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What card? 500w Limit?

.Max.

.Max.

.Max.

Associate
Joined
23 Mar 2011
Posts
232
Location
Oxford
Hey :D Looking for a decent-ish Card with just over £200 limit :D It would be an easier job but I'm limited by my 500w Antec PSU :D Other specs are i7 2600k and 8GB 1333mhz ram, Oh and space wise around 10.5" length and 6" high :D (Going in a modded powermac G4 Case :p

At first I was thinking GeForce 460 with 450w minimum started looking around then some people said to opt for a 5850 then after some thinking, I'd like to stick with Nvidia, Simply because of the 3D kit ;) Then my mind turned to a GTX 560 Ti, A lil more than the 460 and more power hungry recomending minimum of 500w, So would this all run okay? Or has anyone got another suggestions? :)

Oh and if I do opt for the 560 Ti I've kind of narrowed it to this and this. Would the 2GB give that much of a boost> What do you reccomend :) Thanks guys :D
 
TidyWorks said:
How many HDD's are you running? if you've got more than 3-4 then you might need a better PSU.
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Only one for now 5400rpm, But I might put an SSD in their at a later date :) I would've gone higher with the PSU but thats the only one I could find that doesn't require me to cut the metal/plastic off the case to fit :D
 
What would you be using the 3d for? If it's for films great, but the 560 on it's own doesn't have the horsepower to run games at the 120hz required to properly display 3d.

If you are set on 3d, I would save up a bit more and get a GTX480 and new PSU. The GTX560 is too expensive for the performance it provides as it stands. Your best option at this point is a 6950, it's a fair bit faster than the 560, and overclocks/unlocks to 6970 speeds easily.
 
Mojo said:
What would you be using the 3d for? If it's for films great, but the 560 on it's own doesn't have the horsepower to run games at the 120hz required to properly display 3d.

If you are set on 3d, I would save up a bit more and get a GTX480 and new PSU. The GTX560 is too expensive for the performance it provides as it stands. Your best option at this point is a 6950, it's a fair bit faster than the 560, and overclocks/unlocks to 6970 speeds easily.
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Hmm... I've literally pretty much just bought all my system now so not too sure on changging it earlier, also like I said I'm stuck for choices with the PSU, I would use it for films yes, But a little gaming too.. By not enough horsepower do you mean not at full res or is it simply going to be pretty crap? :D
 
TidyWorks said:
3D will take about 40% performance off (from what I remember), so say you're running at 50FPS, turning on 3D will knock it down to 30.
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Ahh Thanks :D Would the extra ram from the 2GB help atall with the performance of 3D?

Also.. Just seen some benchmarks of it, manages 50fps 3d Very high settings in Hawx, and 30 in BC: BF2 on very high again, So although that may not be fast for some people I think it'll do for me :p I've never been able to run a game at very high settings before, Let alone in 3D at 1080p :D haha :)
 
.Max. said:
Ahh Thanks :D Would the extra ram from the 2GB help atall with the performance of 3D?

Also.. Just seen some benchmarks of it, manages 50fps 3d Very high settings in Hawx, and 30 in BC: BF2 on very high again, So although that may not be fast for some people I think it'll do for me :p I've never been able to run a game at very high settings before, Let alone in 3D at 1080p :D haha :)
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The 2gb will not make the card go any faster in 3d, as the application of 3d only requires a higher framerate in order to run properly

I've had a look around at some benchies, and the GTX560 doesn't run cad company 2 at the 60fps required to run properly at 3d's 30fps (3d halves the framerate). 1080p runs at a max of 58fps, and a minimum of 50 (from the benchies I've seen). You'll be getting noticeable slowdown during games, especially when the tank shells flying and the buildings start exploding :( Sorry mate, the way I see it you need a faster card in order to properly game at 1080p.

*edit* added source http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2011/01/25/nvidia-geforce-gtx-560-ti-1gb-review/7 was looking at the 0xAA bench
 
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Mojo said:
The 2gb will not make the card go any faster in 3d, as the application of 3d only requires a higher framerate in order to run properly

I've had a look around at some benchies, and the GTX560 doesn't run cad company 2 at the 60fps required to run properly at 3d's 30fps (3d halves the framerate). 1080p runs at a max of 58fps, and a minimum of 50 (from the benchies I've seen). You'll be getting noticeable slowdown during games, especially when the tank shells flying and the buildings start exploding :( Sorry mate, the way I see it you need a faster card in order to properly game at 1080p.

