I can live with closed source drivers for a while.

Damn Thermaltake!!! I had the money to get a GTX260!!!!



Someone can please help me with this list:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] eo%20Cards

Which one should I get?

The His card is my personal preferance http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161252

I have used His a lot and they are very decent cards in my experiance its factory overclocked and should go further if you want.

This card is a steal if the rebate works as it seems
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814125244

There is nothing wrong with your board, the fact that its not X16 wont make a noticable differance to you.
The 9500 is roughly 20% slower than the 4670 and i couldnt say for sure how it would perform on the reduced bus.

Mactronix

No 1gb is a bit of a sales ploy in this case.
The extra Ram would only be of use at higher resolutions or when playing games with a heavy texture load.
The actual differance would be in single figures FPS wise between the 512mb and 1gb cards.
The 4670 dosent have the muscle to push those kinds of resolutions anyway.
If you plan to keep the card for a good couple of years then it may be worth getting a 1gb card as a kind of proofing against future games needing more Vram. But dont pay a lot extra for it expecting better performance because it wont be there.

Mactronix