Which card to buy?

[steve_eng]

I am having a new pc built. I was planning to buy a radeon 9500pro or possibly a 9700 or 9700pro. I have been reading the recent posts in this forum and have been slightly put off the radeons as people seem to be having so many problems with getting the cards to work as they should!
Does anyone know when the 9600 cards and 9800 cards are due to be released.
Should i ignore the people that have had problems and get one of these cards, or should i buy a geforce card?

Your help would be much appreciated!!

 

[dhlucke]

Don't ignore the posts. Try to learn from them if anything. I wouldn't go for any of Nvidia's current cards and would still stick to ATI. The reason there tends to be a lot of problem posts with them is because most people are buying Radeons at the moment and then coming here for help and advice.

I'm not sure about the date for the next batch of releases.

<font color=red>GOD</font color=red> <font color=blue>BLESS</font color=blue> <font color=red>AMERICA</font color=red>

 

[steve_eng]

Thanks for your help. I took a look at the ati website and it says that a 300 watt psu is required for these cards. many people in this forum have said that 350 is required. Is 300 watts enough as ati have stated baring in mind all the other components?

 

[Spitfire_x86]

More is always merrier. If you have a power hungry CPU, lots of PCI cards and more than 2 HDD/optical drive, then 350W is always recommended over 300W

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[steve_eng]

My cpu will be amd athlon 2600+ on asus a7n8x motherboard. I have just the one hdd but two cd drives and a zip. Is 300w sufficient with a radeon 9700pro?
Will the 9800 need a power cable as i have heard the 9600 series does not?

 

[dhlucke]

I built a A7N8X with a XP2100+, 256MB PC2700, DVD-ROM, CD-RW, PCI Modem, Floppy, WD400JB, and a Radeon 9500 Pro and it works on a generic 300W PSU for my brother.

With that said, it's gonna be a gamble. Personally I have a 400W PSU in my system just to make sure I don't have any issues.

Give it a try and see if it works. If it doesn't work, or you get random problems, then buy a new PSU.

<font color=red>GOD</font color=red> <font color=blue>BLESS</font color=blue> <font color=red>AMERICA</font color=red>

 

[LCARS]

I've always wondered what "issues" would crop up if the PSU was overloaded.

What exactly would happen if your computer was using, say, 355W with a 350W PSU?

 

[Spitfire_x86]

350W is always recommended for you.

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[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Yes the 9800 does need a Power connector at least in the AGP vercion most of us will have access to. It uses a 4 pin connector vs. the 9700's 3pin connector.

This is the very reason i am waiting for the 9600, along with lower temp.

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[dhlucke]

Well, in that case it probably won't start. Keep in mind that there are different rails though, so you might be able to start your PC, but then other components would fail.

You're realistically only supposed to use 70% of the power supplied by a PSU so if you use too much you might have random problems-- restarts being the big one.

<font color=red>GOD</font color=red> <font color=blue>BLESS</font color=blue> <font color=red>AMERICA</font color=red>

 

[steve_eng]

Thanks for your help everyone. I think i will wait for the 9600 series which does not require a power supply, but the question is will the 9600 series outperform the 9500 series and will it be much more expensive?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Bump to show old thread regarding 9600Ps power consumption.

Even though it's not involving Eden.

- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! <font color=red>RED</font color=red> <font color=green>GREEN</font color=green> :tongue: GA to SK

 

[CasualCat2001]

Why don't you email ATI? I did and was told I could run the 9500pro with my very limited power supply given my system config. They didn't take long to respond either. I'm still waiting for the 9600pro though...