Video Card died, need something that can run with 305 Watts

[OulOat]

My video card died today after 2.5 years of use. Computer boots, monitor remains on power saver mode. I guess what killed it was Sid Miers Alpha Centauri (very very old game). This could explain all the "nvlddmkm stopped responding and has recovered" warnings that I've been getting.

I've been out of the computer building loop for a while now. I know I need a PCI-E card around $100 from a local joint tomorrow. I was about to buy the PNY GeForce 9800 GT 1GB GDDR3:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/PNY+-+NV...&skuId=8968094

However, the specs say it needs a 400W PSU. My Dell only has 305W. I have no plans to upgrade my system right now, so please recommend a video card that will work. What I liked about the PNY was:

2 DVI outputs (I assume I can go dual monitors with this?)
around $100
don't care if it's ATI or nVidia

I'm not a very performance oriented user. The newest games I play would be Dawn of War 2 and Heroes of Might and Magic 5. However, if the GPU can speed up Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop, then I would be willing to shell out more. But to me, the old (and dead) 7600 GT works fine for me.

 

[OulOat]

Going on a hunch, it seems that my old 7600GT needed a 350W PSU. Hm... maybe it isn't dead, instead maybe the PSU is dying. Anyone know if Frys or BB will test out a video card if I bring it in? I would call but it's after hours now.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The 7600GT isn't a very power-hungry card. I assume that Dell PSU should handle it fine. What are the specs of the rest of the system? And do you know how many amps that PSU can deliver on the +12V rail(s)?

There are low power versions of the 9800GT, but I do not know if Frys or BB will have them. You can check.

 

[HalfCrazy]

Computer shops should offer to test it. But they might charge you for doing so. Best bet would try a friend to test your card out.

 

[happy medium]

In your case a gt240 with gddr5 will do nicely for 10$ cheaper.
It draws less power then your 7600gt and about twice as fast.

"At idle, the ASUS ENGT240 GDDR5 uses a mere 10W of power, while under full load, I measured only a 49 watt usage, which is significantly below NVIDIA's rated 69 watts maximum. This load usage is also substantially below the idle power required by NVIDIA's high end cards. The primary advantage to having a video card like the GeForce GT 240 is that it does not require external power connections from the PSU."

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...k=view&id=423&Itemid=72&limit=1&limitstart=11

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/PNY+-+Ge...&skuId=9636231

If you must buy at Best Buy get that.

 

[OulOat]

Thanks for the quick responses. The rails deliver:
+5V 22A
+12V 18A
+3.3V 17A

I wish I still had my multimeter to test the currents, but alas, I went through a downsizing phase and donated all my unused gear. Still, I find it strange that a 10+ year old game would stress the system enough to crash it. Plus, I play this game regularly. Strange, indeed.

 

[BassBomb]

Thanks for the quick responses. The rails deliver:
+5V 22A
+12V 18A
+3.3V 17A

I wish I still had my multimeter to test the currents, but alas, I went through a downsizing phase and donated all my unused gear. Still, I find it strange that a 10+ year old game would stress the system enough to crash it. Plus, I play this game regularly. Strange, indeed.

There is your problem right there.

 

[happy medium]

Thanks for the quick responses. The rails deliver:
+5V 22A
+12V 18A
+3.3V 17A

I wish I still had my multimeter to test the currents, but alas, I went through a downsizing phase and donated all my unused gear. Still, I find it strange that a 10+ year old game would stress the system enough to crash it. Plus, I play this game regularly. Strange, indeed.

The gt240 I linked will easily run on that psu.

 

[OulOat]

The gt240 I linked will easily run on that psu.

Only issue is it is online only, and I would like a B&M so I can get my comp back up tomorrow. There is a Frys here as well, but the website is down for me right now. I'm checking OD right now.

From your perspective, is it better to have more memory or faster memory? For the same price range, I could get 1GB of DDR3 vs 512MB of DDR5.

As part of debugging, I unplugged all my drives to reduce the load on the PSU. Still, LCD remains on power saving mode on bootup. I think the video card is dead.

 

[happy medium]

gddr5 is better and you only need 512mb in your case.

They should have them in store also.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The faster memory will make the bigger difference.

That PSU is pretty weak on the +12V rails. I definitely wouldn't stick a card that uses over 50W in that thing, especially if you have a power hungry processor.

The GT 240 will fit the bill. Your next best option would be the Radeon HD4670: Slower than the 240 and draws no more than 50W. In fact I'd say these two cards are your best options and would be substantial upgrades over your 7600GT.

Other options would be the Geforce 9500GT, Geforce GT 220 (with GDDR3 as opposed to DDR2), and Radeon HD4650 (preferably with GDDR3 over DDR2). But these cards would be just slight upgrades over the 7600GT.

 

[OulOat]

Frys.com is back up! And down again. In any case, I manage to look through their selection before it went down. Trying to decide between these two:

Diamond HD4670 1GB PCI-Express Video Card
http://www.frys.com/product/5721122?...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

EVGA 512-P3-1240-LR GeForce GT 240 512mb PCI Express Video card
http://www.frys.com/product/6114079?...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

The main thing I like about the ATI card is the ability to go dual monitor. If I want to go dual with the EVGA, won't I need another card?

