Need a new Video Card

[jridge2778]

My 4 year old EVGA 8800 GT just bit the dust. looking for a replacement to handle Everquest and the upcoming "The Old Republic" with hopefully the same type of preformence. My PS is set at 18amps for 12 volt rail. though some reviews say it can handle more amps. I believe I'm looking at 9500 GT or 200 Series Nvidia.

I'm useing a Core 2 Quad Q9300
Corsair HX620w Modular PS
8 GB RAM
EVGA 132-Ck-NF78-A1 Motherboard

I would like to avoid getting something from the 400 or 500 Series that would require a newer PS but if I must to keep up performence for The Old Republic then so be it. Any recomendation on what card would work for a low budget (if any) would be most helpful.

Thank you

 

[jyjjy]

The 9500GT is much worse that your old card and I'm not sure why you would be interested in the 200 series which is quite outdated
Your power supply is from one of the best brands and 600w on the +12v rails. It can handle any single GPU card you might want to buy.

 

[jridge2778]

So the corsair power supply can handle lets say a GTX 460 even though it says 22 amps per rail and the power supply is rated at 18?

 

[Mousemonkey]

A 620HX can run a pair of GTX560Ti's in SLi with a 2600K @ 4.4ghz.

 

[jyjjy]

I don't know where you are getting 22 amps per rail from. 22a at 12v is 264w and the GTX 460 uses about half of that on average while under load. Second the GTX 460 would not get its power from just one rail. The card receives power through the PCI-E slot itself as well as 2 different 6-pin PCI-E connectors. All of these sources can be different rails.

 

[jridge2778]

Neweggs and EVGA's website say 450w ps required with min 22 apps on 12 volt rail. for alot of the 400 and some 500 series cards.

 

[RazberyBandit]

Manufacturers always over-estimate PSU requirements because not all PSUs are built the same. There are 400W PSUs out there that are amazing, and there are 400W PSUs that are utter pieces of crap. This occurs in nearly ever wattage range. Quality ones are rated for continuous power output capacities (RMS), while the crappy ones are rated for their absolute peak (MAX) output capacity. "Recommended" PSU ratings are simply a general guide that covers the manufacturer's hind-end regarding both the good and the crappy PSUs. It's not an absolute requirement.

You'd be fine running a GTX460/560 or AMD equivalent (6870) on your HX620. And MM's right - it should be capable of running two such cards without issue.

 

[cuecuemore]

Your HX620 is rated for 18 amps on each of THREE separate +12v rails. So 3x12x18 = 648w, though of course you don't want to be maxing out all three rails. But as other have said, that gives you plenty of room for a pair of modern midrange GPUs plus your CPU, no problem.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Your HX620 is rated for 18 amps on each of THREE separate +12v rails. So 3x12x18 = 648, though of course you don't want to be maxing out all three rails. But as other have said, that gives you plenty of room for a pair of modern midrange GPUs plus your CPU, no problem.

What? 648 amps? Get out of here!

 

[cuecuemore]

Haha, fixed.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Haha, fixed.

The 620HX is actually rated at about 60 amps and IIRC JohnnyGuru pushed one to about 740w output and it didn't miss a beat.

 

[RazberyBandit]

^ I sensed a bit of teasing sarcasm.

I'll clarify the formula for those who may not know it. W = A x V where W = Wattage, A = Amperage, and V = Voltage.

Here's a full review of the HX620 from a few years back. I believe you'll find it's quite a capable PSU. The only faults found were that it doesn't actually have three virtual rails, but instead only two. Along with that, HWS found that it's OCP doesn't function, as they were able to pull upwards of 33A from one of the rails without tripping a safety shutdown.

 

[rockyjohn]

Your HX620 is rated for 18 amps on each of THREE separate +12v rails. So 3x12x18 = 648w, though of course you don't want to be maxing out all three rails. But as other have said, that gives you plenty of room for a pair of modern midrange GPUs plus your CPU, no problem.

Most PSUs cannot provide full power (the amount shown on the label individually for each rail) to all rails at the same time - so you cannot simply add up the rails that way. That Corsair provides a maximum of 600w of 12v power. not 648. Off course this is more than the user - and most users - need. I just don't want others learning the wrong way and perhaps then misapplying it when it does make a difference.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article692-page1.html


jridge - you are safe and it is good that you know enough to be concerned about power - and 12a rails. Many users are not. If you would like to learn a little more video card power requirements, you might take a look at this site - about 2/3 way down the page:

http://www.upgradevideocards.com/criteria.html

And those GTX 460 1 GB cards you mentioned are a real value right now as the prices are drastically reduced to clear them out since the GTX 560 cards have replaced them.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Most PSUs cannot provide full power (the amount shown on the label individually for each rail) to all rails at the same time - so you cannot simply add up the rails that way. That Corsair provides a maximum of 600w of 12v power. not 648. Off course this is more than the user - and most users - need. I just don't want others learning the wrong way and perhaps then misapplying it when it does make a difference.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article692-page1.html


jridge - you are safe and it is good that you know enough to be concerned about power - and 12a rails. Many users are not. If you would like to learn a little more video card power requirements, you might take a look at this site - about 2/3 way down the page:

http://www.upgradevideocards.com/criteria.html

And those GTX 460 1 GB cards you mentioned are a real value right now as the prices are drastically reduced to clear them out since the GTX 560 cards have replaced them.

A couple of sites have noted that it can supply quite a bit more than that.

 

[RazberyBandit]

Yeah. HardwareSecrets showed it capable of 746W at 48C. That's pretty beastly for a unit only rated for 620W output at 50C, especially when it managed to maintain better than 82% efficiency and stay withing ATX voltage and noise specification levels while doing so.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Yeah. HardwareSecrets showed it capable of 746W at 48C. That's pretty beastly for a unit only rated for 620W output at 50C, especially when it managed to maintain better than 82% efficiency and stay withing ATX voltage and noise specification levels while doing so.

Hence why I have two of them.