Need Advice on PSU selection for my desired GPU cards

[xtcx]

Hi friends, I would like to buy between any of the 3 models of GPU card such as HD 6870 or GTX 560 or GTX 560 Ti and Power consumption of these cards are somewhere from 150W to 175W. Not any overclocked\Direct CUII versions. My PC config is Pentium D 3GHz, 2 GB DDR2. I have checked my wattage using a kill-a-watt which shows my PC is consuming about 165W Max (at 100% CPU, I tested). So buying any of these cards sure will push power consumption to what a Max 400W?? , but ofcourse not more than that. A Coolmaster GX 450W series which has some 80P certified, good reviews won't it match my requirement?.

Link ---> http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Cooler-Master-GX-450-W-Power-Supply-Review/1234/9

I am very strict on budget. I do not wish to prefer any other PSU brands. Because only coolermaster extreme series and GX series are quite available in my locality.

Though GX 450W PSU doesn't have 2 PCIe connector, but 550W sure has So, what if I use some 4 Pin Peripheral Connector to PCIe connector?. Is it recommendable?.

If not, then as a worst case, maximum PSU rating of 550W of this GX series is preferred. Coolmaster GX650W series costs almost half of the price of the GTX560 Ti in our country market. Also I do not have any SLI in option, not now or never in the future, my Mobo doesn't support 2 PCIe slot.

but the wattage usage as per my calculation does not even hit above 400W. I may after a year upgrade my PC to Intel i5 CPU and more DDR3 RAM.

Please help me decide to choose affordable PSU with reference to below points.
1) No cooling fans
2) No extra chasis fans or anything
3) No SLI
4) No other hardware (like soundcard\PCI card)

 

[AbdullahG]

With a Pentium D, you shouldn't be buying any of those cards.
There will be a massive bottleneck rendering your cards useless (you will be having performance issues and you will not be able to play your games).
I really recommend you save up and upgrade your entire PC.

 

[xtcx]

Thanks buddy, but I still have about some 2005 to 2009 games like NFS MW to NFS shift, crysis 2, COD MW2, which i played in 8600 gt which low-medium settings. it got repaired months ago. Any way I don't mind about cpu now as i want to continue playing, i want to stay with goog card. i will upgrade cpu soon.....

 

[xtcx]

At this time i5, i7 costs very high. Giving it some time the price should drop then

 

[AbdullahG]

What's your budget?
Where will you be buying from (website, store,etc.)?

 

[grumbledook]

I use a 5570 with my 2,8ghz pentium D and the cpu is still the bottleneck by far. Why not pick up a cheap card like that until you get a new system? It'll make your current one easier to sell when that time comes probably By the time you get a new one gpus will probably be cheaper since there's the 7xxx coming out now and nvidia are soon to follow.

 

[xtcx]

What's your budget?
Where will you be buying from (website, store,etc.)?

www.theitdepot.com

My budget for PSU is INR 5000 \ approx 100 US$ (In India).

 

[xtcx]

I use a 5570 with my 2,8ghz pentium D and the cpu is still the bottleneck by far. Why not pick up a cheap card like that until you get a new system? It'll make your current one easier to sell when that time comes probably By the time you get a new one gpus will probably be cheaper since there's the 7xxx coming out now and nvidia are soon to follow.

Thanks grumbledook, Your idea sounds nice, but by doing like what you said, still my PSU blocks. My PSU is just a local brand which I still believe was one of the reason even my low power consuming 8600 GT was spoiled. Well, I need to upgrade PSU however rite?. Then why not GPU then?. however I may upgrade CPU in another 6 to 8 months time. Do you mean, by matching my slow CPU with high-end card completely makes most of the games unplayable even at medium settings?.

 

[truegenius]

Thanks buddy, but I still have about some 2005 to 2009 games like NFS MW to NFS shift, crysis 2, COD MW2, which i played in 8600 gt which low-medium settings. it got repaired months ago. Any way I don't mind about cpu now as i want to continue playing, i want to stay with goog card. i will upgrade cpu soon.....

for that a ati radeon hd 6770 i s enough (more than enough) and uses only 150w at max load and some overclock and require only 1x 6 pin power connector, and also priced only around 125$

and a 450w psu with minimum of 20A rating on 12v rail (combined) (recommended 25A on 12rail (combined) for overclocking)

and you can play any of those games at max settings at 1920x1200@75hz resolution and support dx11

you can also play cod mw,mw2,mw3,gta vc, gta sa, gta 3, gta4, left4dead etc all at max settings with 60fps

