Samapico Posted March 1, 2007 Report Posted March 1, 2007 I want to buy a video card for my new computer... I need PCIe card. I have a PentiumD 2.8GHz (Dual-Core), with 1GB RAM. 280W power supplyAnd my screen only has a VGA connector (or maybe there are some kind of adapters for that? I don't even know what DVI cables look like anyway) I'm thinking of a 256MB card Here's the ones that seem interesting and fit my budget (around 100$) (all prices in Canadian $): GeForce 7300GT (512MB GDDR2) - 90$ after rebateConnect3D Radeon X1300 256MB GDDR2 - 94$ EVGA GeForce 7600GS - 256MB 100$ after rebate hmm... I didn't check the minimum requirements before though... they all ask for like 400W...is this really needed? I won't be linking 2 of those together, I'm not overclocking anything... =/ anyways... there are a couple others in there ... Alot of them are similar though If you have any other good web-shopping site, I might take a look... Tigerdirect has good deals sometimes, and shipping is cheap and fast because they have stock in Montreal (or eastern ontario, forgot, anyways, it's near me ) P.S. Is General Forum still only for SS-related topics? Cause I didn't feel like posting that in the wormhole or whatever is the "misc discussions" forum cause it's a legitimate post... but yet it's not ss-related...
Yoink Posted March 1, 2007 Report Posted March 1, 2007 The power draw on some of those cards might really push that power supply.... double check your pull. Personally I like nVidia cards - the drivers are really nice.
»SD>Big Posted March 1, 2007 Report Posted March 1, 2007 yes the 400 watts is needed if they ask for it in requirements, *AS WELL* a lot of PCIe cards require a 6 pin power input! you need to check for that cause if they need one, you're gonna need a new power supply as well!
Bomook Posted March 1, 2007 Report Posted March 1, 2007 Also note that the Pentium D draws a lot of power . With the combined processor and video card, you'll need more than 280W. I'm actually surprised you can get away on just a 280W PSU with just the processor alone. They use approximately 180 W idle and up to 250W when under load. You can get away with a 350W PSU (although you'll still need to upgrade ) with either nvidia card, but get at least a 400W for the ATI radeon x1300.
Dav Posted March 1, 2007 Report Posted March 1, 2007 QUOTE(SD>Big @ Mar 1 2007, 03:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>yes the 400 watts is needed if they ask for it in requirements, *AS WELL* a lot of PCIe cards require a 6 pin power input! you need to check for that cause if they need one, you're gonna need a new power supply as well!I am quite sure you cab get an apater for the PSU to 6 pin but it looks like you might limit your PSU with that. Personally I like ATI so id probably take the connect3D card.
Samapico Posted March 2, 2007 Author Report Posted March 2, 2007 any way to know the power usage of the power supply? Is taking a physical measure with a multimeter the only way? The computer I bought was a pre-made package...I'm not sure about the connector, I wanted to check that... too hungry now .... bleh No PCIe connector...guess i'll need another power supply =/
Bomook Posted March 2, 2007 Report Posted March 2, 2007 any way to know the power usage of the power supply? Is taking a physical measure with a multimeter the only way? The computer I bought was a pre-made package...I'm not sure about the connector, I wanted to check that... too hungry now .... bleh No PCIe connector...guess i'll need another power supply =/Actually, the best way is to look at the box (which I take you don't have anymore). There should also be a label on the power supply itself (it may be facing the top of your case) that'll tell you.
Samapico Posted March 2, 2007 Author Report Posted March 2, 2007 I mean the usage of the power supply, not the capacityI know it's 280W max, but I'd be curious to see how much power my current hardware is using
Yoink Posted March 2, 2007 Report Posted March 2, 2007 You could probably run the same card I am - an XFX 6800XT, I ave a 300w PSU.
Samapico Posted March 2, 2007 Author Report Posted March 2, 2007 Bah, I have to buy another power supply anyway cause I don't have a pcie connector on this one... maybe there are adapters, but that might not be the best thing to do anyway
Wampus Posted March 3, 2007 Report Posted March 3, 2007 I'm partial to nVidia as well. You do definitely need to up the PSU. 400Watt a must, or better. Good idea to leave atleast one slot space between the video card and any other devices you have installed as well, since it will need lots of air flow around it.
»SD>Big Posted March 3, 2007 Report Posted March 3, 2007 DVI adaptors are really inexpensive. most video cards come with a vga to dvi adapter if there's only a dvi input on the card.
Smong Posted March 5, 2007 Report Posted March 5, 2007 I think the ATI catalyst drivers have a "control panel" that requires microsoft .net to be installed. However I think the control panel is optional and you can just install the driver part. Some hearsay is that x1300 sucks and you can buy mobo's with PCIe that is actually slower than AGP... anyway they're just things I overheard people say. So don't make any decisions based off that without checking the facts. When I wanted a new graphics card the only research I did was find a cheap one that implemented directx 9.0c. I ended up getting an x700 which as a bonus is passively cooled - no fan.
Samapico Posted March 10, 2007 Author Report Posted March 10, 2007 I'm going to get this one...It has 512MB memory, but is the same price (even a bit cheaper) than most interesting 256 cards (with the 30$ mail-in rebate, of course)http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/Sea...=2&NoMapp=0with that 400W power supply And since my monitor only supports analog input... I'll need one of these dvi > vga converters... I was wondering if there is a risk of losing image quality with digital to analog convertershttp://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/Sea...mp;sku=T13-1058Atleast I don't think my monitor supports DVI... it has only one connector, with 15 pins... so unless there's something I don't know about DVI, I guess it doesn't support it 200 bucks with taxes and shipping after rebate for all of this... I guess its not too bad
Yoink Posted March 12, 2007 Report Posted March 12, 2007 I have a converter on mine (SVGA -> DVI), it isn't noticeable.
Guest Matt Posted March 13, 2007 Report Posted March 13, 2007 I would wait a few months because Nvidia will be releasing a card around $150 soon which supports DX10 and has 512MB
Samapico Posted March 13, 2007 Author Report Posted March 13, 2007 150 is 150% the price i'll be paying for this one... and what's so different about DX10 anyway?
Dav Posted March 13, 2007 Report Posted March 13, 2007 150 is 150% the price i'll be paying for this one... and what's so different about DX10 anyway?you HAVE to buy vista for it. so in short microsofts profits.
Samapico Posted March 13, 2007 Author Report Posted March 13, 2007 I can get vista for free on msdn academic alliance, from my university... but i don't really 'want' it anyway... and I won't play halo
rootbear75 Posted March 13, 2007 Report Posted March 13, 2007 I can get vista for free on msdn academic alliancesame... i get it thru the academy i go to for a period every day...probably gonna dl all the programs i get so when i go to college, i wont have to pay for anything.
Guest Matt Posted March 14, 2007 Report Posted March 14, 2007 (edited) DX10 will have much better GFX. It will be definately be worth getting once vista and a DX10 card have dropped in price. Most future decent games in a years time will be on DX10. Edited March 14, 2007 by Matt
Bomook Posted March 14, 2007 Report Posted March 14, 2007 There need to be better drivers for Vista first. There's about a 10%-40% video card performance loss with Vista. On top of that, there's zero SLI/Crossfire support at the moment
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