Best graphics card for a 330w psu

[boosey101]

Hi,

I'm thinking of getting the FUJITSU ESPRIMO P1500 DESKTOP TOWER V2 and looking at the technical specs on the fujitsu website https://sp.ts.fujitsu.com/dmsp/docs/ds-esprimo-p1500.pdf it looks like it has a 330w psu. What would be the best graphics card I could fit in there without frying the psu?

I was looking at the palit 9800 gt (green version) as that doesn't draw any extra power from the psu. Any suggestions?

 

[rolli59]

The 9800GT as you suggest or a HD5670.

 

[boosey101]

On the Palit website it lists the minimum power requirements as 400w, or are they just erring on the side of caution?

 

[WR2]

They are erring on the side of caution since they never know what type of 400W PSU a person may actually own.
There are budget PSUs that barely put out 300W on the important +12V rail.

 

[boosey101]

cheers gents, looks like i'll be giving it a try.

 

[boosey101]

oh, does it make much of a performance/power draw difference if i get the 512mb or 1gb version?

 

[WR2]

There is a very small increase. So it doesnt make much difference at all.
What resolution is your monitor? 512MB is usually satisfactory for a 1280x1024 or 1440x900 monitor.
At 1680x1050 a 1GB video card starts making a difference. For 1920x1080 and higher the difference would become noticeable when using the higher image quality filters.

 

[WR2]

the regular 9800GT is too slow to use 1GB of RAM

It's more about screen resolution and AA/AF levels and other image quality (soft shadows for example) settings.

 

[WR2]

 

[WR2]

you simply proving me correct, and yourself incorrect

Really?
That chart shows TWO 4870s and the only difference is VRAM.
How do you explain the differences in performance? Speed?

 

[WR2]

OK;
Just so we're all clear about what you're claiming.

A 4870 1GB card has better performance than a 4870 512MB card only because:
"a radeon 4870 is a much faster card then the 9800GT and is able to utilize 1GB"

 

[WR2]

It's more about screen resolution and AA/AF levels and other image quality (soft shadows for example) settings.

 

[WR2]

Here is how another forum remember described the usage and effect of different VRAM sizes.
Video Cards 1GB vs 512MB?

 

[WR2]

no, you are wrong again, its all about the over-all performance level of the card and the link talks about an ATI 5750, not a 9800GT. The ATI 5750, 4850, and Nvidia GTS250 is at the minimum of where you start to see any benefit from 1GB. You clearly have no understanding of what you are talking about.

I'm right and you're wrong.

 

[rolli59]

The point here is that a 9800GT is just enough power wise to run resent games at 1680 x 1050 resolution. It does it equally whether the card has 512mb or 1gb of ram turning on AA and AF will drop the performance down on both cards to unplayable levels because of GPU performance limitation not because of ram size.

 

[WR2]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-ram-4870,2428-2.html

Excellent benchmarks to help illustrate my position.
Grand Theft Auto IV
"It's the most interesting for our purposes because GTA IV actually reports the exact amount of graphics card RAM it needs for the graphical settings the user chooses, which is absolutely perfect for our purposes. It turns the theoretical into tangible when you can see the actual memory usage impact of choosing higher draw distances, texture resolution, shadow fidelity, and resolution."

 

[WR2]

 

[WR2]

Thats about 10% difference between 1GB and 512MB at Avg FPS and about 20% difference at the Min FPS.

 

[WR2]

 

[WR2]

It's more about screen resolution and AA/AF levels and other image quality (soft shadows for example) settings.

 

[WR2]

It's more about screen resolution and AA/AF levels and other image quality (soft shadows for example) settings.

 

[WR2]

Conclusion: How Much RAM Does Your Graphics Card Really Need?
"For the gamer, there are three main factors that have the most influence on how much graphics RAM you'll need: resolution, visual quality detail settings, and AA. For the most part, 512MB of RAM seems sufficient to push one of these factors to the limit, and in most cases, it can handle two of them at once. But if you plan to maximize all three--the highest resolutions, visual quality settings, and AA--then more video RAM than 512MB is a good idea."

Resolution, check. Image quality, check. AA, check.
It's more about screen resolution and AA/AF levels and other image quality (soft shadows for example) settings.

 

[WR2]

Conclusion: How Much RAM Does Your Graphics Card Really Need?
"In the final analysis, even 512MB of graphics RAM can provide excellent high-resolution service as long as the user is aware that lowering quality settings and AA will allow the card to perform at its peak potential. However, if you plan to use the highest visual quality settings in addition to AA, it's likely worth the extra money for a 1GB or even 2GB card."

 

[WR2]

The only one who should be embarrassed in this topic is someone who resorted to personal attacks to try and 'prove' a weak opinion.

 

[WR2]

I think the THG article 'How Much RAM Does Your Graphics Card Really Need' clearly states my position.