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Best Graphics Card (without an extra power connector)?

Rezident

Rezident

Rezident

Soldato
Joined
29 May 2007
Posts
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Location
Dublin
Does anyone know what is the best graphics card without an extra power connector?

My brother wants to upgrade his Dell and apparently Dell PSU's don't have extra connectors. He has a Radeon X300 (RV370) 128Mb now.

Cheers.
 
you can get sata to molex then moles to pci-e as most dells have a few spare sata connectors
 
redballoon said:
9500GT

At stock it's between the 8600 GT and GTS in power, overclocked (DDR3) it beats the GTS. Decent entry level card then.
Click to expand...

So a 9500 would be better than an 8600?

Sorry, it used to be obvious but Nvidia's card names have gotten a bit confusing lately.
 
Yes, it's better (I wouldn't buy the slower DDR2 ver though). A passively cooled one would be a good choice for a silent PC and it doesn't need a PCI-E power connector.
 
Whoa whoa whoa.

Put a new PSU in it and then get any card you want.

I've just done it in my Inspiron 530 and happily running a 8800GT in there.
 
vorm said:
Whoa whoa whoa.

Put a new PSU in it and then get any card you want.

I've just done it in my Inspiron 530 and happily running a 8800GT in there.
Click to expand...

He's on a pretty tight budget, I'd say he can afford the memory and a cheap graphics card, and that's about it.
 
Rezident said:
Does anyone know what is the best graphics card without an extra power connector?

My brother wants to upgrade his Dell and apparently Dell PSU's don't have extra connectors. He has a Radeon X300 (RV370) 128Mb now.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

My old Enermax PSU I'm using doesnt have pcie 6 pin power adapters. It does have the requisite 26A 12V rail, however.

The Gainward 4850 box comes with a 2x molex -> 6 pin adapter. OCUK also sell them for about £3.

I dont think you should be factoring the non requirement of an extra power plug in your decision. You should purely be looking at what his psu can provide vs what you want.

Edit:
apparently Dell PSU's don't have extra connectors
Click to expand...
Miss read this! WTF? No spare molex connectors?
 
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JTrickle said:
My old Enermax PSU I'm using doesnt have pcie 6 pin power adapters. It does have the requisite 26A 12V rail, however.

The Gainward 4850 box comes with a 2x molex -> 6 pin adapter. OCUK also sell them for about £3.

I dont think you should be factoring the non requirement of an extra power plug in your decision. You should purely be looking at what his psu can provide vs what you want.
Click to expand...

Yes ideally I'd want him to get a 4850 if he can afford it. My main concern there is whether a Pentium 4 is powerful enough for a new card like a 4850. How would I determine this?

I mean, obviously it's old but it's still clocked at 3GHz so for apps that are not optimised for multi-core support (i.e. almost everything) should it not be faster clock for clock than say, a quad-core that's only clocked at 2.4GHz?
 
Rezident said:
Yes ideally I'd want him to get a 4850 if he can afford it. My main concern there is whether a Pentium 4 is powerful enough for a new card like a 4850. How would I determine this?

I mean, obviously it's old but it's still clocked at 3GHz so for apps that are not optimised for multi-core support (i.e. almost everything) should it not be faster clock for clock than say, a quad-core that's only clocked at 2.4GHz?
Click to expand...

No it wouldn't be to be honest, the Core 2 Duo architecture and the Penryn improvements are a lot better clock for clock than a Pentium 4, as much as 100% in some cases, so unfortunately you cannot really make that comparison.
 
Rezident said:
Yes ideally I'd want him to get a 4850 if he can afford it. My main concern there is whether a Pentium 4 is powerful enough for a new card like a 4850. How would I determine this?

I mean, obviously it's old but it's still clocked at 3GHz so for apps that are not optimised for multi-core support (i.e. almost everything) should it not be faster clock for clock than say, a quad-core that's only clocked at 2.4GHz?
Click to expand...

look at pentium d, it's two pentium 4's stuck together and and the e2xxx series beats it :o
 
For single core games, more or less yes. But you wouldnt want to try Crysis on an old P4 imho.

I bought a new 4850 from OCUK, because the 2nd hand prices on decent gfx cards were rather stupid. Most half decent cards (we are talking anything 512Mb of a 7900/1900 speed or above) on the unmentionable auction site seemed to sell for 2/3rds of new price. I see people here suggest buying a 2nd hand 8800gt all the time, but tbh they arent being realistic.

However I did have more luck picking up a 2nd hand cpu+mobo. Costs start to spiral if you have to buy new memory, cpu cooler and psu. I got a new HD, gfx and 2nd hand AMDx2 cpu + mobo +1mb ddr for £200. Second hand core 2's were expensive and you need new memory.

If he cant buget for a dual core somehow, I wouldnt spend £120 on a 4850 personally.
 
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