Question about FX5600

[Sorin]

I have the SN41G2, which I think has a 200w power supply. I was looking to buy a 5600 Ultra from Gainward (noticed it was only **$126** through price watch), when I noticed on the Gainward website that they say the card requires a 300W+ power supply. WTF? Are they dead serious about this, or being conservative for some reason? That's going to suck if I can't get an FX cause they think they need 300W+.

Currently I have one hard drive, no floppy, one dvd/cd-r/cd-rw drive and my geforce2 gts/pro. Nothing in the PCI slot. So what's the verdict? No FX 5600 for me?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Yeah you're pretty much dead in the water with most modern cards and a 200W PSU.

You could risk it, but expect problems. Was one of the most common issues in the early introduction of the DX9 class cards. It's not a joke.


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[Sorin]

So unless the Shuttle SN41G2 has power supply upgrades available, I'm basically phucked into keeping my old chump ass card. Nice. ::insert rolls eyes smiley here::

Oh well.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Well it DOES work on some shuttles, just don't expect100% guarantee. A lean system with a powerful graphics card will work, but add a powerful CPU, multiple drives, and you're stressing the little shuttle. Shuttle are interesting but really not hardcore. An R9600P MAY make it OK, and so might even an FX5600U or non-U, it's just risky.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! <A HREF="http://www.redgreen.com" target="_new"><font color=green>RED</font color=green> <font color=red>GREEN</font color=red></A> GA to SK

 

[daddywags214]

<Agreed>

However, in Maximum PC they did manage to use a R9700Pro in a 200w shuttle with no problems, but I'd say they were lucky.

<b>nVidia cheated on me so I left her for ATi. ATi's hotter anyway...</b>

 

[endyen]

About that video card, Gainward calls all of thier FX5600 cards ultra.The true ultra, I think, are 760 while the non-ultra are called ultra 780. Funny thing is the non has 256m of ram while the ultras have only 128. No way of telling yet if they are shipping any rev. 2 cards, nor how they are different.

 

[Crashman]

I keep telling people not to get these things, they're junk and people buy them because they "look cool". You can try the 5600 Ultra, but if it doesn't work, I won't feel sorry for you.


<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Sorin]

Is that in relation to the Shuttle box, or just 5600s in general? If the former, well I don't think I want to risk that anyways lest there not be a power supply upgrade available. If the latter, I'll need to see hard proof before I take a statement like that seriously.

I'm not considering the 5600 for cool factor. I'm considering it for price/power factors. It's a hell of a lot better than my current card, which is an MSI MS-8831 Geforce2 gts/pro @ 200mhz/400mhz core/memory. Other than ATI, if you have a suggestion for a card that beats the pants off my current card and isn't your self titled "junk" then I'm all ears.

 

[Crashman]

I was speaking of the Shuttle mini PC. It's taller than a Micro ATX desktop case and wider than a Micro ATX thin tower, so it really doesn't save space. And it has all the disadvantages of the power supply that can't be upgraded, only 1 PCI slot, no room for double width graphics cards, etc. That's why I tell people they'd be better off with a Micro ATX system. But you own the thing already. I'd say your chances of having the 5600 Ultra work are better than 50%, and you seem like a nice guy, so I hope it works out. On the other hand, you bought the box of free will, so if the card overloads the power supply, I won't pitty you.

I have nothing against the 5600 Ultra. I'd personally take the 9600 Pro, but that's all a matter of preference. Either card would have a less than 50% chance of overloading your power supply. That's assuming the rest of the system isn't drawing a lot of power.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[sargeduck]

get the 9600 Pro. It has no need for external power, and it runs pretty cool.


I'm only running a 250 watt (Aopen, came with the case) with a dvd-rom, cd burner, 30gig, 40 gid, audigy card, net work card, celeron 1.1 oc'd to 1.4 with 512MB of ram, and a 9600 Pro, and I have had NO problems what-so-ever with power. Actually, I've had no problems what-so-ever with my 9600 in general.

 

[Sorin]

Well thanks for the help guys. FX 5600 aside, what about a Geforce4 Ti 4200? Better performance than my Geforce2 GTS/Pro, and good price, but what about all this power supply crap? Would it work okay? Or is it dictator-ish with it's power requirements like the FX cards?

How about the other Geforce4 Ti cards?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

From the reviews I've read the R9600Pro draws LESS power than a GF4ti 4200 and FX5600s. So you might want to check. <A HREF="http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/urltrurl?lp=de_en&url=http://www.computerbase.de/article.php?id=227&page=1&sid=f549612517a551806603113e4c4a83ae" target="_new">Here's a review</A> (an old one but seems like the only one out there [C'mon LARS build me my 'ARC' power consumption/heat chart])it's originally in German so be kind with spulleeng and grummair.
It shows the GF4ti4200 being more of a pig than the FX5600 and FX5600U at times. But then again sometimes even the R7500 R8500, R9000 and FX5200 consume more power in the whole system (remember this includes increased CPU, memory, and HD draw) than the FX5600s in UT2K3.


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[phial]

Sapphire 9600pro


outperforms 5600ultra, especially when pixel shading. look it up

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