(also i got my '500w sega 2' psu + a hd6770 for only Rs9000 from Delhi (Nehru palace)
and i am also overclocking my cpu, ram and gpu upto which i can)

(you can combine a phyx enabled card with a ati card)

 

[grumbledook]

Thanks grumbledook, Your idea sounds nice, but by doing like what you said, still my PSU blocks. My PSU is just a local brand which I still believe was one of the reason even my low power consuming 8600 GT was spoiled. Well, I need to upgrade PSU however rite?. Then why not GPU then?. however I may upgrade CPU in another 6 to 8 months time. Do you mean, by matching my slow CPU with high-end card completely makes most of the games unplayable even at medium settings?.

Sorry, misread your post and thought you said you had 400w power supply. According to extreme power supply calculator (http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine), the 5570 uses about 10 less w than the 8600 gt, but that's not a huge difference. It could be enough though.

Your cpu will be the bottleneck with a mid level card and a high end card, you won't see much increase in performance with the high end card because of that.

Otherwise, truegenius advice seems to be sound if you decide to get new psu and gpu.

 

[xtcx]

for that a ati radeon hd 6770 i s enough (more than enough) and uses only 150w at max load and some overclock and require only 1x 6 pin power connector, and also priced only around 125$

and a 450w psu with minimum of 20A rating on 12v rail (combined) (recommended 25A on 12rail (combined) for overclocking)

and you can play any of those games at max settings at 1920x1200@75hz resolution and support dx11

you can also play cod mw,mw2,mw3,gta vc, gta sa, gta 3, gta4, left4dead etc all at max settings with 60fps

(also i got my '500w sega 2' psu + a hd6770 for only Rs9000 from Delhi (Nehru palace)
and i am also overclocking my cpu, ram and gpu upto which i can)

(you can combine a phyx enabled card with a ati card)

Yep, but here in chennai, for 10,200 you can get HD 6870 which is still good for the money right. So I preferred this card as one option against with GTX 560, but now the question is, will it be overkill for my CPU and spoil all basic gaming at all?.

If buying these cards will definitely going to put me in trouble in playing all Dx10, Dx11 games with atleast medium settings + 1080p res, then there is no use in upgrading at this moment, rite?
Okay, so if you are a proud owner of HD 6770, then what PSU are you using?.
In chennai, I can't find a reliable brands other than CoolerMaster.

 

[xtcx]

Sorry, misread your post and thought you said you had 400w power supply. According to extreme power supply calculator (http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine), the 5570 uses about 10 less w than the 8600 gt, but that's not a huge difference. It could be enough though.

Your cpu will be the bottleneck with a mid level card and a high end card, you won't see much increase in performance with the high end card because of that.

Otherwise, truegenius advice seems to be sound if you decide to get new psu and gpu.

Well, 5570 stands somewhere between 9600GT and 9800GT, performance wise, how much better it might be compared with 8600GT?. Since I have dreamed of higher end GPU card for a while, my blockage is CPU. Atleast I need a card like 8800GT (A very successful one) and I read in many forums that GTX 560 is being much compared for a good upgrade like 8800GT. HD 6870 is not quite less too.

Well, do you think that with this setup, most of my gaming Dx9 and Dx10 can get spoiled?. What if I reduce the settings to medium or so (disable AA, AF) and play?. Some of the games which I may want to play from recent titles are Just Cause 2, Hawk 2, Crysis 2, Dirt 2, NFS Run,railWorks3. Well, right now I am interested into these type of gamings. With my CPU + high-end card = poor performance in these titles?

 

[truegenius]

Rs 9000 is for psu and hd6770 both
hd6770 = rs7000
psu is sega 2 500w = rs 2000
full system is overclocked to max that i can reach

every card you listed are overkill for your cpu, means your cpu is slow in comparison to those cards, and those cards cannot show their full potential with your cpu

any card of them is not gonna spoil your gaming at all

any of these card will not put you in trouble while playing any game with highest settings and max resolution

you can upgrade to any of these cards, but you can not utilize full potential of any of those cards (you can use any features of those cards)

it mean a hd6770 and a hd6870 will give you same performance with your current cpu, and this is called 'cpu is bottleneck'

 

[xtcx]

Thanks, I am getting things little clear at this point. So investing in high-end is waste in terms of slow CPU, rite. I plan to upgrade my CPU within 6 months time slot. Considering that, for a short period of this, I dont want to waste in buying mid-range cards for my CPU and then investing once again in high-end after CPU upgrade. So I thought I'd apt for HD 6870 and with time, I may upgrade CPU. How much is there a chance of price hitting down within six months period from now?.

