What is the best Video card my PSU can handle?

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Sorry.... My other ssytem specs are the following:

Mobo: Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 1155
CPU: i5-2500k 3.3GHz @ 4.3GHz (1.23v vCore)
RAM: 8GB Gskill Sniper 1600MHz
DVD: DVD-RW 24x Lightscribe
HDD: 250GB & 160GB Sata

So a pretty basic system without any power-hungry accessories. The only thing that worried me was the fact the PSU only offers one +12 25a (23a in reality) rail with a maximum draw of 276 watts.... but keep in mind that 276 watts is not only for the pcie but also for the two HDD's, the DVD, and the 3 front system fans.

Now I'm not sure if there is any power draw from the motherboard and what each GPU uses in regards to power. I don't plan to run SLi/CrossfireX due to microstuttering, the cost, and I'm worried about just running one card let alone two cards.

That said I want to know the best single card my PSU can handle excluding the *** X2 models.
 
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Okay thank you so much! Also another thing that just came into mind... that PSU offers both a 8-PIN ATX and a 4-PIN ATX power connector. Since I used the 8-PIN ATX the 4-PIN is just sitting in the case. Possible to make an adapter to convert a 4-PIN ATX to a pcie 6-PIN connector to be able to use both +12 rails?

Also *IF* I ever wanted to do SLi/CrossfireX and made use of the 4-PIN ATX connector would I be able to run say two 6850's using pcie y-split adapters? Yeah I know I'm probably streching a thin line here and should have gotten a better PSU. However I bought this PSU when it was $179.99 - $152 during a black Friday sale. $27.99 shipped for a decent PSU is a steal!
 
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The PSU offers 2 pcie connectors. One 6-PIN and one 8-PIN. I *could* use two pcie Y-adapters to make 4 pcie connectors. However the problem is the PSU has 2 +12 rails. One is dedicated soley to the ATX power connectors and the other is for all other connectors molex, sata, floppy, and pcie. Therefore I have a maximum of 276 watts for both GPU's pcie connectors. Unless I make use of that unused 4-PIN ATX connector.

Unless like I said I'm either under-estimating my PSU or the GPU's also draw power from the pcie slots on top of the pcie power connectors.
 
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Thanks for the info! I realized before I even bought the unit it would generally fail/die on me at the 2-3 year mark. But for $28 if I get 3 years of service out of it I would have paid $9.33/year. Not bad considering my old build I paid $50 full retail for a Thermaltake TR2 and it only lasted 4 years (and lost the reciept so couldn't make use of the 5-year warranty).

I just hope that when/if this PSU fails it doesn't take other components with it. Be a shame for it to spike +14 volts or something through the +12 rails pretty much burning up all components.

On a side note... my old X2 board was a value board designed to last a year to 2 years tops. I managed to get 4 years out of it with a 1GHz overclock (running the CPU bridge @ 1,200MHz). I did however have to take the stock chipset cooler off and add a solid copper one @ the 2 year mark due to it being excessively hot.
 
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http://www.tomshardware.com/news/AMD-Radeon-HD7000-GPU-28nm,14121.html



Alright, well with your knowledge in this field what GPU do you recommend me getting to be within safe limits on this PSU?

Edit: Think I might just get a HD6870 or HD6950 and run with that. Hopefully get 4 years out of the system and run Tri-SLi on my new build (or quad sli if I'm lucky enough to find a mobo that has 3 16x pcie lanes or even 4 lol) with whatever card I end up getting.
 
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You would think they could find a way to add this to the list
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/03/03/ocz_modxstream_pro_700w_40c_update/
 
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Probably not enough complaints to persuade them to do it right. The least they could have done was add a link to the update from their original review.
 
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The Radeon HD 6970 would be a good choice.
 
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With this being the month of December I would say you would have to wait for the AMD HD 7000 series. The new 28nm process should be much more power efficient than what is on the market today. If nothing else wait a month for the prices on the current tech to drop.

Per this article XFX has dropped the prices this week on their 6900 series:

http://www.fudzilla.com/graphics/item/25088-amds-hd-6900-series-gets-a-price-cut


Per this article the preliminary pricing estimates of the HD 7000 series are beginning to surface:

http://www.fudzilla.com/graphics/item/25089-amd-radeon-hd-7000-series-priced
 
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With several benchmarks and several other real-world gaming simulations comparing Nvidia to AMD GPU's in the same bracket (to be fair) the AMD HD 6950 out-performs the GTX 560 Ti. The 6950 doesn't beat it by much but it does beat the 560 in every test (excluding Far Cry II test but believe that is more of a mix of CPU/GPU based game). Now if your looking for the new 3D features (Physix) you would want to get the 560 as the 6950 doesn't offer 3D (to my knowledge).

To be fair I choose the "best rating" feature on the egg with the 2GB models and here are the cards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709&IsNodeId=1&srchInDesc=6950&page=1&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&CompareItemList=48|14-130-683^14-130-683-TS%2C14-161-372^14-161-372-TS

The 6950 ships for $259.99 while the 560 ships for $277.55AR. The 560 dose boast a free game coupon but for the purpose of this coment it's hardware-v-hardware to price ratio and in this case the 6950 is the winner. Not to mention the 6950 also uses less power.
 
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Note that the XFX Radeon HD 6970 HD-697A-CNFC is 11.3" in length. The SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6970 100311-3SR is shorter at 9.8". If you decide on the HD 6970 then get the one that fits into your computer case.

My preference is the XFX Radeon HD 6970 HD-697A-CNFC because its cooling solution exhausts its heat load to the outside of the case instead of dumping most of it inside the case like the SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6970 100311-3SR.

Only you can decide if the 11% relative performance increase of the Radeon HD 6970 is worth $40 more to you.
 
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Sorry for the late reply have been working the past few days. I never actually measured the width of the expansion bays to the hard drive brackets but according to the cases specs its 19.69 inch in width (Centurion CAC-T05). After some thought... I've had my mind set on a HD6850 with intention to get another in the future. Since than I found out that I can only really run one card... so leaning more towards the 6870/6950.

I like to get several years out of my builds and tend to buy "old generations" of hardware. Like for example I bought my old X2 system when the X4 first came out, etc. I originally intended to make a top-of-the-line X4 system but for $10 more would be able to afford the i5-2500k. So it was a no brainer to get the 2500k over any 4/6-core AMD CPU. That said I don't really want to spend $300 on a video card that the $200 card can do for me. I'll be running all my games in 1280x720 resolution... so that being said which version of the 6950 do you recommend?
 
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at 1280x720 even something like 6850 is overkill. at that resolution people normally go for 5750 or 5770 / GTS450 or GTX550Ti. there is a chance your 2500k (at stock clock) going to bottleneck 6950 at such low resolution. my advice is: get new monitor along your new card :)
 
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