Best graphics card for 375 Watts.

[Somalion]

Howdy everyone, this is my first post on the forums and was hoping for some advice. I have a Dell Dimension 9150 with a 375 W power supply. My old graphics card, an nVidia 7900 GS, has finally given up the fight after years of surprisingly good service! I was thinking of replacing it with an ATI Radeon HD 4670 probably, this one http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?leg=&psn=000101&pid=269

Anybody have any suggestions about other cards? I was hoping not to have to change my power supply (I know it isn't great).

 

[jaguarskx]

Actually, the PSU in Dell computers are pretty decent. They are manufactured by FSP Group who has a good reputation. Additionally, Dell under rates their PSUs by a little bit so your 375w PSU may actually be a 400w PSU.

You didn't list a budget, but I would toss in a HD 5770, if it was my PC. Not sure what version PCI-e slot is in that Dell so stay away from any PCI-e 2.1 video cards since there could be compatibility issues with PCI-e 1.x slot. The following is a PCI-e 2.0 HD 5770 for $125.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129150&cm_re=hd_5770-_-14-129-150-_-Product

If that's over your budget, then consider a PCI-e 2.0 HD 5670 for $63 after rebate:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102870&cm_re=hd_5670-_-14-102-870-_-Product

 

[delluser1]

Actually, the PSU in Dell computers are pretty decent. They are manufactured by FSP Group who has a good reputation. Additionally, Dell under rates their PSUs by a little bit so your 375w PSU may actually be a 400w PSU.

They were Delta and LiteOn unit's in those machine's ( 30a combined on the 12v )
Getting pretty old at this point, I think the 5670 you reccomended would be the safer choice.

 

[jaguarskx]

Hmmm... I thought Dell Dimenion 9150 is a little more recent than circa 2006...

Delta is good, but I'm not sure about LiteOn.

Anywaste, due to the age, the HD 5670 is probably the better choice.

 

[Somalion]

Thanks guys I'll go for the HD 5670! I didn't realise the PSU was a fairly decent one, learn something new everyday

 

[delluser1]

I didn't realise the PSU was a fairly decent one, learn something new everyday

They are definitely decent, I have a modified unit on a test system that I have used for running SLI 8800 GTS 512, and did some benchmarking with a GTX 460 on another.

 

[Somalion]

You definitely know a lot more about what you're doing than I do. While I'm at it any chance of a bit more help? I'm looking into the HD 5670 but am getting a bit concerned about whether or not my PC is up for it. The CPU is an Intel Pentium D 915 2.8 GHz. Motherboard model is 0fJ030 and make is Dell and it has 1 Gb of RAM. Would this be enough to run this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-11168-00-20R-5670-GDDR5-Graphics/dp/B0032W414E/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_cart_1 ? Some people have mentioned about this models cooler requiring 2 PCI slots and I amn't sure if mine has that (although I'm not exactly sure about most things hardware related 😛)

 

[cronos177]

Agree, +1 5670 is probly the best, since it's the most powerful under 75watts, strictly from the Mobo.

 

[delluser1]

You definitely know a lot more about what you're doing than I do. While I'm at it any chance of a bit more help? I'm looking into the HD 5670 but am getting a bit concerned about whether or not my PC is up for it. The CPU is an Intel Pentium D 915 2.8 GHz. Motherboard model is 0fJ030 and make is Dell and it has 1 Gb of RAM. Would this be enough to run this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-11168-00-20R-5670-GDDR5-Graphics/dp/B0032W414E/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_cart_1 ? Some people have mentioned about this models cooler requiring 2 PCI slots and I amn't sure if mine has that (although I'm not exactly sure about most things hardware related 😛)

Plenty of room for a dual slot card, and I wouldn't worry about bottlenecking, more powerful cards have been used.
I would suggest a ram upgrade
http://www.amazon.co.uk/memory-upgrade-DDR2-Dimension-desktops/dp/B0041B6ALM/ref=sr_1_17?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1307617989&sr=1-17

 

[Somalion]

Thanks for everything guys, just got back from holidays so I'm going to go ahead and follow the great advice given! Thanks again!