Shopping for a new Graphics Card

I thought of another nugget to chew on. IMHO, the factory overclocked cards are overrated. The % speed gain in the factory overclock is usually very minimal. They charge more for it than it's worth. Nearly all modern video cards come with software that will allow you to overclock the card in Windows very easily. Go for a card with more memory and overclock it yourself. I wish I had done that. I got my factory overclocked, 768mb card because it was on sale. :roll:

Regarding your inquiry about dual card configurations; you must have two cards of the same model for it to work. They are connected to each other via a cable, and you only use the outputs of one card. You can come close to doubling your video capacity that way. But, with the old card you have, you wouldn't be gaining much. A single, newer card will be much, much more powerful than two of the one you have now.
 
I don't know, I don't think I could go back to stock models because of how crappy (and noisy) their cooling is. It's true that you can overclock any card with very little effort but you would need to buy an aftermarket cooler in order not to cook your new GPU :)

I finally ditched my (stock) 4890 card last year because I couldn't stand the noise it produced while gaming any longer.

I replaced it with an Msi 560ti TF and now I can enjoy games/ movies without the annoying sound of a screeching fan.
Another huge plus is not having to deal with shitty Amd drivers any more but that's another story.
 
I think you can find cards with superior cooling that haven't been factory overclocked. Manufacturers know that some enthusiasts like to crank their systems up. I think getting more memory should be a little more of a priority. You can turn up the clock speed, but you can't add more memory.

The GTX 560ti Twin Frozr cards that PainlessDocM has been touting are made by MSI. They look like great quality cards. Most of them have 1gb of memory, however, Newegg is selling one with 2gb of memory for $270.

EDIT: I think I'll add that card to my Newegg wish list!
 
Having owned an Nvidia card and now an AMD card I can say the biggest "every day" difference between them is the driver software, as that's what you'll be interacting with most of the time. It would be worth it to try and find a way to play around with both of them before you make a decision.

I've decided I prefer Nvidia's approach, although they both work.
 
ok, you guys are giving really bad advice.

when someone wants to upgrade their video card, the first thing you ask is:

how many amps on your rail

and then you go from there. all i see you guys talking about is the total wattage of the power supply which is irrelevant.

thats right, IRRELEVANT!

i bet your PSU even has a voltage selector!!!

my PSU died over xmas vacation. so i had to get a new one. the computer store had a 750w and wanted to sell it to me. i saw that it had a voltage selector and made him look up the specs... 16A on the rail. video cards today want 30+. that PSU was horrible.

while checking out specs it seems they are now putting 3-4 rails for people doing their SLI stuff and saying that the rails provide a TOTAL of like 500w, but when you do the math it comes out to like 15-18A per rail which is useless.

8800s take 26-32A, and if your PSU was only doing 16A ( which is typical ) then it means you were not getting full use out of the 8800 and that could have been part of your problem. you were under-powering your GPU. i have an 8800 still and i get decent frame rates still out of even modern games. i dont turn on all the bells and whistles in them, but i get decent frame rates still.

if you use a 460, they are in the 30+ range and only giving it like 16, it means that card will shut off some of the CPUs on the card as it has insufficient power to turn them on. it wont raise any flags or anything because that is what they are designed to do.

GPUs are designed to shut off CPUs if you are not providing enough power to run them.

if you have a 460 and are feeding it 16A, then that means you will get the same as if you had bought a like 420 or 250.

all because you did not pay attention.


so, the question is, what do your rails provide?
 
CORSAIR Professional Series HX750
Output +3.3V@25A, +5V@25A, +12V@60A, -12V@ 0.8A, +5VSB@3A
(Single +12V rail design providing up to 62A)

TheWesDude said:
all i see you guys talking about is the total wattage of the power supply
Click to expand...
None of us has talked about power supplies at all, unless you're referring to the old conversation back in June.

TheWesDude said:
i bet your PSU even has a voltage selector!!!
Click to expand...
Based on what? In my case you would lose.

TheWesDude said:
my PSU died over xmas vacation.
Click to expand...
You have my sympathy. I've had a PSU die too, but it has nothing to do with Farmerk's question.

TheWesDude said:
if you have a 460 and are feeding it 16A, then that means you will get the same as if you had bought a like 420 or 250.

all because you did not pay attention.
Click to expand...
In the current conversation, we have been talking about the 560, and not at all about PSUs. You should pay more attention.

These video cards are still excellent. They are what is current on the market. The advice Farmerk has been given is perfectly valid for his price range. His NVIDIA Quadro FX 580 is still being sold, but is $180 on Newegg. It's an overpriced midrange card. The GTX 560 can be had for less than $200. The GTX 560ti is a little more. They will probably outperform his old card whatever power supply he has. Power supplies are a seperate issue altogether. Since Farmerk did not post anything about his power supply none of us can make a qualified observation about that aspect of his configuration. Since you brought it up, asking him politely would be an appropriate next step.

So, Farmerk, what can you tell us about the power supply in your system?
 
the 5th post in this thread talks about PSUs.

and it only mentions wattage of the PSU which is irrelevant.

and then a couple posts later it is brought up again.

then the very next post again talks about it and only total wattage.

then a few posts later brings up the PSU.

then the next post.

then a couple more posts later it gets brought up again.

so rich, it seems like you did not actually read the first page of this thread. its mentioned 6 times on the first page.

none of which is even relevant had you been right.

the first thing that needs to be quantified is what their PSU rails provide, and then how much money they have to spend.

the rails will determine what card in their price range will be viable, if any.

