Running the Radeon HD 5670 on a 300watt Power Supply Unit

[nnaatthhaannx2]

Hello,

My computer has the following specs:

HP Pavilion 6210y(NY544AA-ABA)
300 watt PSU (unknown details)
Windows 7 Home Premium
AMD Athlon II x4 620
6GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 9100
500 WD Caviar Blue HDD
15-in-1 media reader
DVD drive read/write
6 USB Devices

i have a 1680*1050 monitor
i am deciding on purchasing the 5670 or even the 5750.
The gts 440 is a bit on the expensive side, i would like to spend no more than $100.

i play mostly racing games and some fps.
i would like about 35 fps in the modern games.
any suggestions?

 

[buzznut]

Get the 5670, no power supply issues for that one.

 

[lunyone]

Well you should probably stick to the 5670/6670, because they don't require a PCI-e power connector from the PSU. Not sure the HP PSU has a PCI-e power connector (not likely).

 

[nnaatthhaannx2]

ok and how is overall performance of the card?
right now on my 9100 (intergrated) i get 15 fps on dirt 2 on the lowest settings @ 1280*768. i would like to have 40 fps at 1360*768 or better.
on burnout Paradise, i get 25 fps on medium settings at 1360*768. i would like to run high settings at 50 fps on this game.
additionally, i am thinking of purchasing a 3d monitor sometime in the future, and i heard that the only the 6670 supports 3d. is this true?

 

[lunyone]

Not sure on the 3D monitor part (think it's a waste, IMHO). Since your currently running on an integrated onboard GPU (usually not great on games) the dedicated GPU will make a ton of difference in games.

 

[nnaatthhaannx2]

Not sure on the 3D monitor part (think it's a waste, IMHO). Since your currently running on an integrated onboard GPU (usually not great on games) the dedicated GPU will make a ton of difference in games.

okay do you think the 6670 is worth the $30 more?

 

[lunyone]

Maybe. From what I've read the 6670 is about 10% faster than the 5670. Here is a review site to check out. You can check out other sites to see if it's worth it to you. If you budget is really tight than the 5670 will be good enough.

I'm only seeing about a $10-15 difference, linked here.

 

[nnaatthhaannx2]

yea but thats the ddr3 one.
im looking at the (g)ddr5 versions. (they are faster rite?)
6670
5670
wats the difference between the ddr3 and the ddr5?
is it worth the difference?
i also see that there is quite a lot of different brands. is there a brand that i should be getting, or just look for the lowest price?

 

[lunyone]

Yeah forgot about the DDR5 versions. The $30 is probably not worth it at this point. If it was only $10-15 than that would make more sense.

 

[nnaatthhaannx2]

so i should go for ddr3 or ddr5?

 

[lunyone]

DDR5 is much better, if you can afford it. The DDR3 version is fine, but DDR5 will give you better results.

 

[nnaatthhaannx2]

the prices for the 5570:
1gb ddr3: $60
512mb ddr5: $70
1gb ddr5: $80

for 6670:
1gb ddr3: $75
---- ----- ---
1gb ddr5: $100

wats the difference between the 512mb and the 1gb ddr5 5670?
i want this card for at least 3 years for modern racing games. which one will be best for my $?

 

[lunyone]

Well the 512mb will work for most situations (probably 1680x1050 or less resolutions). If you run under higher resolutions, it's usually better to have more vRAM, so the 1 gb DDR5 for 80 might be the one to get (sorta future proof for a newer monitor in the future??).

Ultimately it's up to you. I don't think you can go much higher on the GPU landscape with your given system and PSU, so it's up to you. Usually a $10-20 more investment now will help out in the future, IMHO. The 512mb will be fine for most things, but the extra 512mb (1 gb) might be used when you upgrade your monitor or when a particular game requires/likes it.

 

[Supernova1138]

The 5670 can't really utilize 1GB of video RAM. If money is really tight, get the 512mb version, the performance on both are virtually the same. The 1GB might be slightly more futureproof if games start using a lot of really high resolution textures, but by the time that happens the card likely won't be powerful enough to offer good performance anyway. The 5670 is an entry level gaming card, don't expect it to give you good performance at high settings for the next three years. Even at your rather low resolution it will struggle with the high settings in some titles, particularly if you want to turn on the DX11 features. If you are okay with low or medium graphics settings it might just last you three years before you need an upgrade.

 

[nnaatthhaannx2]

Well the 512mb will work for most situations (probably 1680x1050 or less resolutions). If you run under higher resolutions, it's usually better to have more vRAM, so the 1 gb DDR5 for 80 might be the one to get (sorta future proof for a newer monitor in the future??).

Ultimately it's up to you. I don't think you can go much higher on the GPU landscape with your given system and PSU, so it's up to you. Usually a $10-20 more investment now will help out in the future, IMHO. The 512mb will be fine for most things, but the extra 512mb (1 gb) might be used when you upgrade your monitor or when a particular game requires/likes it.

ok im gonna get the 512. any brand in specific that will perform better?

