I thinking about getting a GeForce 8400GS. how big should my psu be and how many amps should it have? current system: Cpu: amd athlon 64 x2 3800+ am2 Mobo: biostar tforce 7025. hard drive: 3 hd linksys wireless card one ide card. 2 sticks of 512 ddr2 ram one cdrw drive
according to eXtreme Power Supply Calculator v2.5, I can get away with 302 watts. I have rosewill 350 watt psu. but it only has 15 amps on the 12 volt rail. and im pretty sure thats not enough ampage. and corsair 620 is to much i dont want to spend more than like $60 usd on one. i have a really low budget.
maybe this one then: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2974508&Sku=ULT31847 K Its a rebate and you still have to pay shipping but the price after the rebate is nice. and it will last you a long time. here is one that is on sale down to 59.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153052 Its up to you if you want to put a cheaper psu in your system. Personally I wouldn't do it. but either one of these should work fine. unless someone wants to correct me.
This one has a small rebate and is just slightly above your target, but it's a good one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003
if i go with the 450w corsair psu and the video card. I'll have to earn 137 buck. so it take me like 10 months to earn that much money. perhaps some one knows a card that gives about the same power but is cheaper
The ultra posted above is great, especially for the price. It's a good psu. The thermaltake isn't. Don't waste your money. The corsair is the best choice in the priceragne.
US$137.00 = [approx] £68. So you only earn around US$13.70 / £6.80 a month... US¢45 / 33p a day Where are you from... and what work do you do, that you earn just US¢45 / 33p a day
I'm 13. I get 4 bucks a month doing chores. and then an can make about 10-14 bucks a month on top of it
Why do you assume he's old enough to have a job? Maybe that's his available cash; not everyone rates hardware above food in the things-to-buy priority list. Edit: Beaten to it. But, yeah, I'm curious too. I was going to suggest not getting an 8400GS as it's a little underpowered, but I guess anything more would be out of your price bracket.
yeah and beside its not like i need a 8800gtx or anything. I just need something that is better then my on board one, and can play games ok. and can fix fps dips
Maybe you are aiming too low... for the same price, you may be able to get a mid range GeForce 7 series card. I don't know, not being in America. Andrew
Yes, although you won't be able to use the DirectX 10 features. Just install the appropriate drivers from nvidia.com.
Also with card that can use your ram for more memory, do they automatically do that or can you manual set that? also can i use integrated and discrete video card at the same time? (use my 7025 for older games)
You can allacate the amount of memory that the card uses in the bios. I think that a 8400GS has 256Mb standard with the option to use another 256Mb from the motherboard memory. You cannot change this in Windows, only in the bios.
the only thing bottle necking a 8400GS is the card itself - for modern games its not very good at all... and I quote ........... "The card struggles to get a usable frame rate. The core GPU runs at 450MHz and the 256MB of GDDR2 RAM at 400MHz, and Call of Duty 2 at its lowest settings staggered along at 18fps, dropping to 9fps at medium. And, despite the 8400's DirectX 10 compatibility, Call of Juarez test suggests you won't be getting the best from Microsoft's next-generation API. At the lowest settings, it ran at below 10fps"
