Bought a new graphics card...

Tetsuro · 01-10-2011, 12:03 AM

The 8800GT that came with my current PC broke after just one year (memory failure), but it was still under warranty so I got a 9600GT as a replacement. My current card has been with me for over a year now but since that was the second graphics card to fail on me within two years (the previous was one in a laptop no less), I decided to get a new one and put the 9600 into storage as a backup.

Picked up an Asus ENGTX460 TOP, a really nice card...

...at least, that's what the reviews tell me. It just happens that while I was trying to install it, I realized that it never dawned to me that my PSU might not sport enough muscle for it.

It doesn't.

So now it's time to buy a new PSU too! I've already settled for a Corsair AX series (more expensive than the TX series, but the modular cabling is awesome and my case is a bit cramped), and the only thing I need to concern myself really is the wattage...according to newegg, my new setup would require ~550 watts (seeing I'm aiming to pick either 750 or 850 watt PSU, that's hardly an issue), but if I were to buy a second, identical card for SLI, how much upwards do you think that wattage requirement would go? Tho come to think of it, if this card requires 16x PCI-E gate and my motherboard has only one such gate, I doubt I'll ever do SLI...not in this computer anyway.

Delicieuxz · 01-10-2011, 12:43 PM

From what I remember, a PsU's stated power output might not be equal to its true power rating - so an 800 watt PSU might be giving you only 650 watt, or, it might deliver 1000 watts. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that was what I recall reading about when I bought my BFG PSU, which I think was branded as 850 watts but delivered closer to 1000 in tests.
Corsair is generally a good PSU maker, I think.

I did a search for "Asus ENGTX460 watts," and I see mention of the TOP card using 212 watts of energy during intense benchmarking, so I guess if you wanted to add one on later you would need an additional 212 on top of your 550 = 762 watts.

Tetsuro · 01-10-2011, 01:07 PM

Well, I decided to pick up Corsair 850AX as my new PSU - Corsair seems to make really good PSUs anyway according to the reviews - and they tend to be capable of pushing more than the listed wattage too.

Phayzon · 01-10-2011, 10:38 PM

I have 2 Radeon HD4870s and an overclocked Core 2 Quad Q9550 running smoothly off a 650W. 850W should be more than enough for you to add another 460 down the road

KO Gilligan · 01-11-2011, 08:29 AM

The 768MB version is not power hungry as the 1G version - the memory bandwidth is 192bit rather than the 256bit that the 1G card has, so the performance is not quite as good, but it's still pretty close.

That being said, I love my 768MB GTX460 - it bests the 5770 - seems to be a power miser - and it runs cool. I crank everything up on my HD monitor, and a couple newer games need to run at 1600 rather than 1920 to keep the framerates nice and smooth - it'll play anything at 1920 but you can see a slight bit of choppyness on a few games when the action gets serious. I wonder if more DDR3 would fix it though - the GPU will utilize another 3/4 Gig off-card memory, and I'm still running only 2 Gigs

Funny thing is even the new games aren't photorealistic in a way that I'm missing out at the lower resolution anyway - I'm perfectly happy with it. I don't know if you got the 1g or 768, but mine makes me very happy.

Kit · 01-11-2011, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phayzon

I have 2 Radeon HD4870s and an overclocked Core 2 Quad Q9550 running smoothly off a 650W. 850W should be more than enough for you to add another 460 down the road

How far did you manage to overclock your Q9550?

Phayzon · 01-11-2011, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kit

How far did you manage to overclock your Q9550?

I only have it at 3.4GHz (400MHz FSB). I'm sure I could push it farther, at the time I wanted 400MHz FSB to be 1:1 with my DDR2-800. Now I have DDR2-1066 and 533MHz FSB is out of the question

Tetsuro · 01-13-2011, 08:34 PM

My new PSU as well as the extra RAM I also ordered finally arrived.

Impressions so far...apparently I was under a misbelief that Vista could use up to 4 gigabytes of RAM - I'm showing only about 3.3 gigs, meaning that's about 700 megabytes of RAM gone to waste

And as for the graphics card...hard to say. Apart from SL I really don't have any graphically demanding games and even then I can't say I've noticed any discernible difference in performance. However, my temperatures have vastly improved - my new GPU runs almost 20 degrees celsius cooler than the old one and the PSU runs even cooler, both of these contribute to the overall temperatures inside my case, resulting in almost ten degree decrease in my CPU temps.

NutWrench · 01-14-2011, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tetsuro

Impressions so far...apparently I was under a misbelief that Vista could use up to 4 gigabytes of RAM - I'm showing only about 3.3 gigs, meaning that's about 700 megabytes of RAM gone to waste

Vista/Windows 7 superfetch is a real resource hog. I have 12 gigs of ram and superfetch eats up at least 2 gigs.

Tetsuro · 01-14-2011, 03:20 PM

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm reaching the point where I might as well buy a new case, new motherboard, new CPU, new HD and a new OS as well...go the whole nine yards, you know? My current PC already has two optical drives so it can easily spare one for a new computer - plus I think I want a 64-bit OS this time around.