 

[lunyone]

Personally I've really good luck with Sapphire brands, but to each his own.
This looks good, if you going with 512mb DDR5 version??
SAPPHIRE 100287VGAL Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 512MB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

 

[nnaatthhaannx2]

The 5670 can't really utilize 1GB of video RAM. If money is really tight, get the 512mb version, the performance on both are virtually the same. The 1GB might be slightly more futureproof if games start using a lot of really high resolution textures, but by the time that happens the card likely won't be powerful enough to offer good performance anyway. The 5670 is an entry level gaming card, don't expect it to give you good performance at high settings for the next three years. Even at your rather low resolution it will struggle with the high settings in some titles, particularly if you want to turn on the DX11 features. If you are okay with low or medium graphics settings it might just last you three years before you need an upgrade.

ok so what do you suggest for future (mainly racing) games?

do you think the 5670 will be ok with my psu?

and is there any better card i can get with my current psu?
if not, what can i get (inexpensively (under $150 total) with a new 400+watt psu?

 

[nnaatthhaannx2]

Personally I've really good luck with Sapphire brands, but to each his own.
This looks good, if you going with 512mb DDR5 version??
SAPPHIRE 100287VGAL Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 512MB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

alrighty!
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics-100287VGAL/dp/B0033WSDNI/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
seems good for me!
can u take a guess what fps i will get on games 2 years from now on mid settings? (like NFS The Run 2 [the run 1 is releasing this year]) how about modern warfare 4? (if there is going to be one)

 

[Supernova1138]

The 5670 will be okay with your current power supply. Anything above it aside from the 6670 though will necessitate a PSU upgrade. Unfortunately you aren't likely to get a 400+ watt PSU and a GPU much more powerful than the 5670 for under $150. The 5670 will still be a huge step up from the integrated graphics so if you want to even try to play PC games you probably should go for it, though you will probably want to consider a PSU and GPU upgrade sometime down the road.

 

[nnaatthhaannx2]

is there a comparable nvidia card?

 

[Supernova1138]

Most of the comparable nvidia cards use significantly more power than the 5670 and would probably necessitate a PSU upgrade. The GT 240 DDR5 could run on your PSU provided you have a 6 pin PCI-E connector on your PSU (if not you'd need a molex adapter), but it is a bit slower than the 5670. The GT 545 and 8800GT which are comparable to the 5670 both use 105 watts on their own compared to the 64 watts of the 5670, I don't think your PSU can handle either of those.

 

[Nintendork]

Nvidia just fails in the performance/consumption segment.

The best option for money
HD5670 512MB/1GB GDDR5
HD6570 1GB DDR3 (even without GDDR5 it's pretty close or faster than the 5670 GDDR5)
HD6670 1GB DDR3

Consider the 6670 DDR3 if you want a 3D capable gpu(TV's).

*6670 comes with free Dirt3 coupon (MSI model).

Expect a 10x gaming performance increase. Even the integrated gpu's of the AMD A8 fusion APU's ar arpund 9x the performance of you gpu and 10% slowe than a 5570.

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103942&cm_re=AMD_A-Series-_-19-103-942-_-Product

 

[nnaatthhaannx2]

Nvidia just fails in the performance/consumption segment.

The best option for money
HD5670 512MB/1GB GDDR5
HD6570 1GB DDR3 (even without GDDR5 it's pretty close or faster than the 5670 GDDR5)
HD6670 1GB DDR3

Consider the 6670 DDR3 if you want a 3D capable gpu(TV's).

so you're saying that the 6670 (ddr3) is faster than the 5670 (ddr5)?... is that like 1/2 fps faster or 5+ fps?

 

[lunyone]

I'm with supernova that you can't go any higher in the GPU class without a PSU upgrade. Most reliable and reputable PSU's will be in the $40-60 price range. So with a 5770/6770 (next up on the GPU rung) will be around the $100-130 price range and necessitate a PSU upgrade of $40-60 range. Thus this would put you in the $140-190 range if you can find the right deals.

Here's a 6770 w/free game at $123 - $20 MIR = $103, but it takes up 2 PCI slots (in space) so that has to be considered. Not sure if you have that much room in your case, but something to look into.
SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Here's a minimum PSU that I'd use with the 5770/6770/6850 for $40 shipped!:
Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
It comes w/1 x PCI-e power connector, but doesn't leave too much for GPU upgrades though, so keep that in mind if you go with this PSU.

 

[Nintendork]

If the game is not banwith starve the 6570 is faster, else the 2x bandwith advantage gives the 5670 a few fps+.

5670 63w
6670 60w
6570 35-45w

Give priority to the 5670 GDDR5.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=50001561%20600007779&IsNodeId=1&Description=hd5670&name=1GB&Order=BESTMATCH

$69, awesome deal.