An easy one: What's the best VC for a 520W PSU?

[warcrow]

Some important notes:

- PSU is a CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-520HX 520W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91

link = http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139001

- CPU is a Q6600 and oc'd to 3ghz
- 2 HDDs
- 1 Optical drive
- For what it's worth I'm currently running an Radeon 4890 (1GB)

right now I'm looking at a GTX460 but am wondering if I can go as far as a a Radeon 6950?

 

[RavenSEAL]

You probably could go as far as a 6950, but a 6870 would be the safer bet if you want to OC it.

 

[warcrow]

Hrm, not really interested in oc the vc. I do see the requirments on AMDs website for the 6850 is a a 500W PSU:

"500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended"

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...6950/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6950-overview.aspx#3

...but I do wonder if oc the CPU (like I am doing) will be sucking up too much juice?

 

[Lonyo]

Don't pay too much attention to what they recommend, that's for crap PSUs.
You could easily run an HD6970 or GTX570 even with your OC.

 

[bamacre]

Don't pay too much attention to what they recommend, that's for crap PSUs.
You could easily run an HD6970 or GTX570 even with your OC.

Agreed.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Hrm, not really interested in oc the vc. I do see the requirments on AMDs website for the 6850 is a a 500W PSU:

"500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended"

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...6950/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6950-overview.aspx#3

...but I do wonder if oc the CPU (like I am doing) will be sucking up too much juice?

Well, like I said, you'd be fine with the 6950 at stock clocks. The CPU "should" be fine, i have no idea how much wattage the Q6600 draws @ 3.0GHz...what voltage setting you got on it?

Try one of em fancy PSU calculators, they're not the most precise of tools, but should give you a nice estimate.

Overall, you can run it, but i wouldn't overclock it.

 

[biostud]

what resolution is your display?

 

[warcrow]

Oh really? Because of that Crucial PSU? That's good to know it was money well spent.

Mainly because of price I'm considering a 6950 1GB or a GTX460. They both seem to be about the same price with the 6950 using less wattage but the GTX460 running cooler.

I'm sure there are threads dedicated to the question but I'll risk asking it here: Which card would you recommend? The 6950 or a GTX460? i'm leaning towards the 6950 since it seems to be slighly (as in a few frames) faster and uses less power.

I'm totally open to your guys' opinions!

what resolution is your display?

Great question! 1680X1040

 

[RavenSEAL]

You sure you're not talking about the HD 6850? Cuz the HD 6950 is about $200 more expensive than the GTX 460...

As far as PSU, you're completely fine, I need some coffee, i don't know why i was reading 420W...

Maybe it does say HD 6850 and i'm just stil asleep :hmm:

 

[biostud]

Great question! 1680X1040

6850 or GTX460 1Gb, rest are overkill for that resolution.

 

[warcrow]

You sure you're not talking about the HD 6850? Cuz the HD 6950 is about $200 more expensive than the GTX 460...

Well now I'm looking at the Radeon HD 6950 2 GB (since you mentioned a 6950), and it looks pretty sweet. How does this look?


http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DV...3556173&sr=1-2

 

[warcrow]

6850 or GTX460 1Gb, rest are overkill for that resolution.

...Well, I sort of plan on keeping this card for a few years. Are you sure?

 

[RavenSEAL]

Well now I'm looking at the Radeon HD 6950 2 GB (since you mentioned a 6950), and it looks pretty sweet. How does this look?


http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DV...3556173&sr=1-2

You don't need the memory, but the extra shader units will be a big help.

Only if you're willing to unload the extra $200, would i go with the HD 6950. My suggestion right now would be an HD 6870.

 

[biostud]

look at the 1680x1050 resolution 6950 ~$300 is <50&#37; faster than a 6850 or 460 ~$170

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4061/amds-radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950/13

 

[RussianSensation]

Core i7 1366 @ 3.87ghz + GTX470/HD6970/GTX570 system consumes about ~ 400W under load. http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/...0-und-hd-6950/31/#abschnitt_leistungsaufnahme

Therefore, any of these cards will work without issues.

