Need a new Vid Card

[Lazerblade]

My PSU (immigrants need jobs too).

[MiStA PePPa]

I'm looking for a card between 75-100. I'd rather use Nvidia. What do you think is the best in this list?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+4803+4027+106790717&name=GeForce+7+series

I/m going to be upgrading my mobo, so I can choose one that will take whatever card I might get.

[MiStA PePPa]

OK its probably going to be this mobo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135024

[Dr.Jeckyl]

HEHEHE someone arguing with MONO about electricity.

[MindlessOath]

get his finger outa the socket!

[MONOLITH]

In fairness to Mindless, after looking at that Antec spec sheet, he does have a valid point about the name rating pretty much seems to mean squat.

My 500 W Antec wouldn't run my rig because in reality the 12 volt rail only handles 360 watts.  

But yeah, never argue with me about Ohm's law. My National certification as an electrical instructor trumps all.  

[MindlessOath]

NOTE: i admit the turbocool does make a bit more noise - so go with the silent version unless you dont care to much about noise. its not massive noise, but its still abit annoying.

In fairness to Mindless, after looking at that Antec spec sheet, he does have a valid point about the name rating pretty much seems to mean squat.

My 500 W Antec wouldn't run my rig because in reality the 12 volt rail only handles 360 watts.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703005
this is only 160$ which is pritty good price for a quiet reliable psu with more than the 30amp requirement you need for your 12v rail.

my guess is that IF ocz or pcpower and cooling made a PSU with 360 watts with 30amp's on the 12v rail, that it would work just fine for your unit.  i dont think they would create that tho.?  i notice everything with a higher amp on the 12v rail has alot more wattage - which makes sense for selling, and buisness/marketing wise.

anyways...  http://www.pcpower.com/technology/myths/#8

8. ARE MULTIPLE 12-VOLT RAILS BETTER THAN A SINGLE 12-VOLT RAIL?
With all the hype about multiple 12-volt rails (ads claim that two rails is better than one, five is better than four, etc.), you’d think it was a better design. Unfortunately, it’s not!

Here are the facts: A large, single 12-volt rail (without a 240VA limit) can transfer 100% of the 12-volt output from the PSU to the computer, while a multi-rail 12-volt design has distribution losses of up to 30% of the power supply’s rating. Those losses occur because power literally gets “trapped” on under-utilized rails. For example, if the 12-volt rail that powers the CPU is rated for 17 amps and the CPU only uses 7A, the remaining 10A is unusable, since it is isolated from the rest of the system.

Since the maximum current from any one 12-volt rail of a multiple-rail PSU is limited to 20 amps (240VA / 12 volts = 20 amps), PCs with high-performance components that draw over 20 amps from the same rail are subject to over-current shutdowns. With power requirements for multiple processors and graphics cards continuing to grow, the multiple-rail design, with its 240VA limit per rail, is basically obsolete.

PC Power and Cooling is once again leading the industry. All of our power supplies now feature a large, single 12-volt rail. The design is favored by major processor and graphics companies, complies with EPS12V specs (the 240VA limit is not a requirement) and is approved by all major safety agencies such as UL and TUV.

the antec board you have has two rails, and i notice alot of even OCZ brand psu's have multiple rails and lower amprege from each rail - i only seen a few that have good raitings on a single rail

what are the OEM's using (like hp and etc) when using a 19xx video card? it looks like dell and alienwear use the pc power and cooling ones.

[MONOLITH]

i notice everything with a higher amp on the 12v rail has alot more wattage - which makes sense for selling, and buisness/marketing wise.

That isn't about marketing, it's just the laws of physics.  

Amps/Volts = Watts.

If you have a 12 volt rail, and INCREASE the Amps, there is higher wattage.   Wattage is just a word to measure the volts X amps amount, like the word 'footpounds' is used for pressure.


  A 12 volt rail with 30 amps is    360 watts.

  A 24 volt rail with 15 amps is    360 watts.  

  A 30 volt rail with 12 amps is    360 watts.


So wattage is just a measurement of the other two items, regardless of their levels.


That link you quoted about two rails not being able to utilize all the available power is accurate, and an excellent point.  Thinking about it now, it does seem like a flawed design.

You've convinced me Mindless. Right this day down in history.  

[MindlessOath]

hey, im not trying to convince anyone of anything.  i just learned something and i was sharing the info.

[MindlessOath]

i just read this...
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40641

im not sure the date they release but i think im going to buy a 2600xt for under 200$ - i think it would be far better than my current x800xtpe? more features anyways.

but then again the older cards with less features are better performers.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3023&p=6
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/HD_2600_XT/7

[sithdemon]

For DX 9c games of course it's going to suffer, every "new gen" card series suffers compared to the full optimized last gen cards, in last gen games. Now if we had a FULLY DX10 game, things might make more sense, though you can use some of the partial DX10 games for a idea.

[MindlessOath]

hardocp failed the 1k watts psu from pc power and cooling taken over by OCZ.

Since we began our power supply reviews one company has been requested by our readers more than any other and today we present our first review of a PC Power & Cooling product. PC Power & Cooling was originally founded in 1985 by Doug Dodson and specialized in fans but the company quickly moved into the realm of computer power supplies. Over the years the PC Power & Cooling name has become most popular from their branding of the Turbo-Cool and Silencer lines of power supplies. That string of 21 years as an independent company recently ended when PC Power & Cooling was acquired by OCZ. Today’s power supply was procured and tested before that acquisition and it has been explained to us by OCZ that the product will not be going through any changes. When we asked OCZ in Taiwan at Computex if the review being conducted would fully represent future product they reassured us it would and to go ahead with the review in confidence.


Today we will be looking at the PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR (T1KWSR) which is produced in conjunction with one of PC Power & Cooling’s manufacturing partners Win-Tact. Win-Tact is one of PC Power & Cooling’s longest running OEMs having built the Turbo-Cool series for a number of years now.

what a move ocz made - i really thought they made some good psu's.

i guess when power ratings get that high its harder to make something thats cost effective? i dunno but that is bogus.

but someone noted this in the forums...

However I have to say, and I think you put it well, but didn't emphasize this enough: This review would probably have a different tone if it was done when the unit first hit the market. It's about 2 years too late.

I agree, it is not the biggest and baddest anymore. I kind of expected that today. PCP&C seems to have the mantra of "if it aint broke don't fix it", and they build PSU's that don't break. So it always seems they don't turnaround new designs until changes in hardware deem it necessary (i.e. SLI, higher wattage req's). It's slightly unfair, but still worth the evaluation to tag it up against "brand new" 1KW+ units with a couple years more of market and hardware development. However that doesn't let PCP&C off the hook for keeping their tag line marketing for this unit, it is misleading. Your money might be better spent elsewhere until PCP&C puts out something updated.

and i have to agree that its a two year old unit, one of the first 1000k watt psu's and at that time was pritty good but lacking the marketing of a quiet cooler - its to loud to be quiet like it markets it to be.

because it has been out and newer units have made better designs based on knowing the competition this is kinda moot.  however the problem is the quote at the top of my post - it seems like OCZ said they wont fix this design and continue to make the same design for future psu's above 1kw.

i want to see hardocp actually do some testing with actuall systems too! how many components can be loaded up in the system, cause then we may get differnt results. cause i know one psu might take more components at a lower wattage rating and its real life compairison - like what hardocp is against from looking at there gaming reviews.