5670 and 400W PSU

[Guest]

I want to upgrade from my onboard graphics to Sapphire's 5670..
I'm pretty sure my PSU will handle that card and the rest just fine,
but I need to be reassured by someone else.
I'm running E4400 with SilentSquare, 2x1 GB DDR2, PATA DVDRW drive and 4x SATA drive..
My PSU is Fortron Blue Storm II 400W.

Thanks for all your opinions.

 

[mactronix]

The card dosent need any additional power cables as it takes all the power it needs from the PCIE slot so yea you should be fine. Im not familiar with that PSU but see no reason it wouldnt run it.

Mactronix

 

[JDFan]

should be fine the card specs call for 400W or greater and the fortron (FSP) made psu is good quality so there should be no problems !!

 

[jyjjy]

Your PSU should be fine but an HD4850 or 9800GT would be a better buy.

 

[JDFan]

Your PSU should be fine but an HD4850 or 9800GT would be a better buy.

Not if you factor in the cost of a new PSU which would be needed then !!

 

[reignsupreme11]

yeah. you'd need to buy a new PSU to accomadate one of those cards. the 5670 isn't a bad card either, gives you solid performance at resolution under 1920 x 1080 and you'll notice a huge difference over your onboard. but it all depends on what you're using it for.

 

[jyjjy]

I don't think so. That PSU can easily handle one of the newer low power 9800GTs without a power connector. It's an ok brand and may be able to handle the HD4850 as well although if you can afford it an HD5750 is slightly better and will definitely be fine on that PSU. An HD4770 is another option that is considerably more powerful than the HD5670 for the same price and wouldn't need a new PSU;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127452

 

[mactronix]

I don't think so. That PSU can easily handle one of the newer low power 9800GTs without a power connector. It's an ok brand and may be able to handle the HD4850 as well although if you can afford it an HD5750 is slightly better and will definitely be fine on that PSU. An HD4770 is another option that is considerably more powerful than the HD5670 for the same price and wouldn't need a new PSU;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127452

Well you never specified a low power version before so hopefully the op hasnt gone and ordered a standard 9800 GT, although i wont say it wouldnt run it.
The 4770 is a good call for that PSU though.
I wouldnt want to go any higher, there is a school of thought that says that as teh PSU has the single PCIE cable then it should run a card that needs a single cable but the +12V rail/s are quite week on that PSU and i wouldnt want to put th etheory to the test on a card that drew too much power from it.
Better to play safe i think.

Mactronix

 

[Guest]

Thanks for replies...
I'm going for 5670 because I'm really tight on budget and I think I won't benefit from better cards as
I do play games just occasionally..

 

[jyjjy]

Being on a tight budget is the reason to avoid the HD5670 as it is overpriced for it's performance. As I said earlier the HD4770 is 25% better for the same price. Or a 9800GT is better for slightly less.

 

[capt_taco]

Being on a tight budget is the reason to avoid the HD5670 as it is overpriced for it's performance. As I said earlier the HD4770 is 25% better for the same price. Or a 9800GT is better for slightly less.

^^ +1 to this.

The 5670 does not really have a very good purpose right now. It's basically lower-performing than the 4770 that you can get for a similar price, with its only advantage being DX11, which there's no use for yet.

 

[mactronix]

I to would try and stear you towards a 4770 or a 4670.

Mactronix

 

[Guest]

I forgot to mention that one thing I'm also worried about is the noise...
The are two reasons I want to upgrade:
1. Want a card with HDMI for HTPC purposes
2. Won't be upgrading for another 2 years or so, so I want to be future-proof (well, within the limits )..

First I was going for 4670 Ultimate Passive which has massive heatsink and no fan making it noiseless.
I would have bought it if my supplier had had that one at the time - this card is very hard to get here now.
In meantime, 5670 was announced and I read reviews of Sapphire's one that has better and quiet cooling solution.

You mentioned 4770 or 9800GT, well, 4770 is more than 30$ more than 5670 (which is 105$) and is hard to get now, and cheapest 9800GT is also 15$ more, but all cheap 9800GT cards have basic stock fans which are too noisy for me, and the ones with better cooling are 30$ more.

The difference between 4670 and 5670 is only 15$ and I think the difference is worth the money, or not?

All in all -
I'm looking for a best option for quiet card with relatively good performance in games for no more than 110$.
Also if possible without power connector, drawing power only from PCI-E slot (my PSU does not have the required connector and although its possible to connect via adapter I would rather avoid that - I'm also limited with 400W PSU).

 

[jyjjy]

The best card without a power connector is one of the newer 9800GTs. The HD4770 and HD5750 have a power connector but really they need them only under very rare conditions(stress testing, large OC, ect)
Are you in the US? Also what is your monitors native resolution?

 

[mactronix]

I would just go with a 5670 if i was you. It is the latest tech dosent need extra power and will see you through at least for a while as far as gaming is concerned.
While i know its possable to run a 4770 without a power cable ( read a review where they tried it) Personally i wouldnt want to risk it on my own hardware.

Mactronix

 

[jyjjy]

I'm not saying not to use the connector, I'm saying it's a better card and will be fine for that PSU. The HD5670 simply isn't a good purchase until it comes down in price. New does not always equal better and this is one of those cases. It's a better buy than the GT 240 but that's really not saying much when there are obvious better options for the money.

 

[NotAtAll1]

jyjjy:
the GT240 is more or less the same price, well actually the versions with good cooling are 10$ more so I think 5670 is better option..
4770 si 30$ more and 5750 almost 50-60$ more than possible budget..
so what do you suggest as obvious better option for the money?

I'm in EU and my native res is 1680*1050..

 

[jyjjy]

Yeah, the HD5670 is definitely a better choice than the GT 240. Look for one of the newer 9800GTs without a power connector. It's a faster card and here at least it is cheaper.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I got a low power 9800GT (by XFX I believe) on close out for less than 90.00 at best buy. The card is really quiet and I am running it without problems (so far) on a 300 watt power supply.

I would agree with others that the 5670 is a decent card but overpriced at the moment. If you dont game much, even a 4670 should suffice and would be the cheapest.

Didnt notice that you are in the EU. Guess you dont have best buy. Anyway, can you order from New Egg?? You should be able to find the low power 9800 GT for around 100.00 USD.

 

[jyjjy]

Newegg doesn't ship overseas and I wouldn't recommend anyone buy a video card from Best Buy even in the US. Their prices are impressively bad.
Ebay is a great idea though as a lot of the sellers ship worldwide and the prices are usually similar to what we get in the US.

 

[NotAtAll1]

I'll look into those 9800GTs..
That 5670 by XFX and all cards at lower price (including cheap 9800gt) have stock fans which are TOO NOISY for me...
And I'll definitely buy the card here from my local seller as it's easier with guarantee and there's no point to order it from ANY seller e.g. from UK or any other european country (not mentioning US) because I'd pay more for shipping - the lowest shipping price I've found is around 13$ - and the price at my local store won't be that much higher..

 

[NotAtAll1]

I have searched all suggested cards over and over and the result is that all of them are pricey for me - finally I narrowed down the choice to 2 cards - either 5670 or 4670 (but all of the older cards are had to get here, including this one).
I like 4670 passive version as it would produce no noise at all...
but given the fact that 5670 is only like 10$ more I'd opt for that one.
I guess the performance difference won't be that big...

 

[jyjjy]

Here is the performance of the HD5670 vs other common cards at various resolutions'
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_5670_IceQ/28.html