Which one should I get? (GPU)

Brontosaurus

Brontosaurus

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I recently bought a second hand PC and I would like to upgrade the GPU. I'm currently on a 9500GT and would like to get something a bit more decent. Firstly a few issues:

1. My current motherboard only supports DDR2 667 RAM, although, I do not know if this is relevant to my question or if it will cause performance issues with the GPU.

2. The power supply is 480W

3. 3GB DDR2 667 RAM.

4. Intel Dual 2.8GHz Processor.

To the options:

1. ATi Radeon 4870 DDR5 512MB

or

2. GTS 250 DDR3 1GB

As far as ratings (FPS) on Tomshardware go, the 4870 trumps the GTS, but I'm wondering whether it's worth it to get either as my system is not exactly Top o' the range.

What are your suggestions? I would appreciate the help. Thanks.

PS. It would also be worth the mention that my native resolution is only 1360x768.
 
Can you post more info wrt your psu?

Brand? Model number? How many amps on the 12v rails? etc.

The GTS250 is on par with a 4850

The 4870 is on par with the GTX260.

So you could say the following, (4850 = GTS250 = 9800GTX+) < (4870 = GTX260 core 216)

If you know what i mean

I'd go with the 4870, it should last longer than the GTS250
 
Silverlight said:
Can you post more info wrt your psu?

Brand? Model number? How many amps on the 12v rails? etc.
Click to expand...

Brand name: Superchannel 480W
Model number: No idea, sorry

+12V1 = 15A
+12V2 = 16A
-12V = 0.8A

Now i did some research on the Radeon 4870, and it seems to recommend a PSU of 500W or more. But I ALSO read that the only way to be sure is to check the Amps on the +12V rails, which should be 30A or more. Is this combined (mine above: 15 + 16 = 31) or each (30 + 30 = 60)?

Please help. Thanks.
 
CarsinemiA said:
I recently bought a second hand PC and I would like to upgrade the GPU. I'm currently on a 9500GT and would like to get something a bit more decent. Firstly a few issues:

1. My current motherboard only supports DDR2 667 RAM, although, I do not know if this is relevant to my question or if it will cause performance issues with the GPU.

2. The power supply is 480W

3. 3GB DDR2 667 RAM.

4. Intel Dual 2.8GHz Processor.

To the options:

1. ATi Radeon 4870 DDR5 512MB

or

2. GTS 250 DDR3 1GB

As far as ratings (FPS) on Tomshardware go, the 4870 trumps the GTS, but I'm wondering whether it's worth it to get either as my system is not exactly Top o' the range.

What are your suggestions? I would appreciate the help. Thanks.

PS. It would also be worth the mention that my native resolution is only 1360x768.
Click to expand...

For how much did you buy the pc? I'd go with the ATI4870 just purely because its better faster and affordable.
 
Yo, I got ur PSU and I know it doesnt have the pci-e connectors..it is 31amps in total so it should have enough amps for the card, but you will need two connectors if I'm not mistaken.

You might need to upgrade ur psu
 
i dunno, i'm not sure you'll be able to handle the 4870 1gb. that's a pretty hungry card.
 
I've seen 4870 being run on a 500w Isonic PSU comfortably with a number of other things going on.. So you can possibly do it. But you don't want something to go wrong. I never heard of superchannel before.
 
Superchannel makes pretty good high end products voer seas, the lower end is from another OEM, but my bro has one like his and its pretty good.

Just needs more PCI-E connectors...for 300bucks its like the best office psu ever
 
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