Kit · 01-14-2011, 05:58 PM

Which cpu are you using?

Phayzon · 01-14-2011, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tetsuro

plus I think I want a 64-bit OS this time around.

You do. That's why you're not getting to use all 4GB of your RAM. A 32bit OS supports 4GB of address space, which is more than just RAM; things like VRAM and caches count towards that I believe.

Nessus · 01-15-2011, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tetsuro

The 8800GT that came with my current PC broke after just one year (memory failure), but it was still under warranty so I got a 9600GT as a replacement. My current card has been with me for over a year now but since that was the second graphics card to fail on me within two years (the previous was one in a laptop no less), I decided to get a new one and put the 9600 into storage as a backup.

Picked up an Asus ENGTX460 TOP, a really nice card...

...at least, that's what the reviews tell me. It just happens that while I was trying to install it, I realized that it never dawned to me that my PSU might not sport enough muscle for it.

I have a 2 year old card and I'm playing the latest games in 1280x720 everything on high and with 4xAA and Full Aniso. Any modern card can play PC games at incredible settings, why would you need 2?

Tetsuro · 01-19-2011, 05:54 PM

I only said it was a possibility. Fact is, my current setup now makes the rest of my system a bottleneck and I think I'd sooner buy every other component needed to build an entirely new PC than I would another graphics card which my current motherboard probably wouldn't be able to even use.

TerminX · 01-24-2011, 12:15 PM

The current 32-bit version of Windows actually will support more than 4 gigs of RAM, there's just a licensing issue that prevents you from being able to use it. Since 32-bit Windows is already using PAE (physical address extension) to support things like the NX bit, you can use a relatively simple kernel hack called "ReadyFor4GB" to enable up to 128 GB RAM usage on 32-bit Windows. I used it for about a year before finally switching to a 64-bit OS.

Inanimate Carbon Rod · 01-26-2011, 01:39 PM

I'm thinking about buying the 560ti

evilemperorzorg · 02-16-2011, 02:57 PM

I have ATI 3870 on my main pc.Works awesome with all new games on high and res on 1440x900 on my 19 monitor.
Amazing.Almost 4 years old card.
I have another pc too with a core 2 duo e6600,2 gig ram ddr2 800 and Windows XP SE3.
I bought GeForce GT 430 for this system with 80 euros.
Good card
Works great with new games on this resolution 1280x1024{Highest, its an old CRT}with high/medium settings{mostly high}
Specs of the card
1 Gig GDDR3 128 bit
DirectX 11

01-10-2011, 12:03 AM	#1
Tetsuro	Bought a new graphics card... The 8800GT that came with my current PC broke after just one year (memory failure), but it was still under warranty so I got a 9600GT as a replacement. My current card has been with me for over a year now but since that was the second graphics card to fail on me within two years (the previous was one in a laptop no less), I decided to get a new one and put the 9600 into storage as a backup. Picked up an Asus ENGTX460 TOP, a really nice card... ...at least, that's what the reviews tell me. It just happens that while I was trying to install it, I realized that it never dawned to me that my PSU might not sport enough muscle for it. It doesn't. So now it's time to buy a new PSU too! I've already settled for a Corsair AX series (more expensive than the TX series, but the modular cabling is awesome and my case is a bit cramped), and the only thing I need to concern myself really is the wattage...according to newegg, my new setup would require ~550 watts (seeing I'm aiming to pick either 750 or 850 watt PSU, that's hardly an issue), but if I were to buy a second, identical card for SLI, how much upwards do you think that wattage requirement would go? Tho come to think of it, if this card requires 16x PCI-E gate and my motherboard has only one such gate, I doubt I'll ever do SLI...not in this computer anyway. __________________ Explosives solve all problems; if not, either not enough explosives were applied or it was not a problem. Last edited by Tetsuro; 01-10-2011 at 12:07 AM.

01-10-2011, 12:43 PM	#2
Delicieuxz	Re: Bought a new graphics card... From what I remember, a PsU's stated power output might not be equal to its true power rating - so an 800 watt PSU might be giving you only 650 watt, or, it might deliver 1000 watts. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that was what I recall reading about when I bought my BFG PSU, which I think was branded as 850 watts but delivered closer to 1000 in tests. Corsair is generally a good PSU maker, I think. I did a search for "Asus ENGTX460 watts," and I see mention of the TOP card using 212 watts of energy during intense benchmarking, so I guess if you wanted to add one on later you would need an additional 212 on top of your 550 = 762 watts. __________________ Anticipating: GTA V, The Banner Saga, Wasteland 2, Assassin's Creed III, Overgrowth, Star Wars: 1313, Double Fine Adventure, Grim Dawn, Guild Wars 2, Doom 4, MechWarrior Online, Hawken, Far Cry 3, Dishonored, Xenonauts, Baldur's Gate EE

01-10-2011, 01:07 PM	#3
Tetsuro	Re: Bought a new graphics card... Well, I decided to pick up Corsair 850AX as my new PSU - Corsair seems to make really good PSUs anyway according to the reviews - and they tend to be capable of pushing more than the listed wattage too.

