best video card for a 450Watt PSU?

Valset said:
I missed something here. I was referring to the PSU.
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Opps sorry. I thought you were quoting Danny's recommendation of no more than a 5570 with his current PSU. Was just trying to clear up any misconceptions for the OP.

After further reading looks like everybody has a different opinion on what the op's current PSU can handle.

I'll just bow out of this thread being I have no first hand knowledge of the quality of that particular PSU and what it can handle.
 
The Thermaltake 430W is actually a year old, I used it lightly and now I put it on the Dell they gave me.
 
I agree with the PSU is not your problem, its more an issue with the older CPU. I would look for a sub $100 video card; any new or used HD5670, 9600GT, 9800GT, 9800GTX+, GTS250, HD4770, HD4850, HD4870. Spending more seems like a waste because any older game will run fine on these video cards and any new game will struggle with the older CPU (but MOST will still run at reduced settings, medium?).

Also worth mentioning is your running windows XP, so you are stuck with DX9; no DX10 support, never mind DX11. Some games are starting to require DX10 (Stormrise, Just Cause 2, etc).
 
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ClearM4 said:
I agree with the PSU is not your problem, its more an issue with the older CPU. I would look for a sub $100 video card; any new or used HD5670, 9600GT, 9800GT, 9800GTX+, GTS250, HD4770, HD4850, HD4870. Spending more seems like a waste because any older game will run fine on these video cards and any new game will struggle with the older CPU (but MOST will still run at reduced settings, medium?).

Also worth mentioning is your running windows XP, so you are stuck with DX9; no DX10 support, never mind DX11. Some games are starting to require DX10 (Stormrise, Just Cause 2, etc).
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Good post, thanks! I will start looking for good deals on any of these cards.
 
Actually I second the idea of getting either an 8800GT/9800GT or 4850/4870. You should be able to get any of those for sub $100, and they run modern games pretty well still. They would match your CPU OK, though your CPU will still limit them, too. Sorry, but Pentium D's are just not that good.

I have an 8800GT running all new games at 1280x1024 rez many games max settings, BC2 medium w/ an AMD BE 5000 at 3GHz. That CPU is much more powerful than a Pentium D, but you should still be able to run games like MW2, L4D2. etc OK. My brother has a 4850 with a Phenom quad core, and can play Mass Effect 2 at max settings 1920x1200 rez. That card is good. My friend has a 4870 w/ a Q6600, runs all games max, but runs a 1280x1024 rez, which is still pretty low rez for that card.
 
I'm most likely going with the ati 4850. But it mentions it needs a 450W PSU. the Thermaltake I have is 430W would I be able run it ok?
 
Sagan said:
I'm most likely going with the ati 4850. But it mentions it needs a 450W PSU. the Thermaltake I have is 430W would I be able run it ok?
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I would personally go with something lighter but if its a year old then yes it should work fine. a good 400 watt will run one just fine.
 
Just installed it and tested the 4850 with crysis warhead. It runs on very high at 1600 x 900 with a nice frame rate. Thanks again guys.
 
seems very unlikely that a Pentium D can run crysis on very high at any resolution, but okay
 
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