New Graphics Card Help

[magnetica]

I'm having some trouble choosing a good GPU for my system. I'm looking for a good GPU in the £130-£200 price bracket but will also run on my Seasonic G550w PSU.

Specs are i5 3550, 8Gb Corsair RAM, 1 x 120Gb SSD, 1 x DVD/CD Drive and 3 x 120mm fans plus the G550 PSU.

I've been looking at the Radeon 7870 or the GTX 660 Ti, but I'm unsure if my PSU will be ok with either?

I'm looking for advice on a good gaming GPU that will not be too much of a stress on my PSU all the time?

Thanks

 

[geofelt]

Your psu is of excellent quality. It has reserves past it's 550W spec.
It is capable of running a graphics card as good as a GTX680 or 7970.
Other pc components are trivial in comparison to the graphics card.

You are good.

On the 7870 or GTX660ti, benchmarks will show virtually equal average and minimum fps numbers, but I suspect that the GTX660ti may provide smoother game play.
Read this article: http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited

 

[magnetica]

Yea I really had my eyes set on the 660 Ti as it's a better card and only £30 more.

Once question though, will the PSU be stressed at all? I don't really want to push it too close to it's limit.

 

[geofelt]

Yea I really had my eyes set on the 660 Ti as it's a better card and only £30 more.

Once question though, will the PSU be stressed at all? I don't really want to push it too close to it's limit.

No, the GTX660ti is one of the newer 28nm based cards that are more power efficient. It will run with a 450W psu.

 

[magnetica]

Nice, thanks for your help I think I'm going to go for the 660 Ti.

One other thing, this card has 2 x 75w 6 Pins, should I plug in both? I know some cards can run with just the one.

Again, many thanks.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Nice, thanks for your help I think I'm going to go for the 660 Ti.

One other thing, this card has 2 x 75w 6 Pins, should I plug in both? I know some cards can run with just the one.

Again, many thanks.

Yes.

 

[geofelt]

Nice, thanks for your help I think I'm going to go for the 660 Ti.

One other thing, this card has 2 x 75w 6 Pins, should I plug in both? I know some cards can run with just the one.

Again, many thanks.

The card has two 6 pin connectors because it needs them. Plug them both in.
Your psu has 6+2 connectors, just leave the + 2 dangling.

The psu is capable of delivering 150W to each of the 6+2 leads, and you will, at max be using only 75w from each.

 

[Mousemonkey]

The card has two 6 pin connectors because it needs them. Plug them both in.
Your psu has 6+2 connectors, just leave the + 2 dangling.

The psu is capable of delivering 150W to each of the 6+2 leads, and you will, at max be using only 75w from each.

The second one is a supplementary as in theory the card could run on just one but its not a guarantee that the PCIe slot of every motherboard is going to supply a clean 75w.

 

[magnetica]

Thank you both very much for your help.

I'm glad there's no need for a new PSU, will be ordering the 660 Ti today 😀

 

[magnetica]

I'm now eyeing up the HD 7950 😀 Will it still be ok with this? I'm guessing yes but need the reassurance 😛

 

[geofelt]

I'm now eyeing up the HD 7950 😀 Will it still be ok with this? I'm guessing yes but need the reassurance 😛

That is ok too if you prefer Amd drivers.
You might find this report on consistency of response times interesting:
http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited

 

[magnetica]

That is ok too if you prefer Amd drivers.
You might find this report on consistency of response times interesting:
http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited

Yes I did, thanks. The 660Ti is clearly a better card at the moment, maybe AMD will boost performance with drivers in the future, but eh, who cares, nVidia's doing that now.

660ti it is!! Many thanks for all your help! 😀