*edit* added source http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2011/01/25/nvidia-geforce-gtx-560-ti-1gb-review/7 was looking at the 0xAA bench
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Damn :( thanks though, :) Would there be any other possible options with out having to buy a new psu? :D
 
.Max. said:
Damn :( thanks though, :) Would there be any other possible options with out having to buy a new psu? :D
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Ah, errrm, for 3d gaming you're going to need a beefy Nvidia card, and all of Nvidia's beefy cards use a lot of juice :( For 3d, you're looking at a GTX480/570/580, all of which pull 350w+ at load. Your PSU wouldn't manage it, especially when you start overclocking.

How about an interim solution? Go for the 560, save up a bit and get a new PSU and another 560 for SLI goodness? Two of those cards overclocked will be more than fast enough to play games at 1080p in 3d. What motherboard do you have?

If 3d wasn't a consideration I would suggest a 6950, it's a great card (a fair bit faster than the 560, and the same price) and would be fine with your PSU
 
Mojo said:
Ah, errrm, for 3d gaming you're going to need a beefy Nvidia card, and all of Nvidia's beefy cards use a lot of juice :( For 3d, you're looking at a GTX480/570/580, all of which pull 350w+ at load. Your PSU wouldn't manage it, especially when you start overclocking.

How about an interim solution? Go for the 560, save up a bit and get a new PSU and another 560 for SLI goodness? Two of those cards overclocked will be more than fast enough to play games at 1080p in 3d. What motherboard do you have?

If 3d wasn't a consideration I would suggest a 6950, it's a great card (a fair bit faster than the 560, and the same price) and would be fine with your PSU
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That first option sounds pretty good actually :) Would say 2 560's give better fps'sthan a 580 say? :D Also that way I can later decide if I need the extra boost :) the motherboard is an Asus P8h67 -M -PRO,

Thanks for the suggestion but yeah, I really would like 3D :D
 
I had a quick look at the Asus website, it looks like the P8H67-M pro only supports crossfire, not SLI :( bugger, it would have been perfect otherwise, two 560s would walk over a 580 (around 15-25% faster at 1920x1200).

You have had the worst luck with this! The only way I can see going ahead for 3d is to buy a new PSU and get a Gigabyte GTX480 SE or the GTX570 which is on offer at the moment. In order to get 560 SLI working you'll need a new motherboard!

One possible (but slightly dodgy) option is possibly to use a different Asus motherboard BIOS, one that supports SLI, but I have no experience in that tbh. Anyone else on here help at all?
 
Mojo said:
I had a quick look at the Asus website, it looks like the P8H67-M pro only supports crossfire, not SLI :( bugger, it would have been perfect otherwise, two 560s would walk over a 580 (around 15-25% faster at 1920x1200).

You have had the worst luck with this! The only way I can see going ahead for 3d is to buy a new PSU and get a Gigabyte GTX480 SE or the GTX570 which is on offer at the moment. In order to get 560 SLI working you'll need a new motherboard!

One possible (but slightly dodgy) option is possibly to use a different Asus motherboard BIOS, one that supports SLI, but I have no experience in that tbh. Anyone else on here help at all?
Click to expand...

Damn! THis is pretty unlucky, Hmmm.... I may end up just replacing the PSU then, I'll read up about the SLI, and if my luck turns hopefully it'll be possible :) thanks again for all the help, oh and if I did get a PSU, what wattage would ou recommend? 750. Or higher? :D


Edit: found this, I would be able to SLI with a hack, but... One of the pci-e ports is x4 (no idea what that means but that's what it says :p) which means there'd be a performance hit :(

http://www.overclock.net/intel-motherboards/963531-board-sli-able-asus-p8h67-m.html
 
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for two 560s 750-850w should be ok. I had a look at some of the 850w models, as there are some great deals going for them at the moment.

If you're erring on the side of value, I would suggest the Xfx 850w core edition. It's not modular, but reviews have praised it's tight voltage and ripple controls, and have been able to put 923w through it without it dying on them.
If you want a modular supply, you could spend a bit more and go for the Coolermaster silent pro 850w modular. It's not *quite* as good as the Xfx, but 2 or 3 percent here and there isn't going to make much of a difference, and it's ripple control is pretty good. It's a fair bit more, just depends whether you want modular or not :)
 
Thanks :) Although I am trying to make PSUa last resort or just a change for a couple months time, but the main problem I have is the way the Powermac G4 case is, only certain PSUs will fit without blowing air against a wall, and having a mis aligned socket :( a d I don't particularly want to cut the case just yet... :) So.. With the 1 560 for now, how would it handle 3D on say options in a game set to medium generally? Would it be playable? As I may be able to cope with just the one for a while, :) thanks
 
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