01-10-2011, 10:38 PM	#4
Phayzon	Re: Bought a new graphics card... I have 2 Radeon HD4870s and an overclocked Core 2 Quad Q9550 running smoothly off a 650W. 850W should be more than enough for you to add another 460 down the road __________________ I made the first post on the VB! "So I guess the news here is that not only is Australia the last to get anything new in regard to videogames, they're also the first to get them taken away." - LeadBullet "We're part-time internet superheros." - Hudson

01-11-2011, 08:29 AM	#5
KO Gilligan	Re: Bought a new graphics card... The 768MB version is not power hungry as the 1G version - the memory bandwidth is 192bit rather than the 256bit that the 1G card has, so the performance is not quite as good, but it's still pretty close. That being said, I love my 768MB GTX460 - it bests the 5770 - seems to be a power miser - and it runs cool. I crank everything up on my HD monitor, and a couple newer games need to run at 1600 rather than 1920 to keep the framerates nice and smooth - it'll play anything at 1920 but you can see a slight bit of choppyness on a few games when the action gets serious. I wonder if more DDR3 would fix it though - the GPU will utilize another 3/4 Gig off-card memory, and I'm still running only 2 Gigs Funny thing is even the new games aren't photorealistic in a way that I'm missing out at the lower resolution anyway - I'm perfectly happy with it. I don't know if you got the 1g or 768, but mine makes me very happy. Last edited by KO Gilligan; 01-11-2011 at 08:34 AM.

01-13-2011, 08:34 PM	#8
Tetsuro	Re: Bought a new graphics card... My new PSU as well as the extra RAM I also ordered finally arrived. Impressions so far...apparently I was under a misbelief that Vista could use up to 4 gigabytes of RAM - I'm showing only about 3.3 gigs, meaning that's about 700 megabytes of RAM gone to waste And as for the graphics card...hard to say. Apart from SL I really don't have any graphically demanding games and even then I can't say I've noticed any discernible difference in performance. However, my temperatures have vastly improved - my new GPU runs almost 20 degrees celsius cooler than the old one and the PSU runs even cooler, both of these contribute to the overall temperatures inside my case, resulting in almost ten degree decrease in my CPU temps. __________________ Explosives solve all problems; if not, either not enough explosives were applied or it was not a problem.

01-14-2011, 03:20 PM	#10
Tetsuro	Re: Bought a new graphics card... I'm beginning to wonder if I'm reaching the point where I might as well buy a new case, new motherboard, new CPU, new HD and a new OS as well...go the whole nine yards, you know? My current PC already has two optical drives so it can easily spare one for a new computer - plus I think I want a 64-bit OS this time around. __________________ Explosives solve all problems; if not, either not enough explosives were applied or it was not a problem.

01-14-2011, 05:58 PM	#11
Kit	Re: Bought a new graphics card... Which cpu are you using? __________________ "Screw, damn, and bloody do not a sermon make."

01-19-2011, 05:54 PM	#14
Tetsuro	Re: Bought a new graphics card... I only said it was a possibility. Fact is, my current setup now makes the rest of my system a bottleneck and I think I'd sooner buy every other component needed to build an entirely new PC than I would another graphics card which my current motherboard probably wouldn't be able to even use. __________________ Explosives solve all problems; if not, either not enough explosives were applied or it was not a problem.

01-24-2011, 12:15 PM	#15
TerminX	Re: Bought a new graphics card... The current 32-bit version of Windows actually will support more than 4 gigs of RAM, there's just a licensing issue that prevents you from being able to use it. Since 32-bit Windows is already using PAE (physical address extension) to support things like the NX bit, you can use a relatively simple kernel hack called "ReadyFor4GB" to enable up to 128 GB RAM usage on 32-bit Windows. I used it for about a year before finally switching to a 64-bit OS. __________________ EDuke32 \| Duke4.net forums, the largest Duke Nukem 3D community on the Internet Visit #eduke32 on irc.freenode.net!

01-26-2011, 01:39 PM	#16
Inanimate Carbon Rod	Re: Bought a new graphics card... I'm thinking about buying the 560ti __________________ "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." -Albert Einstein

02-16-2011, 02:57 PM	#17
evilemperorzorg	Re: Bought a new graphics card... I have ATI 3870 on my main pc.Works awesome with all new games on high and res on 1440x900 on my 19 monitor. Amazing.Almost 4 years old card. I have another pc too with a core 2 duo e6600,2 gig ram ddr2 800 and Windows XP SE3. I bought GeForce GT 430 for this system with 80 euros. Good card Works great with new games on this resolution 1280x1024{Highest, its an old CRT}with high/medium settings{mostly high} Specs of the card 1 Gig GDDR3 128 bit DirectX 11