GTX460 vs. 6850 for my PSU

[Vicaar]

Seeking advice for a card to pair with my current powersupply.

Hardware specs:
Athlon Phenom II x3 720 (2.8GHz)/4GB DDR2
2 SATA drives (1 green)
DVD+RW
1680x1050 resolution, with little expectation to upgrade anytime soon.
Antec Earthwatts EA430

The GTX460 768mb appears to be the sweet spot for price/performance given my system, but I'm concerned about the PSU - especially considering most of the lower-priced 460's currently out there are non-reference (mild overclocks). I'm not considering the 1GB card here, because it is even worse in the power dept.

On the flip side, the 6850 is a solid choice and brings the benefit of 1GB but at a higher cost (and I'm unsure about the Powercolor and HIS brands, which seem to be the lowest price routinely). But the power draw is quite a bit less giving a bit more headroom, even if the card comes with non-reference clocks.

Would like any suggestions - I'm of course drawn to the 460 just because of the price, but if I'm forced to upgrade the PSU to compensate, then I'm out more than a 6850 would have been in the first place. I'm trying to avoid a PSU upgrade at this time because it would be part of some mythical future upgrade when I upgrade mb/ram/etc and the EA430 is supposed to be pretty solid considering I don't have a high-end system.

 

[toyota]

you would be okay with a gtx460 768mb unless you do some high overclocking.

 

[SickBeast]

I've seen some nice Antec 650w PSUs go for $20AR lately, just as a thought.

If you're staying with that PSU though, go with AMD, no question. They are more power efficient and you should be very concerned with it with such a small PSU. I wouldn't overclock it, either.

 

[toyota]

yeah a 6850 will use about 50 watts less so would not have to worry at all with it.

 

[Arkadrel]

If the option is

A) use current psu, and a 6850.
B) buy new psu, use 460.

then A) seems like a better way to go.


If you look at performance/watt, the 6850 is clearly higher up than the 460.
at 1920x or 2560x res its about 4-8% faster at stock than a 460 1gb at stock.


the bad news?

6850 is around ~159$
460 1gb is around ~149$

is 4-8% performance, and slightly less power used worth the 10$? its a tossup.

I think it is, the power use differnce is there, and will over time probably save you that 10$ differnce in your electric bill.

 

[gr8erimage]

Whichever one comes up on sale first, go for it. The Antec 430 is pretty solid, and should be able to handle either of those cards at stock. At 1680x1050, you'll get solid performance from either.

I was able to score an EVGA GTX460 768MB SC for $110 last week. I've seen good deals on the GTX460 1G for about $130. I would bite on a 6850 if you can get it for about $150.

 

[Vicaar]

If the option is

A) use current psu, and a 6850.
B) buy new psu, use 460.

then A) seems like a better way to go.

Absolutely, Arkadrel. But the real question was if option
C) use current psu, and a 460 768mb

was safe Because then it becomes a difference in price of ~$120 vs. $160.

At 1680x, I'm not getting a _huge_ benefit from the 1GB on the 6850. However, it sounds like even though either card would work on the EA430 I might be saving myself some headaches/worry if I simply splurge on the 6850 (barring finding one of those Antec 650w for $20 deals).

 

[Lonyo]

Should be fine on that PSU with any GTX460, especially considering the CPU isn't overclocked.

 

[Saori@destiny]

Believe it or not, I'm in a very similar situation, although I think my power supply is probably even weaker. So the 6850 has less power requirements? Because if so, that's probably (definitely?) the one I need.

 

[toyota]

Believe it or not, I'm in a very similar situation, although I think my power supply is probably even weaker. So the 6850 has less power requirements? Because if so, that's probably (definitely?) the one I need.

you might want to be a little less vague about your exact situation.

 

[MentalIlness]

I used to have a 9800GTX, which is now in my wifes computer. And im considering a 6850 vs 460 for her replacement.

 

[Arkadrel]

6850 is like ~10% faster than the 460 1gb, but costs like 10$ more.
Both are great cards, so cant really go wrong either way.

460 1gb uses about 20watts more during avg load gameplay, and abit more during max peak.
So its not by huge amounts, for most people 20watts or so probably dont make a huge differnce.

the 6850 gives good performance vs watts it uses though, its near the top of the list:

 

[nyker96]

I've seen some nice Antec 650w PSUs go for $20AR lately, just as a thought.

If you're staying with that PSU though, go with AMD, no question. They are more power efficient and you should be very concerned with it with such a small PSU. I wouldn't overclock it, either.

I think you don't wanna take too much chance of blewing up your system, so a new PSU is not a bad idea. However with that said, I'm running the following both cpu/gpu overclocked:

x4 620@3,25ghz
460GTX/768@870
2HDs
antec EA500

I used killawatts and at max load with both cpu and gpu stressed here are the results:
Linx CPU burn: 220W
Kombuster burn: 280W
Crysis burn: 275W
OCCT PSU test: 366W

all measured at the wall. your EA430 can probably do up to 530W or so at the wall. So you be the judge if you need a new PSU or not.