Help to find the right video card

[Stupid_Sheep]

Hi guys, I'm on my first build and i need some help figuring out what kind of card is best for me. I decided to go with pentium D 820.... i know i was better off going with AMD but i was young and inexperienced. I have an intel board too with only PCI and PCI-E. 2GB of RAM and a zalman 7000AlCu cooler. All this sits in a Silverstone LC11 case with a 300W power supply. So i guess that is one of my limitations.

I've been going through forums for the better part of today and decided that the 7600GT is the best for me. But, i'm not sure about the power consumption part of the equation. A lot of forums say that i should be ok with a 300W power supply, but all most all the manufacturers say i need a min of 350W.

Say i don't get the 7600GT, i was wondering what the best alternative was. It seems that ATI's are power hungry and so are the older Nvidia chips. I'm a medium level gamer, but i appreciate crisp graphics and video playback.

So i'll appreciate any suggestions you guys through my way.

thanks

 

[Xazax310]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150230

8600GT would be my choice here as no extra power connection is need. I tried looking for the Wattage recommanded but couldnt find it on newegg or XFX site

for 100$ though you get a 8600GT which has all those media goodies included and i seriously think the 8600GT is way better than the 7600GT also if you do happen to get 8600GT i would recommand reading an article at Legionhardware.com about overclocking it.

they hit some insane clocks
"Therefore overclocking the GeForce 8600 GT by up to 30% is very safe and as we have found, very stable. So then the next step is to overclock the 8600 GT core and memory from 540/1400MHz respectively to 693/1826MHz"

 

[Stupid_Sheep]

I looked up that card yo suggested. Its got great specs, but i was hoping to get something just a little low fi in comparison. By which i really mean cheaper. I'm Poor!. I read up alot about the 6800GS, but i guess its power consumption is higher. Does anyone have this card.. if so what do you think about it.
I just want to do a little bit more research before i get the card. I just might go for the 8600GT... save up a little. That way i won't have to be looking for a new card for a few years...

thanks for the tip.

 

[Stupid_Sheep]

i was just comparing 7600GT to the 8600GT and it seems that the 7600GT has a greater native core clock speed than the 8600GT.
Also, i'm just reading about the overclocking stuff recently.. and i wanted to know what are the effects of overclocking a chip on the power consumption side

 

[Xazax310]

Read that article on Legionhardware i gave you. it has EVERYTHING about power comps on OCing.

"Overclocking low-end or mid-range graphics cards, as is the case here, there is little to worry about as products such as the GeForce 8600 GT have a very low thermal output to start off with. The power consumption of an 8600 GT graphics card is said to be just 43 watts, while the 8600 GTS uses 71 watts. Compare this to the 225 watts used by the GeForce 8800 GTX and it soon becomes clear that by today’s standards the 8600 GT is a low powered solution."

the 8600GT will only eat up about 43 Watts so thats well within the range of your PSU because it will soley be supplied by the PCI-E slot. when OCing it the Wattage goes to 70Watts or so still in the range of what the PCI-E can supply which is 75Watts.

the 7600GT does have a better core but the 8600GT is more current and probably last you alot longer then the 7600GT does.

 

[tlmck]

This link may help. http://www.extreme.outervision.com/powercalc.jsp

For your current setup, the safest, yet still powerful card would be the 7600GS. Here is a very good one. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130075

Even still, it depends on the quality and available amps on that PSU. As a rule of thumb, I like to have at least 100 watts head room over the actual system load. The CPU you chose does 111 watts all by itself, as opposed to a C2Duo which is only 65 watts. Under stress of a game, that number can rise quite a bit.

In case you can afford it, this PSU would be better. http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10005495&ps=ho4

 

[Stupid_Sheep]

i was just looking up that site to calculate how much power i need. Man that site is terrific. Anyways, for my set up and a 7600GT at 80% load i'm at 298W and i go over with 8600GT (303W) or the 6800GS. So i'm guessing that i need a little more power as you recommended.
Now are there about 400W PSU's that will fit my LC11 case. In other words a slim PSU... if so where can i find em?

I wish i had that site before i started building this.