The best possible gfx card for a stock Dell w/ 300w psu and no external power

[limewire]

Hi,

I recently purchased a Dell i620 desktop and it has a dreadful Intel 2000 HD gpu. I placed an order for this upgraded graphics card here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102958&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=hwqx0rx7zj9k . Is there any better card out there that will run on the stock psu with no additional external power? I don't have a strong preference in Intel vs AMD. I just know AMD cards are more overclocking-friendly... I'm trying to get the most bang for my buck. Any suggestions will help

 

[Ferinthul]

Okay lets slow down here skipper.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/amd-radeon-hd-6000/hd-6670/pages/amd-radeon-hd-6670-overview.aspx#3

checking out the amd system requirements for the 6670, you need atleast a 400W psu and i wouldnt recommend going for it.

Also, did you check your mobo to see if you have a pci express 2.0 or 2.1 slot?

One more thing to add, have to checked the older cards? i used to run similar to your rig, but with amd athlon x2 at 2.0 ghz. Was using a 8600 gt. Wasnt so bad, medium grpahics on crysis at the time with 20-30 fps.

 

[limewire]

Okay lets slow down here skipper.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/amd-radeon-hd-6000/hd-6670/pages/amd-radeon-hd-6670-overview.aspx#3

checking out the amd system requirements for the 6670, you need atleast a 400W psu and i wouldnt recommend going for it.

Also, did you check your mobo to see if you have a pci express 2.0 or 2.1 slot?

One more thing to add, have to checked the older cards? i used to run similar to your rig, but with amd athlon x2 at 2.0 ghz. Was using a 8600 gt. Wasnt so bad, medium grpahics on crysis at the time with 20-30 fps.

From what I understand a 300w psu can easily handle a 6670. It's more to do with the load efficiency more than anything. Does it matter if my desktop has pci express 2.0 or 2.1? It's backwards compatible... I would like to run SC2 which is my primary game.

 

[Deemo13]

Okay lets slow down here skipper.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/amd-radeon-hd-6000/hd-6670/pages/amd-radeon-hd-6670-overview.aspx#3

checking out the amd system requirements for the 6670, you need atleast a 400W psu and i wouldnt recommend going for it.

Also, did you check your mobo to see if you have a pci express 2.0 or 2.1 slot?

One more thing to add, have to checked the older cards? i used to run similar to your rig, but with amd athlon x2 at 2.0 ghz. Was using a 8600 gt. Wasnt so bad, medium grpahics on crysis at the time with 20-30 fps.

I've put many 5670's and 6670's into stock systems with 300W PSUs easily. It should run completely fine.

 

[Ferinthul]

slower speeds at 2.0 than 2.1

Theres no point in buying a nice high end card if your mobo only supports 2.0.
Sc2 isnt that demanding of a game. You'd even run it fine without the 6670.

The power supply would possibly be fine until you go under load, might experience some system instabilities. But if thats a risk you wanna take, its your choice.

 

[limewire]

I've put many 5670's and 6670's into stock systems with 300W PSUs easily. It should run completely fine.

Are those aforementioned cards the best options for me right now?

 

[Supernova1138]

slower speeds at 2.0 than 2.1

Theres no point in buying a nice high end card if your mobo only supports 2.0.
Sc2 isnt that demanding of a game. You'd even run it fine without the 6670.

The power supply would possibly be fine until you go under load, might experience some system instabilities. But if thats a risk you wanna take, its your choice.

There is no speed difference between PCI-E 2.1 and PCI-E 2.0, in fact, I've never even seen a board with a 2.1 slot, the 2.1 standard is only on the video cards themselves, 2.1 is a minor update to the standard that did not include any significant speed increases. A 2.1 card will work fine in a 2.0 slot. PCI-E 3.0 is faster, but only the Sandy Bridge E systems currently support it with Ivy Bridge coming out in April. There are no cards out there right now that would benefit from 3.0's extra bandwidth, making it a non issue for the moment. Even on PCI-E 1.0 the performance loss on even the really high end GPUs is negligible.

Edit: The Radeon HD 6670 is the most powerful GPU out right now that does not need an external power connector. Anything better would require a power supply upgrade.

The 6670 is a low powered card, it only uses about 60 watts under load. It should be okay with the stock Dell PSU. AMD and nvidia overstate their PSU recommendations on their cards to cover really low quality PSUs that can't produce their advertised wattage. I'd say go for it, it's a huge improvement over the HD 2000 IGP. SC2 might barely run on the HD 2000, but it would run much better with a 6670.

 

[Ferinthul]

Interesting, ill keep that in mind!

Thanks a bunch!

 

[limewire]

Best answer selected by limewire.

 

[limewire]

Thanks SuperNova