 

[warcrow]

I see. So I need to settle on either this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...namitedata.com

...or this:

http://www.amazon.com/XFX-Radeon-687...3556886&amp;sr=1-3

Are you a fan of Saphire? I'm a little leery of the brand because a few years ago I had a card's fan fall off the VC (literally) a few days after that warranty, but I'm sort of willing to chalk it up to a random manufacturing error if you guys support them.

 

[bamacre]

I would look into an XFX, very good warranty, which may be of value to you since you plan on keeping the card >2 years.

 

[RavenSEAL]

I see. So I need to settle on either this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...namitedata.com

...or this:

http://www.amazon.com/XFX-Radeon-687...3556886&amp;sr=1-3

Are you a fan of Saphire? I'm a little leery of the brand because a few years ago I had a card's fan fall off the VC (literally) a few days after that warranty, but I'm sort of willing to chalk it up to a random manufacturing error if you guys support them.

This is my 3rd sapphire card, no issues whatsoever.

 

[warcrow]

look at the 1680x1050 resolution 6950 ~$300 is <50% faster than a 6850 or 460 ~$170

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4061/amds-radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950/13

Yea, and I think to me that the extra money is worth the additional GPU power. I'm concerned with about not being able to run some of these massively hungry games (like Crysis 2) that are coming out in the future.

Core i7 1366 @ 3.87ghz + GTX470/HD6970/GTX570 system consumes about ~ 400W under load. http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/...0-und-hd-6950/31/#abschnitt_leistungsaufnahme

Therefore, any of these cards will work without issues.

Awesome link, thanks!

 

[Qbah]

I'd go with a GTX570. The Radeons offer absolutely nothing over the GeForce cards IMO And going green you get better day-one game support and some unique features which you may or may not want to use in games (= you have a choice).

 

[Lonyo]

I would advise waiting if you can hold off for another month. Assuming that the GTX 560 does come, it might offer something at cheaper than the 6950 but better than the 460.
Of course, if you are sure you want more power, there's no need to wait since it will be slower than the 570 level.

 

[warcrow]

I'd go with a GTX570. The Radeons offer absolutely nothing over the GeForce cards IMO And going green you get better day-one game support and some unique features which you may or may not want to use in games (= you have a choice).

Good point. I forgot about that.

Is EVGA still the best on the nvidia side?

This:
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-PCI-Expre...7&amp;sr=1-2&amp;rps=1

...or this:
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-P...7&amp;sr=1-5&amp;rps=1

Not sure of the differences, but the second one is cheaper. I'm guessing it's because there is no life time warranty since it's removed from the title? Perhaps it OEM? Also, minumum PSU is 550? Is that really a problem or is my PSU just fine since it's quality?

 

[maniac5999]

I'm going to second the idea of holding off. This new generation from AMD has been pretty mediocre, since there's only so much that you can do without a die shrink. Nvidia is looking better, however as the GF110 (580) fixes the problems that made the original GF100 (480) a pig. Of course these fixes only make Nvidia competitive again.

The 4890 is a pretty good card. It's approximately 50&#37; as powerful as a 5870/6950. If you're not feeling handcuffed by it in the games that you're playing today, then why not try to hold off until the next generation of cards comes out next summer/fall? Remember, this will be a full node jump and we'll probably see gains at least as big as when we went from 55nm to 40nm (4870 to 5870)

 

[bamacre]

Also, minumum PSU is 550? Is that really a problem or is my PSU just fine since it's quality?

Your PSU is just fine for the GTX 570. I also like eVGA, with the lifetime warranty.

 

[Triggaaar]

I'd get the 6950 and flash it to be a 6970. Even if you didn't do that, it's a good choice. Flashed it has similar performance to a 570, but is a lot cheaper (at least it is in the UK). But that's only if you could do with the improved performance. If your current card is good enough, then wait - otherwise, buy.