skunknste

Hello, I am looking to upgrade my 8600gt 256 vid card to a gaming beast. Should i go for the 9800GT with 1gig or the more expensive 9800GTX with 512 ram. Im confused. Does graphics card mem matter that much, or mainly the chip. Anyways im looking to spend aboot 100 - 140 pounds, any ideas ?

Aus_Karlos

Before purchasing one of these cards you need to upgrade your PSU. A 500W PSU will not run either of these cards.
You need about 700W with 12v@62A.
Look for brands like Silverstone, Thermaltake or Corsair. (They all have a very good rep of high quality PSU's. Anyone here would agree)

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skunknste

Ahh, i forgot about that. So when i get a new psu, should it be dual rail ?

Aus_Karlos

As long as you have either a single or combined rail equaling/greater than 52a you will be fine.
(I did a little typo at the top. I stated 62a instead of 52a)

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magnethead

that depends on who you ask. I'd much well rather have 62A than 52A. Being as what i have seen and tested myself...

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For proper support: what are you running? graphics, cpu, m/board, ram, PSU brand wattage
PCI-E requires 26 amps at 12 volts. That's a 650W PSU.
Power Supply Info and Selection . Info on thermal compounds & application . TEST PSU USING MULTI-METER . Bench Testing Your System

skunknste

Hows about this one: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124927 it has 4 sata pwr connections (i need 3).

and what would you go with on the graphics card option.

Thanx

mrclose

I just purchased a Gateway FX4710-UB802A with the Nvidia 9800GT (512).
The PC has a 400 watt power supply and it runs the card just fine.

MC

magnethead

it runs it fine now, but as the capacitors age and lose their storage function, it will begin degrading in performance, usually between 6 months and 2 years.

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For proper support: what are you running? graphics, cpu, m/board, ram, PSU brand wattage
PCI-E requires 26 amps at 12 volts. That's a 650W PSU.
Power Supply Info and Selection . Info on thermal compounds & application . TEST PSU USING MULTI-METER . Bench Testing Your System

Aus_Karlos

I would not recommend you running a 7900GT on 400Watts let alone a 9800GT.
If you run your PC with a 400W PSU and then compared your PC running a 650W or greater you will notice an increase in PC performance, response time, lower temperatures and an increase in frame rate.
With the 9800GT you may not be pushing it to the max depending on what games you play but if you play Crysis you may find the GPU will overheat very quickly, crash or the system will crash. Not to mention the amount of strain the PSU is under. If the PSU gets to breaking point and a spike occurs then most of your hardware could be fried.

This happened to me running a 8800GTS on a 500W low-end PSU, within two weeks i started to loose performance, next minute the PSU had burned out (smoked) and i had fried the card and my motherboard...

Im just trying to get a point across as many people everywhere think they don't need to upgrade their PSU because the box states that XXXWatts is enough to run the card (Not at full-load). That statement is true, meaning the Card needs XXXwatts not your entire PC..
Also just another quick note. A PSU does not run at full capacity. Its more like between 75%-90% So if you have a 400W PSU its never going to produce any more than ~345Watts.

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grimx133

Also some of the dodgier psu makers will list the peak wattage in what they name the psu. Just to make it sound like more than it is and get it out the door. The actual usable wattage is lower, quality psu's don't do that, which is why a Corsair, SeaSonic etc. of the same labeled wattage will run circles around a shoddy one.

wrench97

And to add OEM's like Gateway and Dell and almost all the others will use power supplies that are the most cost effective for them, to get the PC through the warranty period then it's on you to buy the replacement parts.

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Power Supply and Selection

skunknste

Any ideas on graphics card choice then ? :)

magnethead

it doesnt matter what card you get, your PSU will likely not support it.

As i said in another thread, replacing the PSU with a video upgrade is about as certain as death and taxes.

__________________
For proper support: what are you running? graphics, cpu, m/board, ram, PSU brand wattage
PCI-E requires 26 amps at 12 volts. That's a 650W PSU.
Power Supply Info and Selection . Info on thermal compounds & application . TEST PSU USING MULTI-METER . Bench Testing Your System

Aus_Karlos

We pay taxes now!! This is news to me. XD

@skunknste

If you can give us a link to the two cards you are deciding on purchasing we can help you further. We need to know both cards specs to figure out how they would compare.

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skunknste

For 9800GT
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/1463...html?srcid=867

For 9800GTX
http://www.awd-it.co.uk/scripts/prod...idproduct=4409

Will upgrade psu before hand or at same time. Cheers

Is 512 vid ram enough ? Is it worth the extra 50 quid ?

Now im thinking, do i go with the cheaper card and spend the extra on a more expensive psu. Or will that psu in the link above do ?

In the past i'v always went for the midrange card and got bit in the **** later.

Aus_Karlos

The cards are very close, the 9800GTX has faster clock/shader/memory than the GT but its only slightly and wont get much fps difference if the cards where identical apart from the memory. But the GTX has 128 streaming cores which if your into games like Crysis the more the merrier.
But between the two cards your looking at approximately 5-10fps extra (GTX). So if you want to spend the extra $40 go ahead. If your not that bothered go for the GT and then think about overclocking for that extra performance.

However just a quick browse and i found this 9800GTX: http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/1463...che=accessoire
This one is much faster than the GTX you have linked us too. And its for the same price. I would go for this GTX if you where thinking of buying the GTX card.

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