New card advice. Power supply concerns.

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BENN0

Weaksauce
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Nov 23, 2009
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I would appreciate your advise on a new graphics card for the following setup:

-Intel Core2Duo E8400 (3Ghz), 4GB memory, Windows 7 64bit.
-24" 1920x1200 monitor.
-MSI P7NGM-Digital mainboard with GeForce 9300/nForce 730i on-board video.
-Antec/EarthWatts 430W power supply.

I'd like to add a new graphics card to replace the on-board graphics. Something in the $150-$250 price range that can run recent games on 1920x1200 with (near) maximum settings at reasonable frame-rate.

I also would prefer a card that stays very cool and quiet during non gaming (web browsing etc) and isn't too noisy during full power gaming.

I've been advised a HD5750 (passive cooled version) and a GTX460 elsewhere. I'm a little concerned about the GTX460 though. My power supply has two 12v lines, one 17A line for the CPU and one 16A line for everything else (the mainboard, a SSD + 5700rpm harddisk and a DVD-RW in my case) although both have an OCP set point of 22A. It also has only one 6 Pin PCI-E power connector.

Will a GTX 460 be possible with this power supply? Any advice on the most reliable, silent and cool model?

Any other advice or comments will be greatly appreciated!
 
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BENN0 said:
I would appreciate your advise on a new graphics card for the following setup:

-Intel Core2Duo E8400 (3Ghz), 4GB memory, Windows 7 64bit.
-24" 1920x1200 monitor.
-MSI P7NGM-Digital mainboard with GeForce 9300/nForce 730i on-board video.
-Antec/EarthWatts 430W power supply.

I'd like to add a new graphics card to replace the on-board graphics. Something in the $150-$250 price range that can run recent games on 1920x1200 with (near) maximum settings at reasonable frame-rate.

I also would prefer a card that stays very cool and quiet during non gaming (web browsing etc) and isn't too noisy during full power gaming.

I've been advised a HD5750 (passive cooled version) and a GTX460 elsewhere. I'm a little concerned about the GTX460 though. My power supply has two 12v lines, one 17A line for the CPU and one 16A line for everything else (the mainboard, a SSD + 5700rpm harddisk and a DVD-RW in my case) although both have an OCP set point of 22A. It also has only one 6 Pin PCI-E power connector.

Will a GTX 460 be possible with this power supply? Any advice on the most reliable, silent and cool model?

Any other advice or comments will be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

Overall wattage is okay unless you are bristling with fans, lights, HDDs, optical drives, peripherals, etc. CPU+rest of system at load is probably significantly less than 230W (that's good, you want a cushion), and 200W is plenty for a 460GTX to work with.

16A on 12V rail, that's what, 192 watts? That's potentially a problem if if you were gonna overclock the GTX 460 and/or have a lot of stuff running off the 12V, but I doubt it.. most non-CPU stuff will probably run off 3.3V or 5V.

I'm no expert in electrical engineering, but from where I stand, you have enough headroom on your PSU for a GTX 460 as long as you don't do some crazy overvolting+overclocking on it. It's TDP is something around 150W I think.

I recommend the Gigabyte model as a lot of people have been saying it's one of the better cooling solutions overall, but there are other silent/cool options; Tom's hardware just did a roundup comparison for certain variables, unfortunately not for noise though. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-460-roundup-gf104,2714.html
 
Thanks for your reply. I was concerned about the power supply because the few manuals I checked for GTX460 cards all showed the card requires around 22~24A from the 12V line.
 
BENN0 said:
Thanks for your reply. I was concerned about the power supply because the few manuals I checked for GTX460 cards all showed the card requires around 22~24A from the 12V line.
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To some extent that is true, and that would worry me too since that Antec isn't top tier so I don't know how rock solid its amps are, but cardmakers often inflate the suggested amps to account for no-name PSUs that may flake out. So if they write 22-24A maybe they really mean 18-20A, or something like that, you know?

Like I said I am not an electrical engineer or anything so you may want to wait for several more replies before rushing out and buying a GTX 460. Actually better yet, post this question in the PSU section of the forum as well.

Also, all of this assumes you have the proper PCIe connectors to go to the GTX 460 (6-pin for the GTX 460 I think?). If not, that's a red flag to stop! If I'm reading spec sheets right, your PSU has only one PCIe connector, and GTX 460s need two.
 
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BENN0 said:
Any more insights / comments?
Click to expand...

You could:

a) Get a 5770. It only uses 1 PCIe connector, uses 50W less power than the GTX 460, and is still pretty fast, with better price/perf at today's prices than GTX 460s (you just missed a sale for one at $125AR, and there are ones for $130AR popping up more and more lately). You can compare performance at: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Axle/GeForce_GTX_460_768_MB/31.html

b) upgrade your PSU and get a GTX 460 or faster, though it sounds like you don't really need that kind of horsepower if you don't need to max things out and 30fps is good enough, at 19x12. In fact, if that's all you want then a 5750 or 5770 is enough for 99% of games--they are less futureproof but you can always upgrade again in a year or two if necessary, and not overbuy and hold onto a depreciating asset.

c) wait for 6xxx series if you don't need a card right away. Even if you don't get a 6xxx card, the release of that series should drive down prices on all of the cards you are currently considering.

Note that all cards I mentioned have acceptable power/thermals, 5750 having the best of course, and then 5770 and 460-768MB, and then 460-1GB. They all overclock well. Most have quiet fans but you should look up whatever cards you like most on newegg and see what users have to say about noise level, before buying. Ditto with heat.

This is a chart for power: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Axle/GeForce_GTX_460_768_MB/29.html

There is also a chart for noise but that's useless unless you are comparing only reference cards, because cardmakers usually tinker with fans. So there are many different types of cooling within the same family of cards. Hence my suggestion to look up newegg reviews, above.
 
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Zero82z said:
Your PSU is enough for a GTX 460. It'll be fine.
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Are you suggesting that he get a MOLEX->PCIe adapter or something? (I'm guessing that some models may even include such an adapter?) Because he only has one PCIe connector when he'd need two for the GTX 460. It'd probably work (see my analysis above), but I'd still balk at that and wonder just how good or bad the PSU was under the cover, if it came with only one PCIe connector.
 
blastingcap said:
Are you suggesting that he get a splitter, because he only has one PCIe connector when he'd need two for the GTX 460. It'd probably work (see my analysis above), but I'd still balk at that and wonder just how good or bad the PSU was under the cover, if it came with only one PCIe connector.
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The card should come with at least one molex to PCI-E adapter, so that shouldn't be an issue.
 
blastingcap said:
Are you suggesting that he get a MOLEX->PCIe adapter or something? (I'm guessing that some models may even include such an adapter?) Because he only has one PCIe connector when he'd need two for the GTX 460. It'd probably work (see my analysis above), but I'd still balk at that and wonder just how good or bad the PSU was under the cover, if it came with only one PCIe connector.
Click to expand...

Yeah converters are fine.
 
I'm going to try my luck with a 1GB GTX 460 from Gigabyte.
Thanks everyone for your replies.
 
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