Planning on upgrading video card and power supply ..any suggestions?

[Malcolm3000g]

Hey guys i'm planning to upgrade my video card and power supply...

Since i'm on a budget($170)

I was thinking about getting the Radeon 4770 since it doesn't take a lot of power.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/..._-14-121-326-_-Product

I have no clue which Psu to get ,after reading reviews of most of them im freaked out lol.

Heres my current Specs:
asus a8n-sli deluxe Socket 939
Amd Athlon 64 x2 +4800 2.4 ghz
Ati Radeon x1600 Pro 512mb
4gb (pc3200) ram
350 gb hd Western digital
.................................................
Thanks and i appreciate all opinions.

 

[Narynan]

Yeah nice choice on vid card for the budget. However, the PSU AND vid card at the price is going to be tricky.

PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817341010

That would/could be excellent for you. just act soon to save that extra cash

 

[dguy6789]

With that CPU, get a Radeon HD 4670. The extra speed of the 4770 wouldn't really be noticed. It is extremely low power usage, it doesn't even need a power supply plug in the back of it. The card is many many times faster than your current X1600 Pro and it's cheap.(Beware of cards with the incorrect clock speeds. The 4670 should have 750Mhz GPU and 2000Mhz memory, I've seen some with memory as low as 1600Mhz)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102816
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139005

$170, good GPU and PSU.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

He's not going to need a 600W+ power supply if he gets either the 4770 or 4670, which should run fine on PSUs like the 380W Antec Earthwatts. A 500W PSU is going to be enough for him to use just about any GPU.

 

[Malcolm3000g]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
With that CPU, get a Radeon HD 4670. The extra speed of the 4770 wouldn't really be noticed. It is extremely low power usage, it doesn't even need a power supply plug in the back of it. The card is many many times faster than your current X1600 Pro and it's cheap.(Beware of cards with the incorrect clock speeds. The 4670 should have 750Mhz GPU and 2000Mhz memory, I've seen some with memory as low as 1600Mhz)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102816
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139005

$170, good GPU and PSU.

the reason why i mention the 4770 because of its low power consumption.. and i wouldn't mind getting psu narynan suggested.

My current psu (don't even know what company its from and is probably generic, it only cost 25 bucks) have last for 4 years surprisingly.

Another Q: Is having a generic cheap psu affect 3d performance? like for ex. laggy gameplay.

 

[dguy6789]

Having a generic PSU could possibly affect performance if it is bad enough to cause some devices to throttle down.(I know some Nvidia cards could do something like this) Usually this is not the case though. Having a generic PSU is more likely to cause your system to fail than it is to cause it to run slower. The PSU is the one part of the computer you do not want to skimp on. Everyone needs a high quality power supply(not necessarily high wattage). A low quality power supply will not handle voltage fluctuations well, it is much more likely to fail, and the PSU is one of the only devices in the PC capable of damaging every other device if something goes wrong.

The 4770 is indeed a great card and if you can fit it in the budget, you might as well get it. That said, the 4670 uses even less power than the 4770 and is a much better match for your CPU than the 4770.(A lot of the 4770's extra performance over the 4670 will go wasted due to not having a powerful enough CPU) I would suggest getting a 4670 and a better PSU over getting a 4770 and a worse PSU. If you get a good PSU now, you could probably use it for your next several computers.

 

[Narynan]

And .... THIS .... is why he's intimidated about PSU's. I mean you could get some 450ishW psu, but I just reccomended that 600W because, its pretty good for the cash he's paying, and it would still allow him to get the 4770 he WANTED to get. Thats what I was shooting for.

Edit
However, I don't feel that offering him a 4670 is a choice. That was not the card he was looking for. And from my experience, it pretty well out classes it and still fit's in his budget.

However if he wants different reccomendations so he can come in well under budget, sure, I can do that too.

 

[dguy6789]

"Hey guys i'm planning to upgrade my video card and power supply...

Since i'm on a budget($170)

I was thinking about getting the Radeon 4770 since it doesn't take a lot of power.

Thanks and i appreciate all opinions."

 

[Malcolm3000g]

Originally posted by: Narynan
And .... THIS .... is why he's intimidated about PSU's. I mean you could get some 450ishW psu, but I just reccomended that 600W because, its pretty good for the cash he's paying, and it would still allow him to get the 4770 he WANTED to get. Thats what I was shooting for.

Edit
However, I don't feel that offering him a 4670 is a choice. That was not the card he was looking for. And from my experience, it pretty well out classes it and still fit's in his budget.

However if he wants different reccomendations so he can come in well under budget, sure, I can do that too.

