7600GT + PSU Help

I

imz

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 7, 2006
Messages
83
You guys might remember me trying to choose between x800xl , 6800GS OC, and the 7600GS, well now I've decided upon the 7600GT AGP, Since it's out in Canada now :D Anyways..I need some help.

If you look here:
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=1&id=2031

It says that it is recommened to use a 350W power supply. I have only a 250W and apparently my PC cannot fit custom PSUs.

My PC
Compaq Presario S4300NX
P4 2.4ghz
1 gig ram
120 gig hdd

Now I'm wonder if anyone would have an idea how much consumption (watts) this PC would have? I'm thinking the card should take 70W max..so if the PC is around 150ish, than I'll be able to run the card on my stock PSU.

Can someone please let me know if I can run this card with my current PSU, or an estimate of the watts this PC should be consuming.

Thanks a lot in advance guys! :)
 
I remember you ;)
ATI never got your backordered x800xl huh
Well I made the same move you're planning to make.
I bought a 7600GT agp a few weeks ago [one of the lucky few who placed an order while they were in stock].
I'm very pleased. In hindsight the x800xl at $113.05USD is a better value than this 7600GT which cost me over $175USD but all in all its a good upgrade. 13K+ in 03 and 6500 in 05 are good 3DMark scores considering all my other parts of this rig are from 2003.

Regarding power you can do one of the following
a] try it on your current psu and it will either work or not; if not then upgrade
b] upgrade the psu now and be prepared.
The 7600GT does require a molex connector so it does draw more current than the agp slot can provide. The pci-e cards I believe do not use additional power connectors suggesting the cards total draw is less than 75w. Still your Presario probably has at least an optical drive and in the long run a decent PSU is only going to run you around $50-60CAD. The [H] power supply forum has entire stickied threads about good PSU's.
Also with just a P4 2.4Ghz you could probably get by with a 7600GS. Certainly at 2.4Ghz the 7600GT is going to be bottlenecked by your cpu
 
Hey GonzoP, ATI said they had nothing to ship and canceled my backorder x800xl. I think I'm going to try the 7600GT out with my current PSU..and is my CPU really going to bottleneck the card? :(

When you say bottleneck, does it mean lower than avg/good performance, or what..? I was scared of this..but I've had my heart set on this card for a while now..

Isn't 7600GS quiet weaker than the 7600GT?

Now I feel bad..I don't know if I should get the card anymore :( I was about to order tonight.
 
imz said:
Hey GonzoP, ATI said they had nothing to ship and canceled my backorder x800xl. I think I'm going to try the 7600GT out with my current PSU..and is my CPU really going to bottleneck the card? :(

When you say bottleneck, does it mean lower than avg/good performance, or what..? I was scared of this..but I've had my heart set on this card for a while now..

Isn't 7600GS quiet weaker than the 7600GT?

Now I feel bad..I don't know if I should get the card anymore :( I was about to order tonight.
Click to expand...
Well I don't want to burst your bubble but you should go into this with eyes open. Consider it this way. If you get the 7600GT we'd have the same card. However, my AXP at 2.65Ghz is nearly 40% faster than you 2.4Ghz P4. Now this doesn't mean your frame rate would be 40% lower than mine but there would be a difference. Whereas if you got the 7600GS that is much more in line with the capabilities of your cpu. Problem with 3 year old cpus is they aren't strong enough for new mid-range video cards let alone high end.
Realistically, even my 2.65Ghz AXP is a bit of a cpu bottleneck. I know this because my scores/fps' go up if I increase the clockspeed from 2.5 to 2.6 to 2.65 to 2.67.
I hate to use this analogy but it seems to be the standard defining benchmark. 3DMark 05. With my cpu and my card clocked at 610/1640 I bench at around 6500. If your card were clocked at the same speed with your cpu I'd guesstimate your score to be in the 5K-5500 arena. Admittedly, that might be close enough for you and if it is great.
Actually the more I think about it the more I realize you'd do better with the 7600GT than the GS if your heart and wallet are set. For example I outbench 3Ghz A64 7600GS owners so the video card itself is a huge part of the game.
 
yeah the intel >3.0 ghz cpus will not be able to feed a good video card fast enough so the card will perform under what i could do with a better CPU. with that said i would get the card and then upgrade everything else leter... new CPU first. it atleast give you a clear upgrade path.
 
Adidas4275 said:
yeah the intel >3.0 ghz cpus will not be able to feed a good video card fast enough so the card will perform under what i could do with a better CPU. with that said i would get the card and then upgrade everything else leter... new CPU first. it atleast give you a clear upgrade path.
Click to expand...
The only problem with that is he'd be better off in the long haul switching to a new system; pci-e based with new psu and ddr2 ram. 3Ghz+ P4's cost more than the entry level Conroe's. Not to mention ddr2 is cheaper than ddr these days.

