Low wattage video card?

[SlowSpyder]

Hi everyone,

I live in a capecod style home, we use the upstairs for our computer room. They upstairs was added later in the house's life, and they only built it with 15 amp service to the upstairs. I looked at the wiring, I don't think I'd trust a bigger fuse then 15amp, so that's what I'm stuck with. With a window A/C unit, my wifes computer/monitor/speakers/printer plus my set up going, I know we are close to the maximum we can run (I know this because in winter with both our systems running, when I accidently turned on the second space heater before turning off the first one I blew the fuse). I've done everything I can to be as efficient with the power, LCD monitors, energy saving forescent lighting, etc.

But, now onto the graphics part of this. Right now I run a 7900GS, it does pretty well for me but when fall comes I'll probably be looking to upgrade. I was pretty excited about the 2900XT, but I think it'll just be too big of a power hog. Does anyone know what the rumors are on the respins that would be out by then? I'm pretty curious about how well the 2600XT will run. Does anyone know the wattage specs on that, or the 65nm shrink GPU's?

I'm just looking to plan ahead, I think my 7900GS pulls somewhere around 50 watts total.

Thanks for any help.

 

[DaveSimmons]

ATI seems to be way behind nvidia on performance-per-watt in this round, so the nvidia fall refresh is more likely to deliver the best gaming from your watts budget.

You might consider a move to core 2, non-SLI motherboard and 2 x 1 GB sticks instead of 4 x 512 to shave off a few more watts since AMD is also lagging behind intel on performance per watt right now.

 

[f4phantom2500]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
ATI seems to be way behind nvidia on performance-per-watt in this round, so the nvidia fall refresh is more likely to deliver the best gaming from your watts budget.

You might consider a move to core 2, non-SLI motherboard and 2 x 1 GB sticks instead of 4 x 512 to shave off a few more watts since AMD is also lagging behind intel on performance per watt right now.

also consider a sturdy, higher-wattage PSU; they are, in general, more efficient than lower wattage power supplies. That is to say, if you had 2 systems that were exactly the same, except one had a 400w PSU and the other a 600w, if you stressed the system (a game or something), the 600w would actually draw less power than the 400w because it's using a lesser percentage of its maximum power, so it operates more efficiently.

 

[DaveSimmons]

www.SilentPCReview.com is one good source of PSU efficiency reviews. Some PSUs are most efficient in lower wattage ranges, others are tuned for higher levels.

Also, you might be running more fans than you need. Once everything is in a good temperature range, adding more fans just wastes power.

 

[SlowSpyder]

I am running a 500 watt Antec NEO HE power supply. It is supposed to be up to 85% effiicient. Thanks for the replies.

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Right now I run a 7900GS, it does pretty well for me but when fall comes I'll probably be looking to upgrade. I was pretty excited about the 2900XT, but I think it'll just be too big of a power hog. Does anyone know what the rumors are on the respins that would be out by then? I'm pretty curious about how well the 2600XT will run. Does anyone know the wattage specs on that, or the 65nm shrink GPU's? Thanks for any help.

From the latest gossip, it appears that 2600 series won't beat the 8600 series. And the 8600 GT/GTS are more-or less in the 7900GS ballpark, or a little better for the GTS.

So the ATI 2600XT probably won't be worth the upgrade from the 7900GS.

There is currently a big hole in the NVidia lineup between 8600GTS and 8800 GTS 320MB. This hole, when it gets filled (rumored 8800GS), could be your upgrade.

 

[tuteja1986]

Actually BernardP i have seen the benchmark done by other people and it beats up a 8600gt and also the 2600XT mobile beats the 8600GT mobile in power consumption , benchmarking and also 3d mark.

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986
Actually BernardP i have seen the benchmark done by other people and it beats up a 8600gt and also the 2600XT mobile beats the 8600GT mobile in power consumption , benchmarking and also 3d mark.

Interesting. Fudzilla is also saying 3Dmark score is higher, but how often do we play this?
The real tests will be 2600XT vs 8600GTS and 2600 Pro vs 8600GT. We'll soon know.

 

[RussianSensation]

Only problem is going from 7900GS to 2600XT or 8600GT/S is a downgrade.

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
Only problem is going from 7900GS to 2600XT or 8600GT/S is a downgrade.

Well, we haven't seen 2600XT performance yet, but unless it's significantly faster than the GTS, it is definately a downgrade.