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Best video card for 350 Watt system

Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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Hello,

What is the most powerful video card I can put in a 350 watt system? The CPU is a quad core Intel Q9400; there are two hard drives, a CD-ROM and Blu Ray drive.

The specs on the PSU are: 2 12 volt rails, at 12 and 18 amps, respectively.

I am most interested in video cards that will boost overall performace (i.e. parallel GPU tasks).

Graphics card Expert

The most powerful card I can think of with the certainty of running on your system is the GT 240 (300W requirement). Its between the 9600 GT and HD 4670 in performance. You may be able to run an HD 5670 on it (400W requirement), but make sure you can easily return it if it doesn't work out.
Graphics card Master

What brand is the PSU?
Even if it's not very good you should be able to use any card that doesn't have an external power connector. The two best cards without one are the HD5670 and the newer low power version of the 9800GT.
If it is a quality brand you can probably use something better like an HD5750 or HD4770.
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Graphics card Authority

That PSU can handle with no problems even a 5770 I'd say. They use around 7A on the +12V rail, so you should have no problems at all.

Cheers!

EDIT: Didn't read the full OP, lol.

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Graphics card Master

228w? Where are you getting that from? It's TDP is listed at 95w.
And the HD5770 maxes out around 80w for normal use. You would need to do stress testing to get up to 100w.
Graphics card Authority

That question is actually for you to answer, lol.

Unles what you want to know is that if a 5770 can be used for GPGPU stuff... Well, it can, but the nVidia counter part has more software vendors linning up with CUDA, so it's a sad "not quite".

The 5770 has more "horse power" per sé, but it ain't used for GPGPU that much, sorry.

Cheers!

Thanks for that. The answer is pretty clear: must wait until nVidia updates their cards, and a few months more until the drivers stabilize. It's good to know that my PSU can handle a decent graphics card.
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