Best card for 150-180?

explrsport

Senior member
Jun 23, 2001
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Hi, looking for the best value video card in that range. Light gaming (such as the new SimCity) and normal web stuff. Dual connections required.

Would be more interested in something that is quieter and slightly less powerful, this is in my home office and I get easily annoyed by fan noise!


thanks in advance!
 

explrsport

Senior member
Jun 23, 2001
395
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My only concern would be the power supply....this is a Dell XPS 8500, and I think it is only around 450W.
 

explrsport

Senior member
Jun 23, 2001
395
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Running an i5 3350, 8GB of memory, Samsung 840 Pro, and a 1TB normal HD.

So nothing draining a lot of juice before the video card.
 

KevinH

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2000
3,110
7
81
Then it's probably not enough for any decent card. What CPU does the system have in it?

With your budget you can either drop in a $50-$70 and a something like a 7770 or risk running a 7850.

Edit: If you could come up with a bit more money:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1200121

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1200122

He's fine with 450W.

In fact I believe the 7870 is even offered from Dell as a part of their XPS 8500 packages.
 

3DVagabond

Lifer
Aug 10, 2009
11,951
204
106
He's fine with 450W.

In fact I believe the 7870 is even offered from Dell as a part of their XPS 8500 packages.

That's correct. Here's a list of available GPU's from Dell's forums'

Dell said:
The XPS 8500 is tested to run with the below mentioned video cards.

Discrete — nVidia GeForce GT620

Discrete — nVidia GeForce GT640

Discrete — AMD Radeon HD7570

Discrete — AMD Radeon HD7770

Discrete — AMD Radeon HD7870
 

Kenmitch

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
8,505
2,249
136
Just go all out and buy an HD 7870 with a Tahiti LE core. You'll get GTX 660 Ti performance at HD 7870 pricing. Superbiiz has the PowerColor Myst Edition at $236, so jump on that:

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?...2d42e0f1392071

That's a good deal for that card....But doesn't it draw more power than the standard 7870's? I was told that it draws power like a 79xx's which would most likely take out his power supply. Dell isn't known for throwing in high quality power supplies....I wouldn't trust it.
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,377
126
That's a good deal for that card....But doesn't it draw more power than the standard 7870's? I was told that it draws power like a 79xx's which would most likely take out his power supply. Dell isn't known for throwing in high quality power supplies....I wouldn't trust it.

I agree for the most part, with the exception of the Delta PSUs in many (mostly older and Optiplex units) Dells. Those are quite tough surprisingly. The XPS 8500 has a Dell-branded PSU that very well may actually be a Delta. With the low-power Intel CPU/mobo, I think he's safe up to stock 7870 levels, but 7870 OC with 7950-level power draw might be pushing things a bit.

The good news it's just a cheap replaceable part, and good deals on 500-600W decent PSUs are frequent.

This was recently on sale for $89 :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151121

The house brand Rosewills have actually been great imho. I've used several dozen of them in entry and midrange gaming systems for customers and have only a single failure, and zero DOAs. The failure was due to a transformer blowing on the block, similar to a severe lightning strike nearby.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182199