Best card for 250 W PSU

he can go ati also just not x700 or x1600 1300 series they make great cards also ATI

 

Yeah thats true he could just go like a 5900 Ultra or something, or if he wants ATI i guess like a 9800 Pro

 

was that you i seen on the planetamd64 forums?? im a member there but im icognito. i have a mr in front of this screen name to avoid suspicion

 

Ugh this is always what happens, people just start ranting off about how this sucks and I need to upgrade to this. If the x1600's peak is 54 W will I be able to run it properly on a 250 W PSU?

 

Heres your answer....maybe....depends on how much stuff you got running in your comp. If you just have the basics(mobo/hdd/optical drive), you might get away with even a 7600gt. Nothing above that though. The 300/350w rating is assuming you have a fully loaded rig.

To be safe, you can go with the 7600gs or the x1600.

Added* Oh, let us know your amps on the 12v rail. Anything under 15a is trouble.

 

The article only measures the power draw of the vid cards, NOT total system power draw. For that you have to specify all your other parts in this PSU power calculator which will give it you. But this gives you continuous power draw of the system, not taking into account peaks/surges, so to be safe you should add another 20 to 30% above that.

 

BTW, the 6600gt is an inefficient power hog. The 7900gt draws only a few more watts than it which is due to its smaller 90nm die process and more efficient design.

 

Ok, first you guys are forgetting that he right now has a fx5200. The performance he would get on a x1600 would blow the fx5200 away. I went from a fx5200 to a regular vanilla 6600 and almost 3X my game performance. I say go with the x1600. People here will tell you anything but the best is crap. You have an older system, so dont get a card that is as much if not more than the price you paid for your whole system. My current system i paid 700 bucks for +150 for the x850xt. There is no way i would put more than a 250 dollar video card into it. If it came to that i would just build a new system. The x1600 will give you alot better performance! You will be happy with it untill you can upgrade to a new system. End of story. Sure its not a super uber fantastic holy sh!t card, you dont need one for your system.

 

You're right about that. The 7-series cards are a lot better at energy efficiency. That's why I recommended the 7600gt.