Best and Cheapest Video Card

[Revenant]

Or, just to throw a monkey wrench into the discussion....... How about one of this babies: video card psu for 5 1/4" drive bay . One of my friends have this on his tricked out rig:

I've just found out the contraption that will power up my SLI and discrete PhysX card.

[jut703]

Core clock and shader processor clock have been reduced by 8%, from 600 to 550 and from 1500 to 1375 respectively. In real word benches though, there were only 2-4fps difference, with the highest point fps taking the brunt while the lowest fps and midrange fps remained the same.

Mine is a Palit Super+ 9800GT (standard), while my friend's htpc had the Palit 9800GT Green Edition. We both had LCD monitors at 1680 x 1050.

So yung Green Ed parang underclocked 9800GT lang?
Bet ko kaya may ganyan para hindi itapon yung mga hindi pumasa ng quality standards to become a real 9800GT. :D Weird kasi hindi naman uso ang underclocked cards by retailers, ang uso yung mga factory OC versions (which btw are good buys as long as hindi malayo yung price sa stock kasi you have the safety of warranty with the benefit of a slight OC). :D

[jut703]

I've just found out the contraption that will power up my SLI and discrete PhysX card.

Hmm is this a better solution than getting a higher wattage PSU (620-1000W)? :D

Ngayon ko lang kasi naencounter to. I'm not sure how it works. So you have your usual PSU, where your CPU connects to the 12V rail, tapos eto dedicated for the GPU? So 12V rail lang din meron to? :D

[Jun aka Pekto]

I've just found out the contraption that will power up my SLI and discrete PhysX card.

He He He. At first, I thought it was a hard drive of some sort. I kept tapping the thing inquisitively until my friend made me stop.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Does the Green Edition 9800GT dispense with the 6-pin power connector? Between that and an HD4850, I'd take a green 9800GT if there was no power connector required.

I have a pet peeve about power connectors for video cards. I guess I'm just old-fashioned which is why I'm leaning on the HD4850. It doesn't need a power connector.

[Revenant]

Does the Green Edition 9800GT dispense with the 6-pin power connector? Between that and an HD4850, I'd take a green 9800GT if there was no power connector required.

The 9800GT Green Edition draws its power straight from the PCI-Express X16 slot, so there is no need for a 6-pin power conncector.

Strangely, the 250 GTS Green Edition, which is practically an underclocked 9800GTX, still requires two 6-pin connectors.

[Revenant]

So you have your usual PSU, where your CPU connects to the 12V rail, tapos eto dedicated for the GPU? So 12V rail lang din meron to? :D

Mukhang mas ok parin yung 800+W na PSU. Medyo madugo pala ang wiring neto.



Specifications:

Max Output Current: +5v…5A +12v…26A
Total Output Power: 325W (Full Load, Nominal Input Voltage)
Efficiency: 73% Typical at Full Load and Nominal Input Voltage Input
AC Input Voltage: Automatic Full Range (115-230 VAC)
AC Input Frequency: 50-60Hz
AC Input Currents:
· 6A (RMS) at 115VAC input
· 4A (RMS) at 230VAC input

Connectors:
1 - 24-Pin Motherboard Connector
2 - 4-Pin Molex Connectors
2 - 6-Pin PCI Express Connectors
1 - 8-Pin PCI Express Connector

[Jun aka Pekto]

The 9800GT Green Edition draws its power straight from the PCI-Express X16 slot, so there is no need for a 6-pin power conncector.

Strangely, the 250 GTS Green Edition, which is practically an underclocked 9800GTX, still requires two 6-pin connectors.

Cool. I might consider the Green Edition 9800GT. nVidia cards has had a history of better, sometimes much better framerates in flight sims. That part is the most important to me.

[jut703]

Mukhang mas ok parin yung 800+W na PSU. Medyo madugo pala ang wiring neto.



Specifications:

Max Output Current: +5v…5A +12v…26A
Total Output Power: 325W (Full Load, Nominal Input Voltage)
Efficiency: 73% Typical at Full Load and Nominal Input Voltage Input
AC Input Voltage: Automatic Full Range (115-230 VAC)
AC Input Frequency: 50-60Hz
AC Input Currents:
· 6A (RMS) at 115VAC input
· 4A (RMS) at 230VAC input

Connectors:
1 - 24-Pin Motherboard Connector
2 - 4-Pin Molex Connectors
2 - 6-Pin PCI Express Connectors
1 - 8-Pin PCI Express Connector

Wow naging jungle. Makalat na, problema pa sa cooling kasi nakakablock ng air flow. At least halos lahat ng high-wattage PSUs ngayon modular na so malinis. :D

Cool. I might consider the Green Edition 9800GT. nVidia cards has had a history of better, sometimes much better framerates in flight sims. That part is the most important to me.

AFAIK, Flight Sims are heavily CPU dependent.

[Jun aka Pekto]

AFAIK, Flight Sims are heavily CPU dependent.

