Graphics/PSU combo and assorted questions~

[JeremyHill]

Ok so i decided on a Video card after all and heres what im going for:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130440
Now im just gonna go ahead and list my questions off in a Bulliten numbered format so bare with me
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1. I heard from many people in various locations (In games, other forums and google research) that this card is more than over-qualified for getting max FPS on games such as The Witcher, Fallout 3, Oblivion, WoW, and other 3D newly released games (Not as new as crysis mind you, or as graphicaly tasking), Is that statement true?
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Ok now the rest of my questions are related to the power supply (but dont worry ill still use the numbered bullitens ). This is the power supply im looking into in order to keep up with the Video Cards requirements:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003&Tpk=Corsair%20450
Keep in mind i have absolutely no intention to either OverClock this card, or Upgrade this computer again in the future. All i want is to get this Video card working so i can play some of the aformentioned games and if i need a stronger computer in the future ill build from scratch.
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2. Will that PSU supply sufficient power to the card i want without bottlenecking it?

3. If it is not sufficient, can you mention another PSU that would be better?

4. How come people often suggest a PSU that supplies 2 x 12V@18A rails for example when the card requires 26A on a SINGLE 12V rail? Wouldnt that either..
A) Zap your card?
B) Bottleneck your card?
C) Some other ill-affect?
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Any help would be appreciated, Thank You

 

[delluser1]

1 Yes
2 Yes
3 See 2
4 The amperage reccomendation is for the system, not just the card and pertains to total output wether single or multi rail.

 

[JeremyHill]

1 Yes
2 Yes
3 See 2
4 The amperage reccomendation is for the system, not just the card and pertains to total output wether single or multi rail.

Thank you that REALLY cleared up a LOT of my questions (Reffering to #4 in the most part)

1. So if the card specs says 400w and 20Amps, i could have a 500w Dual 15A rail and run it?

2 When i card says Minimum of 400w to run, does that mean its a good idea to run it on a 400w supply? or does it mean you CAN but should be using a more powerful supply?

 

[Twoboxer]

1. Yes

2. It means a 400W psu is perfectly adequate. You should use a larger one according to your guess at your future needs.

Fo example - and this is ONLY an example - you might choose to put a 750W psu in there now because you figure next year you will build an i7, SLI/Xfire system. Why spend money twice?

 

[JeremyHill]

1. Yes

2. It means a 400W psu is perfectly adequate. You should use a larger one according to your guess at your future needs.

Fo example - and this is ONLY an example - you might choose to put a 750W psu in there now because you figure next year you will build an i7, SLI/Xfire system. Why spend money twice?

Thats good to know cause i might switch from the 9800GT i mentioned earlier and get this instead: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130469.

1. Do you think the improvment from the 9800GT to that GTS 250 is worth the extra 25$?

2. Would the 9800 GT be more than enough to suffice for the games i wish to play (read the first post) or would the improvement from the 250 GTS really help me in the case of playing the aformentioned games?

 

[Twoboxer]

Dunno your screen resolution, but the 250 will give exceptional 1680x1050 performance in most games, and at 1920x1200 in most games with some lowered detail. The 9800GT is a couple of steps lower.

 

[FallenSniper]

Might want to give a look at the 4850 too. It was around that price range last I saw

 

[jsc]

I agree with FallenSniper. Even though I tend toward nVidia GPU's, the current price of the 4850 is hard to beat.

 

[jyjjy]

I would never consider either of the cards you linked.
Why a $130 9800gt? Why a $170 GTS 250?
Something like this is what you want;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131140
It's a good amount better than the GTS 250 and cheaper than that 9800gt.
If you are one of those people who insist on Nvidia at least get a sanely priced GTS 250.
Also stop looking at 1 gig cards. The only point at which over 512mb becomes useful is at a resolution of 1920x1200 or higher and in that case you should be looking at either an HD4870 or a GTX 260.

 

[mindless728]

I would never consider either of the cards you linked.
Why a $130 9800gt? Why a $170 GTS 250?
Something like this is what you want;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131140
It's a good amount better than the GTS 250 and cheaper than that 9800gt.
If you are one of those people who insist on Nvidia at least get a sanely priced GTS 250.
Also stop looking at 1 gig cards. The only point at which over 512mb becomes useful is at a resolution of 1920x1200 or higher and in that case you should be looking at either an HD4870 or a GTX 260.

apparently you didn't notice that the links for newegg.ca not newegg.com (meaning its in Canadian prices)

 

[jyjjy]

Apparently you didn't notice that the 9800gt link isn't Canadian but you are right, I didn't notice that the second link is. It doesn't change much though. GTS 250s still start at $120 on the Canadian site and he picked one $50 more expensive before rebate, $30 after. Spending extra for a gig of memory is still almost entirely pointless on those cards and a HD4870 is still both cheaper and a lot better than that GTS 250.

 

[JeremyHill]

Simple reasoning for this being, i have only used nVidia cards my entire life and i will remain that way. If you perhaps know where i can fit in a little more bang for my buck on the nVidia side, than ill be more than happy to hear you out. But as it stands as far as i know anyways, if i wanted to get anyhting better than the GTS 250 im going to have to upgrade to an even more powerful PSU than the 450w i linked which adds another 15-30$ on, and on top of that the card will probably be another 25-40$ so i mean, thats about 50-60$ more and i Probably cant even fit it in my machine.

The GTS 250 can play the games i mentioned at max settings with full FPS according to the comments made by multiple people i have asked or heard from in games and on other topics. in fact someone in this thread confirmed it his/herself, AND it was even stated so in a review on the NewEgg link to the card. so assuming i was interested in an ATI card, why would i even need it? (and btw that ATI card requires yet a further improved PSU thus costing me more money in the end, even if the card is 15$ cheaper)
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Also stop looking at 1 gig cards. The only point at which over 512mb becomes useful is at a resolution of 1920x1200 or higher

Is that true? I mean my resolution is native 1680x1050, so would the extra 512mb of memory not help me with gaming on such games as Fallout 3/The witcher and other games of similar requirments?

 

[jyjjy]

That PSU probably could handle an HD4870 actually, and definitely an HD4850 which is on par with the GTS 250 but cheaper.
But yes, the GTS 250 should handle those games fine at that resolution. The only game where 1gb vs 512mb would matter at all at that resolution is GTA4 and that's because it is poorly coded.