Need help Re: New GFX Card

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Fat_Dave

New Member
Ok, at the moment I have an ATI Radeon 9200SE graphics card. Good back in it's dy, but for a heavy gamer this card is just a tad out-dated. So I'm looking for a new card, and at the moment the GeForce 6600gt is my favourite option. It's cheap, AGP compatible with my motherboard and can apparently handle demanging games such as HL2 and Doom3 (both of which look shoddy on my system.)

Here's the problem. I know just about nothing to do with computers, graphic cards, the lot. All I know is that my motherboard is 4x AGP and therefore cannot handle PCI cards. That's it. I don't know the difference between the two or anything, just that little fact. Anyway, here is my motherboard, and here is the graphics card I want.

cpuz22ks.jpg


PNY Verto GeForce 6 6600GT AGP8x 128MB GDDR3 (G66600GABF12YPB) Retail Box

Or

XFX GeForce 6600GT AGP 128MB, TV and Dual DVI Retail Box

I'm pretty much certain both of them will work on my motherboard. HOWEVER I have heard that this card is quite power demanding. I wasn't sure how to check the power of my PSU, so I opened my case up and had a look and it seems like a 250W PSU. Apparently, to use this card properly you should have at least a 300W PSU. So here are my questions.

1) Will I be able to run the card on just a 250W PSU?

2) If not, what power PSU do you recommend?

3) How do I find out if a PSU will fit onto my motherboard? What do I need to look for? Or should they all fit?

4) How exactly do I fit a new PSU?

Might seem like a bundle of Qs but I'm really stuck here, so any help will be appreciated.
 
whilst the PNY card is cheaper im not sure on how good the hsf is. i do know, that the XFX has a very good hsf and mine never goes above 55°c while playing css.

now then to answer the other questions.

1) no
2) have a read of this
3) i would of thought it would fit, but wait for someone else to clarify it.
4) unscrew the old psu, and unplug all of its cables to deevices and motherboard. pull it out slowly to make sure not to touch the motherboard. Then place the new psu into the case in the same way as the old one, screw it in, plug all of the plugs in to the designated slots, and your away
 
I STRONGLY suggest buying a new motherbored.

1.at LEAST get one with a AGP X8, that is much ebtetr then the X4AGP your current mobo supports and your vid card will run much better.

2.PREFERABLY get a PCI-E x16motherbored, thats the "newest" video card slot, and will run a little better, and will be better for upgrades later, make sure you get a PCI-E video card though(ussaly cheaper, belive it or not)
 
upgrading to 8x AGP isnt necessairy. however.. you might want to look if the card is compartible with your mobo ( Voltage's )
 
wait, u only have a 4X slot? that will hurt preformance a bit in that card...........
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at LEAST get one with a AGP X8, that is much ebtetr then the X4AGP your current mobo supports and your vid card will run much better.
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There isn't much difference between 8x and 4x, its not like the difference between 4x and 2x
Ok, thanks a lot for the help. So, would this fit alright? £9.50, it's a bargain...
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To be honest dave thats a pretty shoddy psu. Remember that its not really the wattage that count. Have a good read of psu101
http://www.computerforum.com/showthread.php?t=10764
and the cheaper recommendations therein

As for compatability, most psu's will be fine

Coming back to the topic of graphics cards the PNY will be fine, just get the cheaper of the two
 
Ahhh, it seems to be making much more sense now, thanks a lot. Just a couple more quick questions. I'm interested in this:

Antec 400 Watt Power Supply ATX Smartpower Dual Fan

But it doesn't seem to tell me the 12v rail thingy (I'm getting there). Would I have to search Google to find that out, and do you reckon this is any good? Don't worry, I'm stop bombarding you with Qs now. :lol:
 
i think that one should be just fine :)

but is the mainboard compartible with the mobo?
( or is there no 1,5 to 3,3 Volt problem with 4x AGP mobo's? )
 
the stock hsf should be fine for a video card if you dont oc anything (which i doubt he will do), but as someone said before, since its an AGP 4x slot it wont be as good as someone with an 8x slot, so you'll only be getting about half the performance as someone with an 8x (4 divided by 8 = 1/2, not sure if its correct, but sounds it, lol)

by the way, what cpu do u have?
 
well.. you wont ( or not much ) notice a performance drop between 4x AGP or 8x AGP, since a 6600GT dont uses the full bandwith of 8xAGP.
 
Archangel said:
i think that one should be just fine :)

but is the mainboard compartible with the mobo?
( or is there no 1,5 to 3,3 Volt problem with 4x AGP mobo's? )
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Heh, haven't got a clue. I'm possibly going to go down and speak to a computer technician tomorrow, see what his advice is.

geoff5093 said:
the stock hsf should be fine for a video card if you dont oc anything (which i doubt he will do), but as someone said before, since its an AGP 4x slot it wont be as good as someone with an 8x slot, so you'll only be getting about half the performance as someone with an 8x (4 divided by 8 = 1/2, not sure if its correct, but sounds it, lol)

by the way, what cpu do u have?
Click to expand...

I won't be overclocking anything, don't even know what it is, let alone go underway with it. Anyway, my CPU...

cpuz19ds.jpg
 
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