I have an old machine that only has a 350W power supply. I want a nvidia card to replace my ATI card but the new 8 series cards require 450W power to run them. Does anyone know what hte best nvidia card is that will run at 350W Thanks 90
sorry current card is a : ATI Radeon X850XT Platinum 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express W/DVI/TVOUT(OEM)Sapphir card which is a bit old. I was looking at something like a NVIDIA's GeForce 7800 GTX 512 but I don't know if I can't get something better in.
I wouldn't bother with the 7800GTX, it was surpassed by many cards. I think an ATi X1950 would be a good choice tbh.
ATI is a definite no go. They don't support OpenGL applications. Nvidia does. So I'm only considering them. But power consumption is hte big issue I have. I read that the new 8800GT needs 450W , but I also read that it only draws 231W at maximum load. So Now I don't know what to believe.
The 450W thing is only a suggestion. You'll be good if the rest of your machine doesn't draw too much power. You could also buy a new PSU, or a new computer if you could afford it.
OK I emailed XFX and asked them what was the fastest I could stick in my machine and they have said Geforce 6600 Ultra 128 or Nvidia Quadro FX3400 256MB
If you're considering the purchase of a quite expensive graphics card - isn't there the possibility of upgrading the PSU as well? A 450-550W is not that expensive. You'd get away with an 8600 on a 350W I'd imagine, it can't be more power hungry than two 6600 GTs I ran in SLI on an old 350W Enermax back in the day. That was with a P4 in it too.
the old power supply is no longer operating at 350w. it's actually bit less. voltage can be shaky as well. placing a heavy 80%+ load on an old psu may break it and possibly other things. your older cpu-motherboard-ram may make the new and powerful GPU perform like a cheaper cousin. give us the pc specs including stuff on psu sticker.
OK my machine is a 4 year old: Shuttle XPC SB95P V2 CPU is a Pentium 4 550 3.4 GHz, 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cach3(+303.00) ATI Radeon X850XT Platinum 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express W/DVI/TVOUT(OEM)Sapphir card 2GB RAM Motherboard · FB95 (proprietary) I don't want to upgrade the computer because to be honest it works great. I just need an invidia card to run openGL applications and want to get the best possible so the machine will live a bit longer.
i'd say spend a little extra coin and get a new PSU. If you are really on a budget, get one from eBay or smth like that. From what you say, it can't possibly be worse then what you have now As an upgrade for that system, i don't think getting anything above a 8600 is worth the money. My advice in a nutshell: get a cheap(ish) PSU, and a 8600. You'll spend less then on the 8800 GT, gatting basically the same graphics and a much healthier PC.
I built a friends PC that has an Overclocked C2D and 2 HDD's in a P180 with an 8600 GT runs fine on a 430W for context's sake.
NVIDIA Quadro FX 350 by PNY offers uncompromised performance and programmability at an entry-level price. The FX 350 is the most affordable NVIDIA Quadro by PNY professional graphics board and provides excellent OpenGL acceleration and broad ISV certification. PRODUCT FEATURES: Proven workstation graphics architecture; Advanced vertex and pixel programmability; Full 128-bit precision graphics pipeline; 12-bit subpixel precision; High Precision Dynamic Range Imaging (HPDR) Technology; PCI Express support; Unified Driver Architecture.