I've read some reviews about the 4670 and there's mixed results (like its not really a gaming Gpu)

I'm really feeling the 4770 ..

As for the psu, i wouldn't mind shelling out $20 extra for it, i just need one that can help my computer maintain it's stability and that could go good with the gpu.

I totally understand what dguy6789 is saying but i'm not sure if the 4670 is better than 4770. The reason why i'm considering getting the 4770 , because of reviews of it being close to the 48xx and some recent geforce cards.

but then again i'm not really an expert of comparing cards so i could be wrong.

 

[dguy6789]

It's all a matter of the reviewer's perspective. The 4670 isn't even close to as fast as the much higher end cards, but it's insanely fast for its price. The 4670 is faster than a Geforce 7900GTX and a Radeon X1950XTX just to give you an idea. The 4670 isn't going to run Crysis at max details at high res, but neither is the 4770(although the 4770 would run Crysis much better). Both would run something like Battlefield 2 or Team Fortress 2 at max details extremely easily.

The 4770 is a lot more powerful than the 4670, but with a 2.4Ghz Athlon 64 X2 you might not get any more fps with a 4770 than a 4670. Both are great of course, but you might not get your money's worth of performance increase going with the 4770 over the 4670 unless you intend to get a new CPU in the future.

What games do you play and intend to play?

 

[Malcolm3000g]

i have a xbox 360 so theres only a couple games i would play my pc ..maybe Call of duty 4,Gta Iv,Need For Speed ,Hawx,nba 2k9 to name a few.


edit: if i end getting the 600+watt psu, should i get a better vid card like one of the radeon 's 48xx?

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
The 4770 is indeed a great card and if you can fit it in the budget, you might as well get it. That said, the 4670 uses even less power than the 4770 and is a much better match for your CPU than the 4770.(A lot of the 4770's extra performance over the 4670 will go wasted due to not having a powerful enough CPU) I would suggest getting a 4670 and a better PSU over getting a 4770 and a worse PSU. If you get a good PSU now, you could probably use it for your next several computers.

I disagree. I think the 4770, even when paired with the 4800+, will still provide tangible benefits over the 4670. Will it run at it's full potential? Of course not. But the 4770 would be a good investment, allowing him usage of higher levels of AA at higher resolutions. At most it will only use 20W more power than the 4670. 20W is not really significant when trying to match appropriate power supplies. And a 650W PSU, like the Corsair you linked to, is totally unnecessary for a single card setup right now and for the future. The Radeon HD5870 can be run, easily, on 500W power supplies.

Originally posted by: Narynan
And .... THIS .... is why he's intimidated about PSU's. I mean you could get some 450ishW psu, but I just reccomended that 600W because, its pretty good for the cash he's paying, and it would still allow him to get the 4770 he WANTED to get. Thats what I was shooting for.

I have the 600W StealthXStream, and if I were buying a power supply right now I would not get it again. It's not a bad PSU at all, but the wattage it provides is totally not necessary. I've also read some (older) reviews and these units seem to have high ripple and noise when nearing the 600W limitation, meaning it's not that great for higher load setups. Although OCZ could have made some revisions to correct this, I really doubt they have done so considering the price of the unit. For power supplies, in general, you get what you pay for. Another nuisance with this PSU is that all of the SATA connectors are on the same line, so it can be a real pain in the ass to connect multiple SATA devices without the use of molex adapters. Otherwise, a positive for the StealthXStream is that it is indeed virtually silent (stealthy).

If I were to make a recommendation, he should grab something like this:

Sapphire HD4850
500W OCZ ModXStream Pro

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln

Originally posted by: dguy6789
The 4770 is indeed a great card and if you can fit it in the budget, you might as well get it. That said, the 4670 uses even less power than the 4770 and is a much better match for your CPU than the 4770.(A lot of the 4770's extra performance over the 4670 will go wasted due to not having a powerful enough CPU) I would suggest getting a 4670 and a better PSU over getting a 4770 and a worse PSU. If you get a good PSU now, you could probably use it for your next several computers.

I disagree. I think the 4770, even when paired with the 4800+, will still provide tangible benefits over the 4670. Will it run at it's full potential? Of course not. But the 4770 would be a good investment, allowing him usage of higher levels of AA at higher resolutions. At most it will only use 20W more power than the 4670. 20W is not really significant when trying to match appropriate power supplies. And a 650W PSU, like the Corsair you linked to, is totally unnecessary for a single card setup right now and for the future. The Radeon HD5870 can be run, easily, on 500W power supplies.

