recomendation for a video card?

racer13fly

racer13fly

New Member
What video card would you recommend for a 300w power supply? And is there a way to boost my power without buying & installing a new PSU? I'm a nub with computer hardware, so you might see me on a lot on these forums:D. lol
Thanks in advance!
 
Yeah, that isn't really going to happen. Especially since you've only got a 300watt PSU, that's really going to hinder you.

I'd upgrade your PSU to something around the 600 - 700 watt range and then you can pretty much get any card that your budget would allow.
 
Yeah, and if the OP has a 300W Psu they are most likely running a cheap psu, cheap psu+good vga.. well, everyone knows it just dont work;)
 
pretty major roadblock I guess. I might as well take the detour. I guess I can go to the nearby Milwaukee PC and see what I can do about my PSU. I'll look towards at least 500w.
Thanks!
 
actually, I'm going to get the XFX GeForce 8500GT 450MHz 512MB GDDR2 S-Video / DVI / VGA PCI-Express x16 Video Card instead. I just ordered 2gb RAM, and I'm going to get Crysis alongside with the video card. Then, I'm going to save up my money, learn some more about computer hardware (I'm a pro about software & Windows XP and I can solve pretty much any problem with XP, I'm just a nub with the hardware:D), & I'm going to try to build my own computer. Maybe with something better than 9800GT. I'll post about it when I get started.
Thanks for the help!
 
you going to be very disappointed when you pop in the crysis disk and watch a power point presentation of ingame screenshots
 
I can't use the 9800GT because I don't have PCI-E 2.0. I only have 1 PCI-E x16 (non-2.0) and 3 regular PCI slots (which I just realized). The 8500GT will work with my PSU, it has the correct slot, and it'll fit in the computer. I'm going to use this current computer as a back-up when I'm done building my new computer. And why is ducis saying that all I'll see is a powerpoint presentation? It'll work fine with Crysis. I just can't have max-settings.
 
Actually a 2.0 card works in a 1.0 slot.

What is your CPU?

The performance will be based off your CPU if its a dual core above 2.6ghz then you should see ok performance low-medium under 1024x768 resolution with a 8500GT.

Here is a google link
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...l&hs=occ&q=8500GT+1024x768+Crysis&btnG=Search


8800GT would be a better buy (its been renamed to 9800GT)


Personally id save my money and wait for a real upgrade. If the reviews are true..you may not enjoy the card as much as you hope.
 
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Not as much as you think....I ran my 8800GT in a x8 1.1 slot (site lied to me and said it was 2.0 x16 too) and when I got to a 2.0 x16 it ran about 30% faster or so.

Even 30% under 8800GT whips a 8500GT + you don't have to upgrade when you get a 2.0 board...since your GPU is ready to go.

Also is that a dual core or single core 2.2ghz?
 
But I still don't want to spend so much on a 9800GT that might not work fully. And even if I would use it on my new computer, I'd wait until I purchase all the parts. I like taking no chances. And the PSU upgrade would probably be pretty expensive, and I want to put more $ towards building a new computer. The 8500GT is what I'm doing, and with my good 3gb RAM, I'll be fine. I'll also be doing things like the Project Reality mod for BattleField 2, which doesn't run so good on my current integrated graphics. And it also would be at least a year until I'm done building it. Gotta save up instead of getting in dept. y'know? So I'll create a post when I start building and if I ever need any help, I'll come here.
Thanks for the previous explanations so I now understand a few things better!
 
You seem awfully stubborn and optimistic about your 8500GT. It's not a powerful card at all, and yet you expect it to run the most graphically demanding game on the market "fine"? Sorry, not gonna happen, unless you don't mine turning a LOT of stuff down. I don't know where you got the notion that it's a good card for Crysis.

The best bet for a 300W PSU is the Radeon HD 4670, which uses surprisingly little power for a decent card. It'll run Crysis with medium-ish settings at maybe 1024x760. That's a whole lot better than the 8500GT, no question (with GeForce cards, x400 or x500 GT cards are considered the budget line, as opposed to the x600 or x800 GT's).
 
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Just to reiterate my point, according to Tom's Hardware, here are some Crysis benchmarks at 1280x1024, no AA (they don't have benchmarks at lower settings):

8500GT: 4.4 fps
4670: 25.1 fps.

Both are too weak to probably be playable at that res, but if you imagine the frames going up at 1024x760, the 4670 would be playable. The 8500GT still would not.
 
racer13fly said:
But if I use a 2.0 card in a 1.0 slot, the card becomes severely handicapped.
Click to expand...

Not true. There's very few cards that can fully utilize all of the PCI-e 1.0 bandwidth. So, running a PCE-e 2.0 card in a PCI-e 1.0 slot isn't a big deal at all.

I used my 8800GTS G92 (PCI-e 2.0 card) in a PCI-e 1.0 slot and then in the PCI-e 2.0 slot on my current MOBO and there wasn't much of a difference, if any.
 
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