What is the best nvidia video card...

[biteman]

My psu only has 2- 6 pin connectors and i want to try out SLI. I just want to know what is the best performing card that requires only one 6 pin connector. There was an ASUS 9800 GT posted yesterday that boasted some really good numbers but I wanted to know if there was anything better. I guess i should mention that i'll be using them at 1920x1200.

 

[apoppin]

what IS your PS

many cards come with adapters from molex to 6-pin

Heck, i even "fooled" my GTX280 into accepting 2 6 pin Power leads with an alligator clip

 

[biteman]

Heres the link to my PS.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817341002

Although i am curious to see if its possible to use a GTX 280 i would also like to see what is the fastest single 6 pin GPU. From all the benchmarks i've seen and remember the 8800 GT SLI is faster than a single GTX 280 *and that Asus 9800 GT creams the 8800 GT so it should be able to kill in SLI as well* but at the resolution i game on the GTX 280 is still something that i would be happy with as well.

 

[apoppin]

what you just said makes no sense to me

Your PS is the 700w lighter and newer version of mine

You certainly can run a GTX280 on your PS - the 280 and the 480x2 are my favorite GPUs, so far - both of 'em run [separately] on mine - and my OCZ only has 6-pin connectors. The 6-8-pin adapter that came with the BFG Tech 280GTX doesn't fit

why not get a gtx280 .. and another one later on for SLi?

 

[biteman]

Since we got identical PS the the 6-8 pin adapter wont work on mine either. But those cant be that expensive to buy. So you just used an aligator clip?

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: biteman
Since we got identical PS the the 6-8 pin adapter wont work on mine either. But those cant be that expensive to buy. So you just used an aligator clip?

Mine is the 850w OCZ; i am certain your 700w would run a single 280GTX; it requires 40a on the 12 volt rail, so i am uncertain if you could run GTX SLi reliably on it - there is a lot of "molex to pciE" adapters involved and 550w is recommended for a single 280.

Anyway, yes - i have run 2900xt crossfire off my OCZ 850w [which meant *two* alligator clips connecting the 2 sets of exposed pins to ground]

However, it is usually NP to upgrade your PS later on .. it is almost always best to get a single powerful GPU than a multi-gpu setup [imo]

 

[thilanliyan]

For that res a GTX260 or ATI 4870 is sufficient. What's your budget?

 

[CP5670]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: biteman
Since we got identical PS the the 6-8 pin adapter wont work on mine either. But those cant be that expensive to buy. So you just used an aligator clip?

Mine is the 850w OCZ; i am certain your 700w would run a single 280GTX; it requires 40a on the 12 volt rail, so i am uncertain if you could run GTX SLi reliably on it - there is a lot of "molex to pciE" adapters involved and 550w is recommended for a single 280.

Anyway, yes - i have run 2900xt crossfire off my OCZ 850w [which meant *two* alligator clips connecting the 2 sets of exposed pins to ground]

The 40A is just Nvidia's official recommendation to cover overrated PSUs and can be ignored. A typical system with a 280 will use around 22-25A on 12V in practice.

The alligator clip will work as long as a short circuit does not occur. It seems that the extra ground pins on the 8-pin connector are needed to allow all the current to disperse safely in the event of a short.

Not sure why the adapter wouldn't fit though. The PCIE connectors on that OCZ look like the usual ones, and the adapters are all the same.

 

[Blazer7]

We already had a thread about this here : Fastest Nvidia card with a single 6-pin external power connector

I do have 2 EN8800GTS TOP in SLI and they rock. However, if your PSU is capable of supporting a single GTX280 you should definitely think about it. SLI does not always scale well and single card setups do not suffer from microstutter. As apoppin said it is almost always best to get a single powerful GPU than a multi-gpu setup. Take it from someone that has SLI.

 

[biteman]

Well if i could run the GTX 280 then i would rather run that than the SLI setup. If i get the GTX 280 then ther really wont be any point for me to get them SLI until i go up to the next level of resolution. Even at 2560x1600 the GTX 280 does pretty decently.