EDIT:

and why you post the specs for a corsair 750w PSU is puzzling, they said they had a modular 500w PSU. which i can pretty much guarentee has a voltage selector and is not providing the power to the rails her video card wants

and it looks like farmer hijacked someone elses thread rather than starting their own. i was referring to the OP.


EDIT2:

ok, so it looks like farmer can use anything he wants as he has a good PSU with good rails.

i am suprised a mod did not split this as thread hijacking isnt allowed afaik. for farmer i would go with as high end a card as he could afford, 580 or whatever the equivalent AMD is. but not the dual card setups, but multi-core GPUs are all the rage.
 
I posted specs for my own PSU to show you that I'm not ignorant of what you were talking about, which was the impression you gave. I see now that Farmerk mentioned an 850w PSU in the opening paragraph of his inquiry. It's probably OK to run any GPU within his budget. Without his PSU's model number or more specs, we can't be absolutely sure.

I read the first page of this thread, but the current conversation has been responding to Farmerk's inquiry. You are still mostly referring to the part of this thread that occured way back in June and that conversation seems to be dead except for you. Your observations are fair enough for that part of the thread. I'm glad you finally addressed Farmerk's inquiry.
 
farmer did post his specs, he said he had 150W on the rails.

150W/12V = 12.5 A

hopefully that is PER rail.... if he has more than 1 rail then whoever made that PSU was an idiot.

if he has multiple rails and that is 150W total... that is just disgustingly stupid.

now if its 150W per rail and he has multiples, i would definately believe it as its not uncommon for lower end PSUs to have 14-16A per rail and 12.5A is not too far off the mark.

and 16A is less than a 520 wants. even a 520 needs 18 but you can get by with 16A, but 12A is just too little.
 
Farmerk stated, "According to manufacturer's website I have support for two PCI Express x16 Gen 2 graphics cards up to 150 watts." The FX 580 GPU that Farmerk has, which probably came with his system, does not have the additional two 6-pin power connectors that most higher end GPUs have. That spec is for the computer model in general, probably directly from the motherboard, and does not refer to the PSU. That figure probably does not account for supplementing power to a graphics card directly from the PSU.

Based on the information he provided, it was easy to determine that he likely has an older version of the Dell Precision T5500 Workstation. That is the Dell system that uses the motherboard he listed. A quick search determined that while they currently use 875w PSUs in that system, they previously used 850w PSUs (the type Farmerk says he has), model A-Power AK850. The description for that PSU states, "safety features that include a 140 mm fan for cooler and quieter operation, full sleeved cables for better airflow and less cable clutter, and dual +12V rails to prevent overheating." 850w divided by 2 rails = 425w/35.4 amps per rail (although the specs say 30a). So, yes, Farmerk's power supply should support any graphics card within his price range. You just have to wonder how long a $50 PSU will last; maybe until the warranty runs out, maybe for years to come. Time will tell.

Back to the original recommendation; nVidia GTX 560 for less than $200, GTX 560ti for a little more money and better performance. The 560 specs recommend 24 amps per rail and the 560ti specs recommend 30 amps per rail. Typically, GPUs don't actually draw that much power, but they can if stressed to their limits. They make these recommendations to ensure safety and performance, so it's a good idea to follow them. As you speculated Farmerk, you should be fine with the PSU you have.

Those MSI Twin Frozr cards that PainlessDocM mentioned look great. But, if money is an issue, bide your time and watch for sales. As long as your current card is still working, you can afford to wait and shop around.
 
While you are correct, WesDude, that the amperage rating for the 12V rail(s) is important, it is incorrect to say that a PSU's wattage rating is irrelevant.

If someone tries to run SLI'd 580's on a 300W PSU, I don't care how good quality the PSU is, it's not going to be able to supply enough power. And if it's a crap one, it may damage system components or even catch on fire.

Most halfway decent PSUs do not have issues with providing sufficient amperage if they're able to supply enough wattage, because that's poor PSU design, obviously.

Finally, as pointed out, your weird PSU rant was completely off-topic since no discussion regarding PSUs occurred except on the first page of the thread which took place months ago.
 
kyuu, it is very important to pay attention to the rails.

it does not matter if it is a 2 KW PSU if it is only sending 10 A on the rail and your running 2 of the double cards that require 48A.

you are saying that because its a 2 KW PSU, its irrelevant that the rail is only 10A and your cards want almost 5x that amount?


i hope you do not consider yourself "technologically proficient" as you are not.

do i NEED a 1 KW PSU for my computer? hell no. what i do need is a PSU that has at least 3 rails 2 of which do 40+ amps.

that was the only thing i looked at. if you look at anything other than the rails as a gamer, you have no clue what you are looking for.

and you have not kept up with what the average PSU is, because i have seen multiple 750-900W PSUs that only have 14-16A on the rails. that is unuseable for gaming if you have a decent video card.


if you are saying i am even close to not being correct, then you need to do some research because all you have are opinions.

and no, posting 1-3 links to PSUs that have good amps on a 12v rail does not prove your point. companies do make PSUs made for gaming with good rails and all you are doing is proving they exist which is not whats under contention.
 
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