Got the PSU, now for the card...

[plastichairball]

Hi all you gurus and wisemen,

So recently I got myself a fairly decent PSU with the view of updating my graphics card. It's a Tagan 400W with 2 12v rails with 20A on each. It has 1 x 6 pin pcie connector and another that could possibly be another 6 six pin connector or an 8 pin one.

Now my setup is fairly tame, it's a Q6600 with 1 dvd rom and 1 Sata Hdd, with 2 x 2gb Ram sticks. That's it!

So I have my eyes on the following cards,

4850, 4870
GTS 250 or 9800 GTX (they're basically the same, right?)
GTX 260 (although this might be too power hungry for my PSU)
5770

Not interested in the Geforce 4xx as they're way out of my price range, as are most of the 5xxx ATI cards but have managed to find some decently priced 5770s.
I'm in the UK, with a budget of up to £60 max! Any advice would be greatly welcomed, I'm a bit new to the medium/high range bracket of cards and haven't ever had to worry about power beyond that provided by the PCIE slot!

Thanks!

 

[shadow187]

An HD5770 would fit your PSU budget just fine, and it's pretty much the best card of those. Performance-wise it might miss 1-2%, but it's new tech and DX11.

 

[4745454b]

40A * 12V = 480A. There is no way your PSU can output that much power. Each rail by itself might be able to do it, but combined they can't.

Thankfully none of the cards your (currently) looking at need that much power, and will be fine with the supply you have. The best performing of the cards you listed is the GTX260, 4870, or 5770. It depends on the model. I'd pick the 5770 seeing as its newer and is better overall.

 

[plastichairball]

Sweet, I was pretty much suspecting that. And what would be a good second and third choice? Also, with my 24 inch monitor does it matter very much if the card I get is 512mb or 1gb?

 

[4745454b]

I'd go 5770, 4870, GTX260. Get the 4850 only if thats all you can afford. At 24" (1080) res I'd get the 1GB card. 512MB won't be enough for AA at that res.

 

[plastichairball]

Fantastic, so I assume that they will be able to run comfortably on my system? No power issues? All safe? Thanks!

 

[plastichairball]

I'd go 5770, 4870, GTX260. Get the 4850 only if thats all you can afford. At 24" (1080) res I'd get the 1GB card. 512MB won't be enough for AA at that res.

Hi there, just found this while searching around for power consumption figures on the 4870:


System Under load

Radeon HD 2900 XT 391 Watt
Radeon HD 3850 259 Watt
Radeon HD 4870 334 Watt

Observe closely the difference between the 2900, 3850 and new 4870. Quite energy efficient though definitely a high number than the 4850. That's not bad though. Thumbs up to AMD here, that's just brilliant as the performance is nearly the same.

Performance is on par with any modern mid-range graphics card. Our system IDLE power consumption was roughly 175 Watt by the way.

In my view the Radeon HD 4870 series requires you to have a 500 Watt power supply unit at minimum if you use it in a high-end system, and I think that's barely on the safe side. Also recommended is 32 AMP's on the 12 volts rails for stable power distribution (in a single card configuration). Please make note of the fact that the card uses two 6-pin power connectors.

This comes from http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-4870-review--asus/5

Now I've looked at the specs of my Tagan PSU, and it says it can handle 336W combined. I get this from http://www.tagan.com.tw/page/datasheet/U33/TAGAN_U33400_uk_mini.pdf

Am I right in saying that's a little too close for comfort?

 

[4745454b]

A tagen 400W? You don't see a lot of Tagen PSUs in the USA, so I'm not sure of its abilities. So assuming that it can do 336W, then you have a total of 28A available. The 4870 calls for 30A, so I'm not sure I'd get that one. It should be enough for the 5770 however, and its not much slower then the 4870. If you need performance with a smaller PSU, then the 5770 is the way to go.

 

[jyjjy]

The HD5770 is the obvious choice, especially considering the weak power supply.