Which card to choose?

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Flipped Gazelle

Diamond Member
Sep 5, 2004
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What's the PSU like?

Both of those card have been superseded since a while ago... you can do better for $100.
 
T

TheChort

Diamond Member
May 20, 2003
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This is gonna sound retarded, but how do i check my power supply

And not to be ungrateful, but if the other cards you guys are suggesting are only like 10-20% better/faster than the ones I posted, then it's really not worth the effort
 
geokilla

geokilla

Platinum Member
Oct 14, 2006
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I misread your vote, so take 1 vote off of the 8800GTS.

Go with what Azn said and get either a 9800GT or 4830.

You can check your PSU by opening up your case, and reading the label. And what do you mean not worth the effort? It's just a click away...
 
C

chizow

Diamond Member
Jun 26, 2001
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3MHz CPU!!! :)

The linked cards by Azn are definitely much better for only $10 more.
 
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TheChort

Diamond Member
May 20, 2003
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Originally posted by: geokilla
I misread your vote, so take 1 vote off of the 8800GTS.

Go with what Azn said and get either a 9800GT or 4830.

You can check your PSU by opening up your case, and reading the label. And what do you mean not worth the effort? It's just a click away...
Click to expand...

I don't want to buy something that's gonna overload the PSU.
I should have said, "It's not worth the risk"

I'm not very technically savvy. So I don't know what kind of burden the rest of my PC is putting on my PSU. But I'm all ears if the people here have advice. You guys know much more than I do.
 
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themisfit610

Golden Member
Apr 16, 2006
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_don't_ buy an 8800gts 320mb :)

Those cards were seriously handicapped by their lack of memory.

~MiSfit
 
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vj8usa

Senior member
Dec 19, 2005
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Originally posted by: TheChort
here's my PSU btw
http://www.impactcomputers.com/p8401.html
it's 375W
Click to expand...

That PSU's got dual 18A 12V rails. It'll handle either of the cards Azn recommended, both of which are significantly better than your original choices. From what I've seen, I'd recommend the 4830 over the 9800GT - it seems to be a tiny bit faster overall, and it is $5 cheaper (the aftermarket cooling doesn't hurt, either).
 
AzN

AzN

Banned
Nov 26, 2001
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3870 eats just as much as power as 8800gt. So does 8800gts 320mb. Your power supply might be okay or not. 375watts is kind of low.

Just to be safe I would go with 9600gt because it takes less power than any of those cards. It performs within 15% of the 9800gt.
 
A

a123456

Senior member
Oct 26, 2006
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A 3870 uses about 81W at full load while the 4830 uses 85W and the 9800GT uses 83W. But the last two are significantly faster, on the order of 10-50% depending on the settings and the game.

You have a 375W PSU, which should be able to handle the card just fine with 2 12V rails for a max of 30A (http://abc.s65.xrea.com/dell/wiki/Dimension/9150/). 9800GT, for reference, wants 26A on the 12V. If you're really that worried about power, there's always the 4670 that consumes about half the power of all of those and gives pretty close performance numbers.

Most of the reviews for the 4830 show total system load to run around 250W and Dell PSUs are generally of high quality.

4830 review is here if you want to check for yourself: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articl...lay/radeon-hd4830.html
 
F

Flipped Gazelle

Diamond Member
Sep 5, 2004
6,666
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Originally posted by: TheChort
And not to be ungrateful, but if the other cards you guys are suggesting are only like 10-20% better/faster than the ones I posted, then it's really not worth the effort
Click to expand...

20% can be quite a difference.

Also, newer cards that have similar performance to the previous generation are often cooler and draw less power, and also sometimes support more features.

Originally posted by: TheChort
here's my PSU btw
http://www.impactcomputers.com/p8401.html
it's 375W
Click to expand...

I probably wouldn't try to burden that PSU too much. Maybe try a Radeon 4670 - it offers good performance for the price ($70 or less) and doesn't suck much power compared to the other video card that have been mentioned. A 9600GT tops.

Originally posted by: TheChort
For a Dell Dimension9150
3MHz
3GB RAM
WinXP SP2
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you mean 3 Ghz... is it a dual-core Pentium?

 
AzN

AzN

Banned
Nov 26, 2001
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Originally posted by: vj8usa
Originally posted by: TheChort
here's my PSU btw
http://www.impactcomputers.com/p8401.html
it's 375W
Click to expand...

That PSU's got dual 18A 12V rails. It'll handle either of the cards Azn recommended, both of which are significantly better than your original choices. From what I've seen, I'd recommend the 4830 over the 9800GT - it seems to be a tiny bit faster overall, and it is $5 cheaper (the aftermarket cooling doesn't hurt, either).
Click to expand...

375 watts with a efficiency of 75% or so at 50C is going to limit it to 282 watts of real output of the power supply. Having 2 12v rails means nothing. It's just ATX 2.0 specification.

A full loaded system might peak at those watts or not. It just depends what kind of peripherals he has too.
 
F

Flipped Gazelle

Diamond Member
Sep 5, 2004
6,666
3
81
Originally posted by: TheChort
now that I'm looking at the specs for these things, it looks like all of them require 450+ watts
am I reading something wrong?
Click to expand...

No, you're reading it right. Manufacturers tend to over-specify the required power supply, because there are a lot of crappy PSU's out there and the card manufacturers try to compensate for that. Most Dell PSU's are decent for what they are.
 
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Concillian

Diamond Member
May 26, 2004
3,751
8
81
9800GT or 4830

Yes, your power supply can handle them. The 8800GTS actually has the highest thermal design power (usually this means highest input power requirement too) of all the cards listed in this thread.

9800GT or 4830 are the best in terms of power usage and performance for the cost in this price range.
 
O

OCNewbie

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2000
7,596
24
81
Go with either one of AZN's original suggestions. Either the 4830 or the 9800GT are excellent choices.

Here is another 4830 worthy of consideration. It's said to overclock really well - PowerColor HD 4830. About the same price as the Sapphire too, $3 more after rebate including shipping.
 
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s44

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2006
9,427
16
81
Originally posted by: Azn
375 watts with a efficiency of 75% or so at 50C is going to limit it to 282 watts of real output of the power supply.
Click to expand...
You don't know how PSUs work. They're rated on output, not input. Efficiency is how much more it draws from the wall.

Dells are really under-rated anyway.
 
O

OCNewbie

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2000
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Originally posted by: s44
Originally posted by: Azn
375 watts with a efficiency of 75% or so at 50C is going to limit it to 282 watts of real output of the power supply.
Click to expand...
They're rated on output, not input. Efficiency is how much more it draws from the wall.
Click to expand...

This is what I was thinking when I read his post earlier but didn't have enough knowledge to challenge it =)
 
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