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Graphics Card with 400w PSU

anthony_marsh

anthony_marsh

anthony_marsh

Associate
Joined
4 Nov 2012
Posts
2
Hello Folks,

I'm looking to give my old Nvidia Geforce 240GT GDDR3 1GB an upgrade to enable me to play X-Plane 10 a little more smoothly. The problem I have is that I only have a 400w PSU (Xigmatek NRP-PC402) and don't really want to spend on replacing it if I'm going to be putting in a new mid-range GPU. The GPUs I am looking at are as follows:

- Nvidia Geforce 650 Ti - (the safe option)
- AMD Radeon 7850 - will this run?
- Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 - will this run?

Obviously, I'm concerned about whether or not I get to have higher powered cards with my PSU. I would prefer Nvidia based on the fact that is what I've been using for years - but I'm not concerned about moving to AMD either if I can squeeze every bit of juice out of the system.

Rest of the system:

- Asus P7P55D-E LX
- Intel Core i5 760 2.8Ghz
- 12GB DDR3
- 2 x 1.5TB Seagate 7.2K RPM (RAID1)
- Asus Xonar DGX
- 24x DVD-RW + BluRay 4x
- Windows 8 x64 Pro

(i.e. fairly average - hence no desire to spend ££ on significant system upgrades)

Anyone have any thoughts on these options?
 
I wouldn't personally. But thats simply because the quality of the PSU isn't brilliant. it has enough power on the 12V rail though.
 
The 'safe option' would be better as it is cheap and would chug along happily with your psu.
It would offer a very nice boost over your 240GT.
 
The reviews of his PSU are very good. It will not offer massive overclocking headroom but for out of the box, it will do the trick. Maybe when he has some spare cash, invest in a new PSU and overclock things.
 
gregster said:
The reviews of his PSU are very good. It will not offer massive overclocking headroom but for out of the box, it will do the trick. Maybe when he has some spare cash, invest in a new PSU and overclock things.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I thought, any overclocking especially with the 7850 (and cpu?) might make things tight.
 
The power consumption is the same between the 7850 and the GTX 660. Both @ 290 Watts (full system power) http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=660

Ignore the Game performance data there, its completely out of date and wrong, Anand don't update that data and the 7### series is performance is up to match the GTX 660 on the latest drivers.

So your fine with a good 400w PSU on the GTX 660. or the 7850 if you do fancy a change.
 
Thanks folks for the useful advice - I'm probably going to look into the 7850 or 660 then. Just need to investigate whether AMD or Nvidia drivers are better for the OpenGL stack (X-Plane).

Cheers
 
anthony_marsh said:
Thanks folks for the useful advice - I'm probably going to look into the 7850 or 660 then. Just need to investigate whether AMD or Nvidia drivers are better for the OpenGL stack (X-Plane).

Cheers
Click to expand...


Unfortunatley Nvidia rubbished their own OpenCL performance, for that the only way is AMD.
 
gregster said:
That bad then? :mad:
Click to expand...

I usually get around 25 - 30 FPS with CPU at 4.5ghz over 3 screens and highish settings

It'll be interesting comparing our systems as the only real difference is nvidia/AMD

EDIT: My CPU is actually only at 3.5... when I actually have some time I'll stick it back at 4.5 and I'll test again :D
 
Cleeecooo said:
I usually get around 25 - 30 FPS with CPU at 4.5ghz over 3 screens and highish settings

It'll be interesting comparing our systems as the only real difference is nvidia/AMD

EDIT: My CPU is actually only at 3.5... when I actually have some time I'll stick it back at 4.5 and I'll test again :D
Click to expand...

Gulp!!!

I have mine on 4.625Ghz as standard (1.34V) and will reporst back when I get it :)
 
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