Power requirements for 7600GS/GTs

[Bateluer]

I'm looking at getting a new system for my sister, a used Dell E521 system. It will be sporting a Sempron 3400 with 512MB DDR2 RAM, and GF 6150<?> IGP. Here is the link to the system on Dell's website.

It had a 305w PSU, I'm pretty sure that will be plenty for a 7600GS or GT, but I'd rather be certain. She'll be doing some light gaming on this machine, which would demand more than an IGP. I'm thinking a 7600GS would make a good match for a Sempron 3400 with 512MB of RAM.

 

[BernardP]

I just ordered, as of yesterday, a Dell E521 for my parents, but went with the A64 3200+, not the Sempron. I just felt the extra 20 bucks was worth it considering the A64's newer technology. The Sempron is basically a respin of the previous-gen Athlon XP.

Also, no doubt about doubling the memory to 1 GB for $55. At current memory prices, this is more than fairly priced. The 1 GB will come in handy for gaming and is an absolute minimum if this machine is ever going to be upgraded to Windows Vista.

I got a free future upgrade to Vista Basic with my order.

My father insisted on a Dell, because most of his friends have Dells and are happy with them. I must admit the E521 is hard to beat for the price, considering its intended use.

Now, about the video card: The 305 Watts will be enough for the 7600GS, and the 7600GS will be enough for light gaming. But matching power requirements of various components and power supplies seem to be a black art. I would be less certain about the 7600GT on this system.

I have been looking at 7600 GS and GT cards long and hard for quite some time, and here are my picks for best 7600GS cards:

MSI with open fan design

Gigabyte with Zalman-designed passive heatsink

 

[Avalon]

Hate to break it to you BernardP, but that Sempron was not a respin of an Athlon XP. It was an Athlon 64 with half the cache.
OP, the PSU will be fine for that video card. It takes very little power.

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: Avalon
Hate to break it to you BernardP, but that Sempron was not a respin of an Athlon XP. It was an Athlon 64 with half the cache.

Oops! Sorry. I had forgotten that the Sempron had also been upgraded. The previous Sempron was 32-bit only and essentially a renamed Athlon XP, but the current Sempron has the A64 architecture with 256 KB of cache instead of 512.

But I remain consistent with my previous choice for my own system. I got a 3700+ over the 3500+ (for $ 20 more at the time), because it had 1 MB of cache instead of 512 KB.

 

[Bateluer]

Thanks for the replies, but I'll be buying this from the Dell Outlet store. The faster CPU and extra ram will push the price over 400, I'm hoping to get this thing for under 350, plus the price of a 7600GS.

But, if the Outlet store doesn't have E521s available in my timetable, than I'll have to go buy it off the Dell website. Luckily, my mom is footing a portion of the bill as well.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

both cards consume less than 40W. nice cards not too fast though. and go for the 7600gt, 7600gs is not fast enuff for any newer game.

 

[dBTelos]

Plenty of power. I think Dell uses FSP for those systems, so you can count on a decent supply.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch
both cards consume less than 40W. nice cards not too fast though. and go for the 7600gt, 7600gs is not fast enuff for any newer game.

We're talking about The Sims 2 and WarCraft 3 here.

 

[schneiderguy]

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch
both cards consume less than 40W. nice cards not too fast though. and go for the 7600gt, 7600gs is not fast enuff for any newer game.

a 7600gs is fast enough to run most newer games at 1024*768.