 

[biteman]

I just wanted to get the best performance out of my PS. And at 1920x1200 the best single card choice for me is the GTX 280. I remember seeing a thread like this a while back but i couldn't find it. And yes i would go for that GTX 280 over the SLI setup as well. I guess the only thing i have to decide now is which manufacturer should i go with.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: CP5670

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: biteman
Since we got identical PS the the 6-8 pin adapter wont work on mine either. But those cant be that expensive to buy. So you just used an aligator clip?

Mine is the 850w OCZ; i am certain your 700w would run a single 280GTX; it requires 40a on the 12 volt rail, so i am uncertain if you could run GTX SLi reliably on it - there is a lot of "molex to pciE" adapters involved and 550w is recommended for a single 280.

Anyway, yes - i have run 2900xt crossfire off my OCZ 850w [which meant *two* alligator clips connecting the 2 sets of exposed pins to ground]

The 40A is just Nvidia's official recommendation to cover overrated PSUs and can be ignored. A typical system with a 280 will use around 22-25A on 12V in practice.

The alligator clip will work as long as a short circuit does not occur. It seems that the extra ground pins on the 8-pin connector are needed to allow all the current to disperse safely in the event of a short.

Not sure why the adapter wouldn't fit though. The PCIE connectors on that OCZ look like the usual ones, and the adapters are all the same.

i just think they put the wrong adapter into my box .. it has the male ends [or vice versa] where it should be the other way round

yes, a short is possible .. but unlikely with the Alligator clip; i ran 2900xt for a long time with it

Well if i could run the GTX 280 then i would rather run that than the SLI setup. If i get the GTX 280 then ther really wont be any point for me to get them SLI until i go up to the next level of resolution. Even at 2560x1600 the GTX 280 does pretty decently.

Not in DX10 .. you are pretty much limited to 19x12 with a single GTX280 if you like "max everything"; but then you are able to get another one ... later

Manufacturer? Get the one with the cheapest price and best warranty. My BFGTech was only $390 after $30 MiR

 

[sourthings]

Originally posted by: biteman
Heres the link to my PS.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817341002

Although i am curious to see if its possible to use a GTX 280 i would also like to see what is the fastest single 6 pin GPU. From all the benchmarks i've seen and remember the 8800 GT SLI is faster than a single GTX 280 *and that Asus 9800 GT creams the 8800 GT so it should be able to kill in SLI as well* but at the resolution i game on the GTX 280 is still something that i would be happy with as well.

I think you are fine with your ps for a 280. A friend of mine recently went 280 SLI and needed a PS and tried using mine http://canadacomputers.com/ind...&pid=014329&cid=PS.808 it ran both the 280s in SLI without issue, and runs my X2 just fine as well.

You'll have no problem running a single 280 on your ps.

 

[biteman]

Hopefully they give me the right ones. But even if they don't looks like it will be an easy fix. Well thats what i have right now. I don't think I'll be making the resolution jump anytime soon so i should be fine with just one. Thanks for your input.

That's cutting it really close though. Whats the minimum power requirement for GTX 280 SLI. I would think you would want 850w minimum.

 

[Insidious]

I am running a 8800GTS 512 and a 9800GTS+ both mildly OC'd with a Q6600 that is moderately OC'd on a 650W cheapo PSU. I don't think you need to go with 800W for any single video card unless you want to just for overhead in case you decide to image 10 hard drives simultaneously while you watch 5 DVDs during a game of HL2 with Seti running in the background.

-Sid

 

[sourthings]

Originally posted by: biteman
Hopefully they give me the right ones. But even if they don't looks like it will be an easy fix. Well thats what i have right now. I don't think I'll be making the resolution jump anytime soon so i should be fine with just one. Thanks for your input.

That's cutting it really close though. Whats the minimum power requirement for GTX 280 SLI. I would think you would want 850w minimum.

I believe the suggested ones are 1000watt and up. I figure they probably go that route to make sure the power supplies they recommend are guaranteed to deliver. There's a website somewhere that lets you tally up what you need based on what is in your system and includes variables for overclocking.

here it is http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

[Keysplayr]

I ran a Phenom 9550, 2GB DDR2, 1HDD, 1DVD, and a GTX280 on and Antec 500W without a problem. I feel that was pushing the PSU a little, so I bought a Corsair 750 for some overhead, and SLI'd 9800GTX+'s. That worked fine. I also had a GTX280 and a 9800GTX+ crunching F@H along with the CPU's 4 cores crunching as well.