Originally posted by: Narynan
And .... THIS .... is why he's intimidated about PSU's. I mean you could get some 450ishW psu, but I just reccomended that 600W because, its pretty good for the cash he's paying, and it would still allow him to get the 4770 he WANTED to get. Thats what I was shooting for.

I have the 600W StealthXStream, and if I were buying a power supply right now I would not get it again. It's not a bad PSU at all, but the wattage it provides is totally not necessary. I've also read some (older) reviews and these units seem to have high ripple and noise when nearing the 600W limitation, meaning it's not that great for higher load setups. Although OCZ could have made some revisions to correct this, I really doubt they have done so considering the price of the unit. For power supplies, in general, you get what you pay for. Another nuisance with this PSU is that all of the SATA connectors are on the same line, so it can be a real pain in the ass to connect multiple SATA devices without the use of molex adapters. Otherwise, a positive for the StealthXStream is that it is indeed virtually silent (stealthy).

If I were to make a recommendation, he should grab something like this:

Sapphire HD4850
500W OCZ ModXStream Pro

cusideabelincoln: Totally agree

dguy: I ran a C2D e6420 @ 3GHz, 2GB DDR2, and a GTX280 on a ASUS P5N-E SLI board with two HDD's all on an Enermax 436W PSU.
For the OP's budget, He would be more than fine with this:
Thermaltake 500W PSU 60.00
and this:
XFX HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 for 110.00

Even with his CPU, the 4770 is a mile ahead of a 4670 in performance. Closer to a 4850. The OP could always upgrade his platform to appreciate the full potential of the 4770 and not be stuck with a rebadged 3850/70 (4670).

 

[dguy6789]

You are aware that a 1.86Ghz Core 2 Duo is faster than his processor right? A 3Ghz Core 2 is a completely different league. Do you guys really think he should pair a Radeon HD 4850 class video card with that? People were CPU limited putting Geforce 8800s in lower end Core 2 Duo machines.

I'm not saying he needs some major mega wattage PSU, just that he needs a quality non-generic one. I suggested a really good one that would fit into his budget along with the video card I recommended. I did not even begin to imply that was a bare minimum for him to run or anything. Putting $100 into a PSU is a good deal to me because it's not a one time use part, he could use it for his next several builds.

 

[Narynan]

Yeah, and while the OCZ i offered isnt perfect, its a good enought PSU to travel with him for a few years at least. I mean that corsair IS an awesome PSU, but not so much so that I think he should sacrifice the opportunity to get his 4770.

And I think your wrong if you think that the 4670 is anywhere near the same kinda card. Actually while its an OK card if you only have 70/80 bucks, the 4770 outright beats it in every way shape and form.

Yes, he might not be getting everything he CAN out of the 4770 because of his processor, if he had a 4670 in there right now.... and he was here asking if upgrading to a 4770 "would I see a performance increase?" the answer would be hands down... YES.

 

[MrK6]

OP, I would hang tight and wait for a good PSU deal before splurging. Corsair just had a great deal on their 520 W modular model, there might be some others still going on. I look at PSU's as a more permanent upgrade - buy once, buy right. And I think the 4770 is your best option for a video card.

 

[crisium]

Get the 4770 and make use of the extra performance. I'm sure many people here had Athlon X2's when the 8800GTX launched and they paired the two up. The 4770's performance level is similar to that card. For dual core optimized games (most still) my CPU is only nominally faster than an Athlon X2 (2.8GHz+ X2s often beat it). Yet I noticed a gigantic performance increase going from 3850 to 4850. 4670 to 4770 is nearly the same leap (slightly less significant I'll admit). Go for it. And just grab a 500W with at least a combined 30 amps on the 12v and you're good to go.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
You are aware that a 1.86Ghz Core 2 Duo is faster than his processor right? A 3Ghz Core 2 is a completely different league. Do you guys really think he should pair a Radeon HD 4850 class video card with that? People were CPU limited putting Geforce 8800s in lower end Core 2 Duo machines.

I'm not saying he needs some major mega wattage PSU, just that he needs a quality non-generic one. I suggested a really good one that would fit into his budget along with the video card I recommended. I did not even begin to imply that was a bare minimum for him to run or anything. Putting $100 into a PSU is a good deal to me because it's not a one time use part, he could use it for his next several builds.

The HD4770/4850 is in his price range, so he should get it. He should get the fastest card he can afford, really. The HD4670 is a decent card, but I know the HD4770 will provide noticeable improvements. This class of card is about 60% faster than the HD4670. That is a huge improvement, and the CPU will not bottleneck the card so much as to reduce performance that much.

 

[Malcolm3000g]

Thanks for all the replies. I've seen that someone told me to get the XFX 4770 instead of the Asus. 4770, what's the difference?


Edit: And another Q, how much of a perfomance boost will i get from upgrading my video card

and im also looking at this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/..._-14-150-337-_-Product

but its gddr3 while the 4770 is gddr5 strange...

(Current one is x1600 pro 512mb)

 

[v8envy]

http://www.gpureview.com/show_...hp?card1=350&card2=612 will answer that question. Basically your card was a downclocked, lower memory bandwidth version of an X1800XT chopped in half (and in some places 1/4). A 4770 is about double the oomph X1800XT. So we're talking massive, massive leap in amount of GPU capabiliy. Some operations will only be 6x faster, others could be up to 24x faster. The rest is up to your CPU.

 

[Malcolm3000g]

I see.. why is the 4850 gddr3 and the 4770 is gddr5? really don't understand that logic..

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: Malcolm3000g
I see.. why is the 4850 gddr3 and the 4770 is gddr5? really don't understand that logic..

It isn't something that should majorly effect your decision - if you really want to know the technical details, check Anand's review of the 4770 on release.

In brief, the 4850 has the traditional GDDR3 on a 256bit , whereas the 4770 only uses a cheaper 128bit bus but with the new GDDR5 that is effectively clocked about twice as fast. Not a lot in it performance-wise, but there are cost and power benefits for the 4770.

 

[Malcolm3000g]

Originally posted by: Keysplayr

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln

Originally posted by: dguy6789
The 4770 is indeed a great card and if you can fit it in the budget, you might as well get it. That said, the 4670 uses even less power than the 4770 and is a much better match for your CPU than the 4770.(A lot of the 4770's extra performance over the 4670 will go wasted due to not having a powerful enough CPU) I would suggest getting a 4670 and a better PSU over getting a 4770 and a worse PSU. If you get a good PSU now, you could probably use it for your next several computers.

I disagree. I think the 4770, even when paired with the 4800+, will still provide tangible benefits over the 4670. Will it run at it's full potential? Of course not. But the 4770 would be a good investment, allowing him usage of higher levels of AA at higher resolutions. At most it will only use 20W more power than the 4670. 20W is not really significant when trying to match appropriate power supplies. And a 650W PSU, like the Corsair you linked to, is totally unnecessary for a single card setup right now and for the future. The Radeon HD5870 can be run, easily, on 500W power supplies.

Originally posted by: Narynan
And .... THIS .... is why he's intimidated about PSU's. I mean you could get some 450ishW psu, but I just reccomended that 600W because, its pretty good for the cash he's paying, and it would still allow him to get the 4770 he WANTED to get. Thats what I was shooting for.

I have the 600W StealthXStream, and if I were buying a power supply right now I would not get it again. It's not a bad PSU at all, but the wattage it provides is totally not necessary. I've also read some (older) reviews and these units seem to have high ripple and noise when nearing the 600W limitation, meaning it's not that great for higher load setups. Although OCZ could have made some revisions to correct this, I really doubt they have done so considering the price of the unit. For power supplies, in general, you get what you pay for. Another nuisance with this PSU is that all of the SATA connectors are on the same line, so it can be a real pain in the ass to connect multiple SATA devices without the use of molex adapters. Otherwise, a positive for the StealthXStream is that it is indeed virtually silent (stealthy).

If I were to make a recommendation, he should grab something like this:

Sapphire HD4850
500W OCZ ModXStream Pro

cusideabelincoln: Totally agree

dguy: I ran a C2D e6420 @ 3GHz, 2GB DDR2, and a GTX280 on a ASUS P5N-E SLI board with two HDD's all on an Enermax 436W PSU.
For the OP's budget, He would be more than fine with this:
Thermaltake 500W PSU 60.00
and this:
XFX HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 for 110.00

Even with his CPU, the 4770 is a mile ahead of a 4670 in performance. Closer to a 4850. The OP could always upgrade his platform to appreciate the full potential of the 4770 and not be stuck with a rebadged 3850/70 (4670).

Whats the difference between Xfx and Asus that carry the same 4770 card?

 

[s44]

Split the difference: buy the low-power 9800GT and spend more on a quality (not OCZ!) PSU.

 

[Malcolm3000g]

Originally posted by: s44
Split the difference: buy the low-power 9800GT and spend more on a quality (not OCZ!) PSU.

Wait is the 9800gt better than the 4770 and 4850?

the question before that i was asking which company was better who makes cards(Xfx and Asus) and what was the difference between the two