New Graphics Card

[iduhfuse]

Hi, guys so i'm wondering whats the best graphics card or (two) graphics cards i can get for a 500watt power supply with 25A on the +12v rail. There is no option for me to upgrade the PSU because I just got it. (another thing is, im not so familiar with my PSU but it says on the +12V rail 25A and on the +12V2 rail its 18A so can i combine the power or what?)

specs:
Core i3 540
4gb ddr3 1333mhz
Thermaltake 500watt PSU

 

[okka01]

On that power you can only get one card,
id recommend a gtx 460 , gts 450 or gts 250

that is if you have a 6 pin connector (two of 'em for gtx 460)

 

[tigrc]

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB GDDR5 would be the best option for you, in my opinion. It offers CUDA and PhysX. There is an AMD RADEON 6850, which is about the same performance and price. Anyways, 2 cards - 1 choice

 

[purple stain]

Is that two 12/v rails or just one? If it is two 12/v rails than that is a quality PSU.Should add up to 43Amps.
That leaves you a wide varitey of single and dual cards(dual being limited).
Plz state your budget for a new GPU?

 

[iduhfuse]

purple stank: my budget for the gpu is like $700 because thats how much i have.
I think its two +12v rails because im looking at the thing right now and it says on the side +12V1 25A and +12V2 18A. Heres the model number so u can confirm for me, (Thermaltake TR2 500W Power Supply ATX12V V2.2 IntelCoreTM i5 i7 W0379RU) http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=33_442&item_id=027012

If it does have 43A on the +12V rails then. Say when i buy like a hd 6870 and hook it up with the 6-pin connectors, will it work?

 

[purple stain]

It looks like it's an okay PSU,and it does have 43 Amps on the 12/v,so it looks like it can handle some of the "better" cards.
What type of mobo do you have?
Are you looking to crossfire/sli or get a single card?
If you crossfire/sli your choices will be limited due to the PSU.
Are you trying to get the best card you can fit into your PSU?

 

[iduhfuse]

^^ pretty much and trying to get the best card or the two best cards that can fit into the psu

the mobo i have is a gigabyte H55M-UD2H crossfire-x

 

[purple stain]

Forgot that you do have a dual core,so you will be limited as the CPU will bottleneck higher end GPU's..
I would say go with a 6870,then upgrade a better PSU and CPU later and crossfire.

 

[iduhfuse]

Best answer selected by iduhfuse.

 

[tigrc]

You could get an ATI RADEON 6870 and in the future replace the PSU with a ~700W+ and get another 6870 to xfire it. Or you could just go for the GTX 460...

 

[tigrc]

A few minutes too late... as usual...

 

[iduhfuse]

thanks anyways

 

[tigrc]

You are welcome

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

I dont think he would be that limited even if he did have a dual core..

 

[tigrc]

^ I agree.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey