New GPU for ancient rig

[Ronin13]

Thanks for all the recommendations. To repeat, I'm not in the states so buying from FS/FT isn't really an option. I'm also not really budget bound, but I don't want to overspend on something that this old rig won't benefit from. A key point though, is that the card must have a maximum requirement of 1 extra power cable (so no GTX460, etc).

A little good news (for me, anyway): Prices here aren't as bad as I remembered - GTS450/GTX550/6770/7750 can all be had for around $150. More importantly, a couple of local shops will allow a card to be tried out and returned if incompatible.

Now, from all the recommendations here (and all around the net) I get that the Radeon cards offer a better value and have lower power comsumption but for a couple of (probably highly irrational) reasons I wanna stay with nVidia.

As far as I can gather, the 550ti seems to be the best performing nVidia card that I can expect to run on my 430W PSU (outperforming the GTS 450 by nearly 20% for a 10% extra power draw), and hopefully not be too CPU bound. Agree/disagree?

Ignoring the insanity of getting a nVidia card at this price point, what driver would you recommend for a 550ti? (I'm on WinXP, if that matters). The inital one realeased for the 550ti - 267.59 - or the latest release - 301.42?

 

[Magic Carpet]

As far as I can gather, the 550ti seems to be the best performing nVidia card that I can expect to run on my 430W PSU (outperforming the GTS 450 by nearly 20% for a 10% extra power draw), and hopefully not be too CPU bound. Agree/disagree?

I'd seriously re-consider.... 550 Ti uses as much juice as 460 but is still slower. Get something else

 

[Termie]

The 550ti is a terrible card for the money, quite possibly the worst bargain nVidia currently sells. Frankly, I don't understand why it's still on the market, let alone a top seller.

Either buy a 7750 or the GTS450. Anything more and you are spending way too much money on this computer. 20% more GPU performance doesn't mean anything when your CPU is the clear bottleneck.

Keep in mind that the GTS450 is already 50% faster than an 8800-class card: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3909/nvidias-geforce-gts-450-pushing-fermi-in-to-the-mainstream/5.

That being said, the 7750 is 10-20% faster for the same money and uses less power, so there's no sense in going with nVidia at all here.

 

[RussianSensation]

DX11.1 features of HD7000/GTX600 series will supposedly accelerate Windows 8 graphical performance. Yet another reason to not bother at all with GTX550Ti unless you plan on sticking with Windows XP for another 4-5 years.

Considering GTX550 class card won't be fast enough for PhysX, 3D gaming, doesn't have 4K screen support, has worse Linux drivers, doesn't have better 2D or video image quality and NV GPUs tend to be a lot more CPU limited than AMD HD7750/7770 cards, I am running out of reasons why to it's worth it to spend $ on a slower and more power hungry GTX550 series card, unless you run Folding@Home.

I also don't understand this artificial limitation for not getting the GTX460 due to power constraints. With a power adapter, it will work perfectly fine with a 430W power supply. I've seen 200W GPUs on 430W power supplies not breaking a sweat.

If you insist on NV, and don't want the GTX460/560SE level card, then I guess the 550Ti is your next best bet right now.

 

[Ronin13]

Thanks guys.

Thoughts on the below?

Ignoring the insanity of getting a nVidia card at this price point, what driver would you recommend for a 550ti? (I'm on WinXP, if that matters). The inital one released for the 550ti - 267.59 - or the latest release - 301.42?

 

[Magic Carpet]

Thanks guys.

Thoughts on the below?

Use the latest, unless you encounter problems.

+1 for Radeon 7750.