In my case I upgraded my graphics card alone. My cpu is marginal enough to get by. Poor imz's cpu is quite a bit weaker but its still enough to merit the 7600GT all be it at sub-optimal performance.
 
Honestly on my budget, being a uni student (books, food, comutting) + Wii coming out + Nano + 7600GT = me broke

I don't see myself upgrading any time soon, this PC is serving me very well. I reformatted this baby a month back, got a dvd writer, and added a 512 ram stick last year. It's more than enough for me.

You say it will merit me "sub optimal" performance, is this still better than what the 7600GS will manage, I'm assuming it should be. I'll get the card and run 3dmark05 and post my score and you can analyze and give me some feedback ;)
 
I converted it from newegg too, it's around $199 CAD.

Problem is newegg doesn't ship to Canada. If I was to get it from there I'd have to have a realtive buy it for me, and than ship it over here. Which would cost me another $20ish.

Interesting thing is though that on newegg it actually says they are expecting more on the 27th on September. Here's hoping NCIX gets them soon also.
 
2 things
1] I thought some people said newegg does ship to CA
2] Newegg has been out of stock for weeks now and they first said 9/18 then they pushed it back further. Same thing happened when it first came out
 
1) They don't ship to Canada:
"# Does Newegg.com ship internationally?
Newegg.com does not currently ship internationally; we only deliver to locations within the United States and to Puerto Rico."

http://www.newegg.com/CustomerService/FAQDetail.asp?Module=4

2) I hope it doesn't get pushed back this time :( I'm sure there are people who've ordered this card before me. NCIX will fill the orders in a first come first serve basis. Hopefully there aren't too many orders, or the next shipment might totally run out..
 
Good lucky buddy
The demand for the 7600GT seems quite high; certainly the benchmarks which show it outgunning the 7800GS and x850xt pe added gas to that fire as well. When I got mine from newegg the day it came back in stock was the same day it went out of stock
 
I don't know if your Canadian sites have it but newegg has an auto notify which will send you an email when a certain product is once again available for purchase.

Even though the ati clearance store deal is done you can still find some x850pro's around retail. Newegg has them for $139USD which probably means someone in CA has them in stock. x850pro is pretty close to 7600GT and its slightly cheaper and you can probably find one in stock. Otherwise be ready for the limited supply of 7600GT's to hit your store.

Leadtek did state the production of the 7600GT would be sparse although I saw a link showing that XFX is coming out with a 7600GT agp as well [supposedly].
 
I did some research on the x850 after you said it was close to the 7600GT.

It's not that close, it is in some cases, but overall the 7600GT is a better card. Even though it is $40 more expensive. In the long run I feel this would serve me better than an x850. SM3.0, HDR, plus me liking Nvidia more..

So I went along and ordered it today :D Hopefully I'll get it soon.
 
imz said:
I did some research on the x850 after you said it was close to the 7600GT.

It's not that close, it is in some cases, but overall the 7600GT is a better card. Even though it is $40 more expensive. In the long run I feel this would serve me better than an x850. SM3.0, HDR, plus me liking Nvidia more..

So I went along and ordered it today :D Hopefully I'll get it soon.
Click to expand...
I like it too. My recommendation really came because of the availability factors. Hope you get one before November :rolleyes:
 
Pkirk618 said:
i thought i heard the 7600gt was psu friendly...
Click to expand...
It uses proportionally less watts than anything else in its performace range that's true. But the agp version still does need the molex plug in
 
Hey! you said a psu wont fit your case! I beg to differ! I had the Compaq Presario 1120NX, and it wasnt quite atx either...i bought a psu, and it fit, but the bolt holes didnt line up, and the back of the case was in the way of the plug and it wouldnt fit...nothing a little tool called metal snippers couldnt fix...just a few cuts, and nobody's the wiser!

-Ashley
 
Ashley, when I said it won't fit, I meant the bolt holes and such not lining up :p

I know it'll fit in the case, but I don't really want to add more holes and snip off parts of my PC case. If I have to then I will, I'm just going to try it with the stock PSU for now.
 
very little cutting needed on the compaq case, trust me :) I think it was two or three snips, and 2 corner bolt holes lined up, so it was secure...wish i still had it, i'd send pics, cant even tell it was cut!

-Ashley
 
JackAshley said:
very little cutting needed on the compaq case, trust me :) I think it was two or three snips, and 2 corner bolt holes lined up, so it was secure...wish i still had it, i'd send pics, cant even tell it was cut!

-Ashley
Click to expand...

Okay I'll take your word for it. I can always just drill some holes for the bolts/screws and fit it in. If I have to I'll go along with this.


but...uh oh..the card disappeared off newegg! :(

Could this be a sign of things to come..or did they just do it because too many people were ordering and they didn't want more people to do so..?
 
I got X850 XT PE and able to use my old 350W antec PS. 850 XT PE uses a little less watt than 7800GT.
 
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