Upgrading 8600GT 256MB, £50 - £200 Budget, 300W PSU

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Lone Wolf

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Hey guys first post so Hi!

Anywho, I recently have been wondering about upgrading my old 8500GT 256MB GFX Card to support some of the newer games that are coming out. My PSU is 300W with 18a on the +12v Rail, I have been looking round and some of my choices are:

#9800GT - Low Power edition
#GT240
Any other reccomendations about High Performance, Low Power Useage are Needed

I am really looking for a GFX card that packs a punch with gaming but low on Power.
Which will be best to suite my budget and PSU?

Cheers,
Lone

P.S My Machine is a Dell Inspiron 531 with OEM PSU and OEM 8600GT 256MB
 
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Lone Wolf

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Right as an Edit and a tad topic change I now have upgraded by PSU in my Dell to a 700W and 28A on the +12v Rail. My budget is still the same, what is a good card in my budget that will support my NEW PSU?

P.S has to be a small card or same size as my 8600GT as I don't think a long card will fit in my Tower
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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Have you purchased the new PSU yet? The 12v amperage seems quite low for a 700 Watt unit- Or does it have more than one 12v rail? It is very easy to misread those rating labels!
At the top end of your £200 budget theHD6870/GTX470 are within reach but I'll hold off on that recommendation until I know more details on the PSU rating and installed CPU.
And finally, what monitor resolution do you use? If the system has a 'weak' CPU and you game at 1280x1024 the HD5770 or GTS450 would be plenty, if you use a 1920x1200 monitor or 1080 TV as a display then a faster card is a better option because it is less likely to be held back by a slower CPU.
 
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Lone Wolf

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Nope all it has is +12V 28A, my CPU is an AMD Athlon 64 x2 5600+ 2.80GHz.

What would be a good card for this at £100-£150? I want it to be a card good enough to support newer games that come out.

BTW It has to be either a card with one 6-Pin Connector or none atall e.g 9800GT - Low Power
 
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Lone Wolf

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What about the GTS 450? I measured my 8600GT and it's about 6.5/6.8inches so i need a card about 6 - 7inches maybe just squeech 7.3..

As quote by newegg "Minimum 400W or greater system power supply (with a minimum 12V current rating of 22A)"

Would this be good? also only requires 1 x 6-Pin
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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It's not as powerful as the HD5770 but if space is so limited then that is likely to be the limiting factor anyway, so you're rather forced into that route.
That said, the GTS450 is not a bad card, cartainly a big leap up from the 8600 and capable enough given its miserly power consumption.
 
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Lone Wolf

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Unfortunatley, I live in the UK and am unable to order from Newegg. The dimentions for that card are too big at 8.8" x 4.4", I would need a card that is atleast 7" maybe 7.3" at Maxmimum as my OEM Case is not a FULL ATX Tower. I guess I'll need to get a new PSU then, the one I have in is only a Cheapo £25 Storm PSU from Scan. I know that my dad's PSU is a 700W with 48A +12v rail but thats only an EcoLabs, it really only cost him £20 from Ebay. Would you say that 48A +12v rail is about right?
 
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plastichairball

plastichairball

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Hi Lone Wolf, I was in your position EXACTLY, I had a 8600 GT and was looking to upgrade with those cards you put in your first post. I upgraded my PSU, then my options opened up. I eventually ended up getting the GTS 450 for £62 and man, I have to tell you the performance has been phenomenal. I've maxed out everything I've thrown at it and it blows everything away. I'd say it is an inch or two longer than the 8600 GT, and I had to shuffle my SATA connectors on the motherboard to accommodate it but it did fit in the end. I'd wholeheartedly recommend the GST 450 if you're looking to game at 1600 res with everything maxed. It's just awesome!
 
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Lone Wolf

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What so your saying to me you had the exact case/tower as me? (Inpsiron 531), I have found a new PSU which has two +12v Rails, +12v1 18a and +12v2 18a would this be more than enough or am I better getting more? do the 2 rails add together?

BTW plastichairball would you mind telling me which manafacture your GTS 450 is? As there are so many lol Which is the best to buy? I was looking at the "PALIT 1GB GEFORCE GTS 450" http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-...80mhz-shader-1760mhz-192-cores-2x-dvi-i-hdmi]
 
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plastichairball

plastichairball

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Hi Lone Wolf, I have a very SIMILAR tower to yours (dimensions wise), but not exactly the same. It won't hurt to go to the manufacturers website and check the dimensions of the cards you're after! My GTS 450 is from Sparkle, and it overclocks on air MASSIVELY giving me a very nice performance gain right out of the box with no effort! If I could pick and choose my GTS 450 I'd consider the Gigabyte, Sapphire, Sparkle versions. Good coolers just mean better overclocking, and that's never a bad thing!

Have a look at this article:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gts-450-review-roundup/1

As for the PSU, well I run my system off a Tagan 400W that has 20A on each rail (cost £12, woo!) which is more than enough, so with dual 18A rails you might just do it. The 450 is quite good on power consumption, powering down when you're not using it in full 3d mode. Depending on how many extra hard drives, dvd drives you have in your system or whether its the same as factory or not I'd say you'd be able to get away with it, but I'd go with a SLIIIGHTLY beefier power supply just to be safe.
 
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Lone Wolf

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I was looking at that as it had the highest specs for some of the cards, but my overall plan now is to get a new PSU (Hopefully saturday) then gather like £100.09 to buy the GTS450.

Thanks SOO Much guys ;)
 
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Lone Wolf

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Thanks for the suggestion but I think that the £67 mark is abit too much for the PSU and I don't really want the GTX 460 abit over I think. TBH I only want a cheapo PSU really and like the guy plastichairball said he's running it off a 400W that was £16 with some good +12v Railage lol I might get a 650W maybe 500W with something like +12v 48a or something...

Thanks for the suggestions but the max i'll go for a PSU is £25 maybe £30... I did find this Colours PSU with Dual +12v Rails; +12v1 20a and +12v2 19a... http://www.scan.co.uk/products/650w-colours-it-silent-120mm-silent-fan-dual-12v-rails-atx12v-v22] Would that be enough?
 
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plastichairball

plastichairball

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Yeah that one doesn't look too bad, it will run a mid range system with no worries.
It might be worth having a look at this one though:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CoolerMaster-GX-550W-Power-Supply-80-ATX-550W-PSU-NEW-/230553497015?pt=UK_Computing_PowerSupplies_EH&hash=item35ae0f2db7#ht_1768wt_891

And this one's worth a watch:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OCZ-StealthXStream-2-500W-ATX-2-2-Power-Supply-80-PLUS-/150523231450?pt=UK_Computing_PowerSupplies_EH&hash=item230be23cda#ht_500wt_901

But the one off Scan would be fine too.
 
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