 

[Schmide]

How about this.

$36 = $69.49 - $30 rebate - $3.50 5% bing* Asus ATI Radeon HD4670 512MB

add a $5.51 filler to reach $75 and take another $10 coupon REINDEER10 exp 12/21 for respectively.

$31.25 = $75 - $30 - $3.75 - $10

+ ~$10 shipping.

*Store listed under SuperBiiz be sure to sign in to bing first to get your cash back.

 

[OulOat]

How about this.

$36 = $69.49 - $30 rebate - $3.50 5% bing* Asus ATI Radeon HD4670 512MB

add a $5.51 filler to reach $75 and take another $10 coupon REINDEER10 exp 12/21 for respectively.

$31.25 = $75 - $30 - $3.75 - $10

+ ~$10 shipping.

*Store listed under SuperBiiz be sure to sign in to bing first to get your cash back.

Wow, that is a great deal. Only thing is for me, the opportunity cost of having my computer down while the card ships is too great. Still, thanks for that deal. That is amazing and hope that someone can take advantage of it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The faster memory will make the bigger difference.

That PSU is pretty weak on the +12V rails. I definitely wouldn't stick a card that uses over 50W in that thing, especially if you have a power hungry processor.

I ran an E2140 @ 3.2, and a Radeon X1950Pro PCI-E video card, on a ThermalTake TR2-430 PSU that only has 18A on the 12V, and it ran fine for quite some time. I upgraded the PSU anyways, because I wanted to put in a more powerful graphics card, and I was having monthly rebooting issues.

Well, a 500W Antec Basiq didn't fix the monthly rebooting issues, so I had to lower the overclock to 2.8Ghz (stock is 1.6Ghz), and that fixed it.

But I never had a problem that could be attributed to the ThermalTake PSU.

 

[edplayer]

9800GT is better than a GT240 even with gddr5

uses more power though. A Radeon 4770 is what I would pick from ATi. What cpu are you using?

 

[OulOat]

9800GT is better than a GT240 even with gddr5

uses more power though. A Radeon 4770 is what I would pick from ATi. What cpu are you using?

Dim E520, Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6320 (1.86GHz, 1066FSB) with 4MB cache

Another big power drain is my 3 HDs.

 

[edplayer]

Your cpu doesn't use a lot of power. Hard drives don't really use a lot either. Any card listed so far in this thread should work.

 

[blanketyblank]

I ran an 8800 gt 512 on a 320 watt PSU before. It was an antec earthwatts made for htpcs though so it might have provided more power than your psu.

 

[hans007]

the reason , they spec "400W" power supplies, is there used to be a lot of horrible 400W power supplies, especially in the athlon XP days.

those power supplies counted the 3.3 and 5V wattage that most reasonably modern PCs dont even use, and people back then and now

His power supply is probably atx version 1.3, as 2.0 required dual 12V rails with a minimum 22 amps combined.

So basically if your cpu isnt horrifically power hungry, I think you could safely use any card that uses 100-110 watts. If you are using a pentium D or something maybe its a bad idea, or if you have say 2-3 hard drives.

If your machine is a core 2 based one, with say 1 hard drive, and cdrom, ti think you could probably use a radeon 5750 or 5770 even.

If you want to be really safe, radeon 4770.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I just got one of the low power 9800GT PNY cards on close out at best buy for less than 90.00. I am running it on a 300 watt power supply so far with no problems, but have had it only a couple of days, so I am a bit concerned, but so far OK.

I have a dual core E4500 at stock and only one hard drive though. The requirements on the box for the card say 400 watts and 26 amps, but those seem way too high.

At least where I live, (Minnesota), the graphics card close out best buy prices seem totally variable from store to store. The exact same card will be at wildly different close out prices at 2 different stores. So if you have several best buys where you live, check them all out. Maybe you will find a good deal.

There is also a low power 9600GT from best buy (Galaxy), but I had that card and had a lot of problems with fan noise and high temperatures. I am going to take it back to best buy and see if they will exchange it or give me a partial refund. I only had the card 3 months and it makes a terrible screaming noise from the fan when I start it up.

The other good choice as stated by others is the 4670. However, at least in this area, it is still expensive at best buy. I would not recommend the 4650 unless you can find a DDR3 version (highly unlikely).

 

[frozentundra123456]

Just another note about the cards I mentioned in the previous post. None of them need an external six pin power connector.

I assume you know to check if you have a six pin or 2 x 4 pin connectors if you try to use any cards more powerful than a 4670 or the energy efficient 9600GT or EE 9800 gt.

By the way, the 9800GT that I got was only a 512 mb version. They also had EE versions of the 9800GT with 1GB memory on sale, but they were quite a bit more expensive. Since I use mostly low resolutions, I figured the performance loss would be minimal.

Hope this is not double posting, but I was not sure how to edit the previous post.

 

[evolucion8]

HD 4770, faster than the GT240 and almost equal in power consumption with the slight edge going to the GT240.

 

[s44]

HD 4770, faster than the GT240 and almost equal in power consumption with the slight edge going to the GT240.

Not even close.
4770 = 81W
9800GT = 66W
GT240 ~= 40W

 

[hans030390]

If you can find a 4650 or 4670, that should work. I know I ran a 4650 on a similar PSU.