Video Card Upgrade Help

[rowdog007007007]

Greetings all,

Have a bit of a long winded question, and hope someone can help.

I have recently purchased (and am awaiting delivery on) a refurbished Dell Precision Workstation 370. This unit will be running a P4 HT, 512MB Ram (which will be upgraded to 2 gig), and comes pre-equipped with an ATI Fire GL V3100 128 MB. Now I know this is not a gaming card, but I would like to upgrade to a gaming card asap. I have a couple in mind, and would like to stay within $100 or less for now.

The cards I am currently looking at are:

1. ASUS EN9600GSO MAGIC/HTDP/512M GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

2. ASUS EN9500GT OC/DI/512M GeForce 9500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail


They both look good.....but so far everywhere I check, I cannot seem to find proper system requirements on them. At this point I am unsure of exactly the specs of the power supply coming with the computer I have purchased.....all I have gotten is this deom Dell's Tech Specs on it:

Wattage: 350 W

Heat dissipation: 910 BTU/hr

Voltage:
fixed-voltage power supply?110 V at 50/60 Hz
manual selection and auto-sensing power supplies?90 to 135 V at 50/60 Hz; 180 to 265 V at 50/60 Hz; 100 V at 50/60 Hz for Japanese computers

Backup battery: 3-V CR2032 lithium coin cell

Now I know certain cards have a requirement of 20A on the 12V rail I believe it is, but I might be misspeaking. I can only assume the power supply should handle this, as it is already running a PCI-E 16X card, but I could be wrong. Long story short, what I would like to know is what anyone would suggest for a video card. Or if there is anyone out there familiar with the computer model, a little more details about the power supply.

Any info would be greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance!

 

[LOUISSSSS]

have u looked at the 4670? it outperforms every card in its price range of $80 and can keep up with many of the cards in the $100 range.

 

[rowdog007007007]

Actually, that one does look very good.....I can't seem to find anything on the system requirements for it tho. Would love to know what kind of psu it requires, etc.

 

[rowdog007007007]

Upon more inspection, I have found that while it is a great card for the money, it requires a 450 watt PSU (which offsets the value, as I would need to purchase a new PSU). It seems that the 9500 GT only needs a 350 watt supply, and has no requirements as far as amps along the 12V rail.

If anyone has anything to add, or any other suggests, feel free, and thanks in advance.

 

[betasub]

The so-called "PSU requirements" are generalised fail-safe specifications taking into account systems that may include no-name PSU makes running quads and multiple harddrives.

The Dell unit is a solid PSU and should have no problem with such low power cards as those listed above from the entry/budget sector. 4670 looks to be the performance winner if you can find it within your budget.

 

[Denithor]

Go for the EVGA 9600GSO instead, gives nearly the same performance as the 4670 but only costs $50AR.

And yes, the Dell powersupplies are rated quite low but provide plenty of power for the low to mid-range video cards.

 

[rowdog007007007]

That looks pretty dang nice also. Ok, so I am safe with my current PSU then....good to know. The only other thing that troubles me then is the fact that I can't find any info in the Dell Specs (http://support.dell.com/suppor.../findinfo.htm#1054387) on the computer regarding the type of PCI-E port it is (i.e. 1.0, 1.1, 2.0). I am told that 1.1 will run a card designed for 2.0 anyways, but 1.0 will not. If anyone has any info on this, or maybe on the type of port this deal is packing, please let me know.

Thanks again...all the advice has been much appreciated.

 

[rowdog007007007]

Well, I think it might be best to rephrase my question to ask more along the lines of what I really need to know lol.

See, I am upgrading from a rig that had no agp, or PCI-E slots.....I was working on a PCI graphics card. Eventually this became unbearable, as I would play game (mostly WoW and City of Heroes), and get whooping 5-15 fps rates. Eventually this became unplayable to me as it was like watching a slideshow.

So I purchased this new computer (the Dell WS370), which comes pre-equipped with a PCI-E 16x slot. Now being new to the game, I have no clue what to buy in this department. I am looking to get a good bang for my buck, without having to spend much cash. I would rather not replace the PSU if at all possible, as that will only add more to the cost. So basically I am looking for *any* video card that is going to run decently with the already included 350 watt power supply. Now I can only assume that being as this Dell was equipped with a 3100 FireGL card in the PCI-E 16X slot already, that it must have a 6 pin connection from the PSU (mind you this computer is still being shipped, so I have not actually seen it yet). As far as the amps on the 12V rails...theres no telling.

So long story short, I am looking for anything that is going to reliably run games (mainly WoW, and City of Heroes), with either high settings or even medium ones (as I have already become used to low settings anyways lol), and still get good frames per second (heck, 30+ would even be an improvement for me, but the more the merrier). In doing so, I would like to get something where I would not have to upgrade the PSU, or worry about the amps on the 12V rail. This could even be from a previous series of cards, so long as the price is right.

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Roguestar]

If you buy the 4670 (in my opinion a great buy at the price and for your needs) you won't have to worry about the power connection as it comes with a molex->PCIe 6-pin in the box. Your power supply should be good enough for it.

 

[rowdog007007007]

Excellent....that sounds good to me. I would just hate to buy it, and not have it be able to work due to lack of wattage, or amps (or even connector lol).

I see one here on newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16814102792), however its not showing the molex -> PCIe 6-pin tho.