True, they are. But for my two favorite flight sims (Flight Simulator X and X-Plane 9), nVidia cards have a big advantage. Take my X800XL, it's okay on the games of its time except for Flight Simulator X. It lags a bit on my preferred settings. I replaced it with an 8600GT given by a friend. I immediately noticed I can ramp up a lot more detail and still have higher frame rates than the X800XL. In most other games, they're about equal. But, nVidia has the edge in flight sims. Even X-Plane 9's manual recommends nVidia over ATI.

With newer cards, it's not really a concern for both games. But, if a new state of the art flight sim comes out, the process might start all over again with nVidia being the favored card.

[jut703]

True, they are. But for my two favorite flight sims (Flight Simulator X and X-Plane 9), nVidia cards have a big advantage. Take my X800XL, it's okay on the games of its time except for Flight Simulator X. It lags a bit on my preferred settings. I replaced it with an 8600GT given by a friend. I immediately noticed I can ramp up a lot more detail and still have higher frame rates than the X800XL. In most other games, they're about equal. But, nVidia has the edge in flight sims. Even X-Plane 9's manual recommends nVidia over ATI.

With newer cards, it's not really a concern for both games. But, if a new state of the art flight sim comes out, the process might start all over again with nVidia being the favored card.

True. You can't deny that some games have brand preferences. Kanya kanyang title yan for each card. It's good that you know exactly what games you'll be using the card for and that you know that it prefers nVidia.

Though of course if you find an ATI card that's much better than nVidia's offering at the same price point then it would still be better to go ATI. So kunwari may HD4850 na kapresyo ng 9800GT (haha malay mo) dun ka na sa 4850.

[Jun aka Pekto]

There has been later auxiliary psu's with modular cabling (connect only as needed). Thermaltake has a coupe....

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...Story&reid=122

The main problem with the Ultra is its power ran through the same power as the primary psu and the cables are not modular. Thermaltake's has it's own external power source and includes modular cabling.





The main drawback is you'll require two wall outlets for the pc, one for each psu. These are mainly for gamers. I'm sure the electric bill is the last thing on their mind. Same thing if a pc have 2 hard drives and 2 optical drives.

[jut703]

I still think there's no need for this becuase very few systems can fully use up over 1000W, and there are PSUs that have outputs of up to 1500W. :D

[Jun aka Pekto]

I still think there's no need for this becuase very few systems can fully use up over 1000W, and there are PSUs that have outputs of up to 1500W. :D

Ya. But, the geek factor is off the scale. Ha Ha.

Personally, I too prefer a single psu solution. I figured, if I can spend $1200 on two video cards, I can afford a beefy enough psu for them.

[Jun aka Pekto]

I thought things over and sent off an order for parts to fix my dead pc:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 AM3 Black Edition 3.2GHZ (even the cheapest i7 costs a lot more)
Gigabyte GA-MA790GPT-UD3H AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX
Crucial Ballistix 4GB DDR3 1800 (4gb is enough for me)
Sapphire Toxic Radeon HD 4870 1GB (the 1gb is very very important for terrain textures in FSX)

[Jun aka Pekto]

Crap. Newegg's out of the 790GX motherboard. So, I re-examined my choices and scaled down a bit.

I didn't need crossfire. So, back to a 785GX board. Onboard video is an HD 4200.

I was planning to buy a new PSU because the HD 4870 required 2 x 6-pin power connections. The 1gb HD 4850 required one 6-pin while the 512mb required none. Well, I need the 1gb for FSX and I'll stick with my current 430w psu.

SAPPHIRE 100258-1GHDMI Radeon HD 4850 1GB
GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX

[Negus]

I thought things over and sent off an order for parts to fix my dead pc:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 AM3 Black Edition 3.2GHZ (even the cheapest i7 costs a lot more)
Gigabyte GA-MA790GPT-UD3H AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX
Crucial Ballistix 4GB DDR3 1800 (4gb is enough for me)
Sapphire Toxic Radeon HD 4870 1GB (the 1gb is very very important for terrain textures in FSX)

^^Envy. :drool:

[jut703]

Crap. Newegg's out of the 790GX motherboard. So, I re-examined my choices and scaled down a bit.

I didn't need crossfire. So, back to a 785GX board. Onboard video is an HD 4200.

I was planning to buy a new PSU because the HD 4870 required 2 x 6-pin power connections. The 1gb HD 4850 required one 6-pin while the 512mb required none. Well, I need the 1gb for FSX and I'll stick with my current 430w psu.

SAPPHIRE 100258-1GHDMI Radeon HD 4850 1GB
GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX

430W with a quad-core Phenom and a 4870? I think you should upgrade to 550W or higher. PSUs are at maximum efficiency if their load is at 70%.

[Negus]

^^he updated the spec to 4850. perhaps kaya na?

[jut703]

^^he updated the spec to 4850. perhaps kaya na?

Onga hindi ko napansin na 4850 na. Hmm still the fact that it's a quad-core means mas malakas power consumption niyan.

I use a 400W PSU but I only have a dual-core CPU and a Radeon 3850. Recommended nga 450W kasi I have a slight overclock.
Since he doesn't seem to plan to OC then maybe 450-550W would do. But of course most efficient parin if he doesn't have to change kasi he'll have an extra PSU lying around lang. I think it can run on 430W anyway, medyo tight nga lang.