[Buyers Guide] Graphic Cards and Power Supplies

Hello Guru, I havn't been on here for a while but i think i would like to share my knowledge on which graphics cards to buy since nvidia have gone on a renaming frenzy with thier cards, leading to extreme confusion and people buying worse cards for more money.

When it comes to picking a graphic card you may miss out on many factors, and 1 factor would be "Can my power Supply handle it?" Realy power is overrated when it comes to "500W+!!!!" A well built Power Supply at around 330-500W with the brands below:

Coolermaster
Thermaltake
Antec
OCZ
PC Power and Cooling
Corsair
Seasonic

Can easily handle most powerful single graphic cards such as 8800GTX's or 3870X2's, But also you have to consider other things, "Do i have 9 hardrives" "Do i run an overclocked System?" But of course if you do have those things you probably know enough to not even need to read this article, But still companys are shipping out such systems with not much advice to thier customers.

Use this Power Consumption Calculator to a get a rough idea on how much you may need and then try to get a power supply with around 20-40% more power so that it doesnt go out off like a jetplane when you start it up.

One other thing that Graphic cards companys never show is if their card requires additional power and i can assure that nearly all above mid-range cards need that now. You'll need a 6-pin pci adapter, 2 6-pin pci adapters or even 1 6-pin and 1 8-pin pci adapters, so when choosing your graphic card make sure you know if its needs this, and easy way to know would be to look at the specifications, and possibly a picture.

6pin PCI


9600GT needs 6-pin


If you have a pre-made pc from a company it is very likely that you DO NOT have these connectors, and you do not have enough additional power to even upgrade your card to one that does not need a pci connector as companys like to cut corners and use cheap power supplies which just meet your pc specifications! Open your case up and check out your power supply!

Ok I'm not onto graphic cards, I wont explain too much, but i'll just show you what to get and for the price, feel free to look into benchmarks if you do not agree:

A few common rules to go by when picking:

Memory: Is not always important, nvidia 8600gt's at 256mb would easily beat a 8500gt at 512mb. Look up reveiws if you want to know if the card your looking at is good.

Name Dont let a nvidia 8400GT seem better than a 7800GT, nvidia and ati have generations (Nvidia= FX5000/6000/7000/8000/GTX200) (ATI=9000/X1000/HD2000/HD3000/HD4000) and the overall performance goes up in every generation. In other words the 8600GT will be slighty or much more powerful than an 7600GT.

Bargins and Rip Off's Generation switches basically leave the previous behind, so you may get better g-cards for cheaper prices compared to previous generations, this can be when a 8800gt costs £120 and a 7950gt costs £220, The 8800GT would outperform the 7950GT while still much cheaper. This happens is when a retailer has stock left over which had a high value. Do not fall into this trap. You can also use this as a advantage, many retailers hold graphic cards from 1 or 2 generations ago, these can be great bargins if you look into it, I found that a uk retailer called ebuyer had 300 7900GS's in stock at £39.99, the performanec for the price is crazy.

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My Recommended Cards Based on Value:


Cards that dont require additional power connectors!

Ati Radeon 1650PRO 512mb $45/£30-£40

Nvidia 8600GT 512mb $75/£45

Cards that require additional power connectors!

Nvidia 7900GS 256MB -1x 6pin PCI $59/£40 (better than the above 2)

Nvidia 9600GSO 384mb - 1x 6pin PCI $109/More than 9600gt in £

Nvidia 9600GT 512mb - 1x6pin PCI $140/£78

Nvidia 8800GT 512mb - 1x6pin PCI $159/£111

Ati HD4850 512mb - 1x6pin PCI $199/£125 (Monster of a card for the money)

Right now Im sure your thinking 8800GTX? 8800GTS??? 9800GTX???? well I havn;t bothered with these as the ATI 4850 is basically on parr with them at a much lower price

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Finaly: What Brand??

Choose a brand with the longest warrently for the least money, try and find a sweet spot, many cards have lifetimes warrenties so look into them!

Ok i think thats its, enjoy your shoppings

A few minor errors:
Did you mean 6800GT on the first reference to the 6800 Series? Oh please delete the extra "and" in that line.
In the next one I am fairly sure you meant for them to choose a brand not "bran" Lastly, "havn;t" should be have not or haven’t.

Overall, pretty good. You did not cover AGP, which most techs consider dead but a lot of people still use. You may also want to advise people looking at power supplies about "rails." I would advise that anyone looking to buy a new power supply that they double check to be sure that they have at least two power rails. One for video and one for everthing else.

Done some fixes, may go into more detail later, when i get time

Very informative, maybe now I can find a card that can replace my 6200 properly (lol, I know).

Readability is greatly improved, thank you.

I think you should comment on amperage more. Total wattage is meaningless if the amps are on the 3.3v / 5.5v and very sparingly on the 12v(s). Also...most of the better PSU manufacturers often have models that are priced competitively and are still not as good. The producers of different units can change, and you can often get a better PSU from the same brand, for the same amount of money.

for a PSU, go with a modular cooler master one, these things are really good.