ATi and nVidia top video card without external power

[jvroig]

I just recently found about the new 9800GT (550mhz) that does not require an external power connector, and so draws much less power and (logically, should) requires less cooling. (Thanks to member s44 here)

I've got a couple of questions for those in the know:

1.) Is the 9800GT the top nVidia card today that doesn't have an external power connector?

2.) Does it offer the same performance as the classic version (8800GT/9800GT that needed external power)?

3.) What's ATi's top card that similarly requires no power connector? (Is it the 4670?)

4.) Is nVidia's top card here better than ATi's top card?

Thanks in advance.

 

[WildW]

2) Is it one of the Green versions? From what I've seen they have slightly lower core clocks than the original versions.

3) I believe it is the 4670. 4830 and 4770 both need 1xPCIe power connector. I imagine there will be a new 5 series mid-range card at some point - whether it has a power connector will be anyone's guess, but given the improved power effeciency of the high end 5 series it seems likely there'll be a card without one.

4) If it is slightly-slowed-9800GT vs 4670, I'd guess the nVidia card is the better performing of the two.

 

[happy medium]

Amd is supposed to have a 5730 which you can almost garantee won't need a power connector. The 5750 draws 80 watts. For a card to not need a power connector it must draw under 75 watts. Accoring to this acticle it should be released with the 5650 mobile parts which were released just last week. If it's not urgent mabe you should wait a little and see.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1533507/amd-introduces-radeon-gpus

Some more info....

"Also planned are some 32nm graphics cards for the first quarter of 2010, as AMD start using this new manufacturing process with their low-end products, as they often do. The Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood XT), Radeon HD 5650 (Redwood PRO) and Radeon HD 5550 (Cedar XT) are all 32nm budget parts that should run extremely cool and consume very little power"

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=858

 

[jvroig]

So what I'm getting is:
1.) Yes
2.) No, clocked lower so a little less
3.) 4670, but will change pretty soon with the low-end 5xxx cards that are almost out
4.) nVidia wins hands down right now, until the aforementioned low-end 5xxx cards come out.

Spot on?

 

[happy medium]

yea pretty much.

 

[jvroig]

Thanks, WildW and Happy Medium! Appreciate the help here.

 

[s44]

Amd is supposed to have a 5730 which you can almost garantee won't need a power connector. The 5750 draws 80 watts.

5750 = 86W
4770 = 81W
power limit of original PCI-E slot = 75W

Given that the 4770 is on the same 40nm process as the 5000 series, I have my doubts on how fast a no-6pin 5730 could be.

 

[jvroig]

Given that the 4770 is on the same 40nm process as the 5000 series, I have my doubts on how fast a no-6pin 5730 could be.

Perhaps the different architecture could help? I have no idea myself, but that's the one thing they don't have in common, right?

 

[gorobei]

nv gt240 is cooler and uses less power. less performance at higher resolutions. prices are similar with 9800gt running above $100 before rebates.

57xx gives less performance but gets you dx11.

 

[happy medium]

Perhaps the different architecture could help? I have no idea myself, but that's the one thing they don't have in common, right?

Bingo! We have a winner.

 

[Bull Dog]

Actually if you could find one of these cards.....http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/HD_4830_Green/

 

[frozentundra123456]

Actually if you could find one of these cards.....http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Albatron/HD_4830_Green/

This looks great, but the review is from 6 months ago and I have never seen any availability for this card.

Anyway, the other posters are correct about the performance order of the cards. There is also a 9600GT low power, low profile card from Galaxy that does not require a 6 pin connector. I have this card and am pleased with the performance. However, it does run hot in my computer for some reason, even though a low power card should run cooler. Of all the cards available, I would buy the 4670 or "green" 9800GT. The low power 9600GT I have is slightly undervolted and underclocked, but that does not seem to affect the performance much.

 

[T2k]

Some of the new 57xx will be your card, 5730 or 50, cannot recall.

 

[jvroig]

Probably a 5730 since the 5750 is already released and as far as i know uses one 6-pin connector.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Isn't the 5750 already pretty gimp? 5730 probably won't be strong enough to run dx11 games anyway.

 

[jvroig]

I guess my standards are pretty low. As long as the 5730 edges out the 4830 slightly in performance, and consumes far less power and far easier to cool, I'll probably be happy given that I'm just looking for a card that doesn't need an external power connector.

 

[GaiaHunter]

Isn't the 5750 already pretty gimp? 5730 probably won't be strong enough to run dx11 games anyway.

The 5750 is generally faster than the 4850 and GTS 250.

Depending on clocks/specs, a 5730 could end up being the speed of a 4850/GTS 250.

 

[jvroig]

Depending on clocks/specs, a 5730 could end up being the speed of a 4850/GTS 250.

That would be even better, it would then exceed my expectations, so I'd be a lot happier buying it.

 

[Zap]

1.) Is the 9800GT the top nVidia card today that doesn't have an external power connector?

2.) Does it offer the same performance as the classic version (8800GT/9800GT that needed external power)?

3.) What's ATi's top card that similarly requires no power connector? (Is it the 4670?)

4.) Is nVidia's top card here better than ATi's top card?

1) Yes.

2) No, it performs like a classic 8800GT/9800GT underclocked by 50MHz.

3) IDK.

4) IDK.

A couple points of interest. The 9800 GT "low power" models actually have worse performance/watt than the new 40nm chips such as the GT 240. While those are slower (around 9600 GSO/GT performance) they also use only around 30-40W. Don't know about products from other companies, but the BFG 9800 GT EcoIntelligence (our attempt at spiffing up another respin) uses 66W peak. I know that 75W is the limit for compatible PCIe, but I don't think companies would dare release a product that used almost exactly the limit. They'll always want a bit of a buffer.

 

[cbn]

Some more info....

"Also planned are some 32nm graphics cards for the first quarter of 2010, as AMD start using this new manufacturing process with their low-end products, as they often do. The Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood XT), Radeon HD 5650 (Redwood PRO) and Radeon HD 5550 (Cedar XT) are all 32nm budget parts that should run extremely cool and consume very little power"

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=858

This is why I am becoming more interested in Crossfire. It seems the smallest GPUs always come on the newest process first.

Hopefully these Redwood chips have a respectable number of stream processors. If they are too small It might not be worth it.

 

[cbn]

the BFG 9800 GT EcoIntelligence (our attempt at spiffing up another respin) uses 66W peak. I know that 75W is the limit for compatible PCIe, but I don't think companies would dare release a product that used almost exactly the limit. They'll always want a bit of a buffer.

Can the regular 9800 GTs be underclocked by the user in order to avoid needing to attaching the power connector?

Or does something in the cards software/Bios prevent the card from even running unless the 6 pin is attached?

 

[jvroig]

Or does something in the cards software/Bios prevent the card from even running unless the 6 pin is attached?

I believe that's the case because of my experience with my 8600GTS. Right after booting, it tells me I need to connect the power connector, even though it's still idling as of the moment.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, I don't think it actually would have stopped me from using my card. It only caused trouble in Linux (it happened two years ago so the details are fuzzy, but I believe X didn't start and it took a while for me to realize that there was an external power connector needed). I think it did let me use the card in Windows, but warned that the full potential of the card won't be utilized until I connect the 6-pin connector.