Any idea?

 

[truegenius]

"So investing in high-end is waste in terms of slow CPU" yes, you are write (if not going to upgrade cpu)

hd6870 will suffer a huge (around 25%) price down (i think), due to new hd7 and gtx6 series

intel cpu may suffer a little down in price, due to ivy bridge is going to release

whats your budget?

 

[xtcx]

At present Sapphire HD 6870 sells for INR 10600 and Asus GTX 560 sells for INR 11300.

CoolMasterGx 550W PSU for INR 4800.

 

[truegenius]

550w coolermaster is for 4800, seems too expensive
gtx560ti support PhyX which will benefit you in some games phyx supported games

Q. A total of how much you want to invest now and on which part?

 

[xtcx]

GPU Budget = INR 12000
PSU Budget = INR 5000
CPU Budget = INR 8500 (i5, 2400\3.10Ghz, rite now INR 11500)
Mobo Budget = INR 6000

But could you identify which CPU is best for a card like 6870\GTX 560ti?. I am not sure. Is i3 2300 sufficient?. It is just INR 7000, which is not a big thing to upgrade

 

[xtcx]

550w coolermaster is for 4800, seems too expensive
gtx560ti support PhyX which will benefit you in some games phyx supported games

Q. A total of how much you want to invest now and on which part?

" 550w coolermaster is for 4800" Yes, this is Cooler Master GX series which is 80P. Where as Cooler Master extreme power series 600 W is INR 3600

 

[truegenius]

(it is i5-2300)

gtx560ti is slightly better than 6870

the games that you have listed, a i3-2100 (rs 5000) will be sufficient (more than enough to be accurate)

for rs 5000 budget you can get a quality 700w cpu , only need to search in multiple stores (as many store keeper charge high for same product)

for rs6000 you can get a good quality mobo having z68 chipset, which is very good for overclocking and have some unique features, only need to search

for gpu, check this link, you will definitely like this
www.naaptol.com/price/950505-AMD-Radeon-HD-7970-Graphic-card.html
if they are not joking then grab this now

 

[truegenius]

my sega 2 500w is also 80+ bronze with 410w capacity at 12v rail

so that (your) supply sounds expensive

also can you list more games that you want to play, because you can play any of those games (stated in your previous posts) only with a small investment

 

[xtcx]

Thanks, but if planned to buy new CPU then I shall try i5 2400. Months later I may want to play some of the latest DX11. So I dont want to be in trouble. Can u list some sites where I can get or place order in India

 

[truegenius]

unfortunately in india buying computer parts online is lot more expensive than that of computer markets

naaptol is the website which provide individual pars option that i know now, their are other websites too but they offer a oem build only
(
more websites
http://www.helpingindia.com/
http://www.naaptol.com/
http://www.anythinginit.com/
http://www.shoponline.in/
http://www.itindiaclub.com/
)

and in stores in markets you can test compatibility of products in front of seller and they will assemble it for you (sometimes free), and you can inquire for a better setup from them that too free

have you checked that link
( here again if you missed it http://www.naaptol.com/price/950505-AMD-Radeon-HD-7970-Graphic-card.html )
inquire them if they are selling it (hd7970) in 8000

how much you can wait for a upgrade?
in a few months you can have a graphics card with dx11.1 support (repeat dx11.1 support) and ivy bridge (latest cpu)

for now you can try a little overclock

 

[xtcx]

Thanks, I checked naaptol.com, well, HD 7000 series is out indeed?. Can't believe!!. But the price mentioned here, I can't believe since the specifications are far more than HD 6970, the product may not be available.

Check this site www.theitdepot.com and www.thedeltapage.com
These are local stores who host the website.
Check this out and let me know. You can slice 5% price off from these sites wrt local market

As far as new technology coming in, how long is it worth to wait?. I plan to wait for 2 months, also how much do you think the price could fall down with incept of new tech?.

 

[xtcx]

How best is this card and price.....
http://www.deltapage.com/products/Asus-ATi-Radeon-6870--%252d-1GB-DDR5.html


Unfortunately the price mentioned here is almost same as local chennai market. How much do you think possibly I should wait to get prices hit around 10k or less?.