Sub-$200 card & power requirements

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BladeRun

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May 18, 2005
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Picked up an HP m9500z the other day to mess around with (has this motherboard).

I'd like pick up a graphics card in the $150 range that will play current games at a moderate frame rate (and WoW at a high frame rate, not that this is a difficult task). Two questions:

1. What's the best value at that price point? I'm thinking perhaps the 4870, but I'd like some input.

2. What kind of power supply would I need to run this? Comes with a 350 watt, which I'm assuming is not enough.

Thanks.
 
What size monitor/resolution do you use, and what is the psu rated for? (Sticker on the side of the power supply)
 
shadow_419 said:
What size monitor/resolution do you use, and what is the psu rated for? (Sticker on the side of the power supply)
Click to expand...

I don't have the unit yet, it should be here in 3-5 business days. The only information I have on the power supply is this:

5188-2859 - Power supply - 350-watt, regulated (Sirah)

It will be a 20" widescreen, probably 1920x1200.
 
^ Any idea what kind of power supply I'd need for that?

EDIT: Apologies if there is an easy method of finding this that I'm ignorant to.
 
Copy pasted from another thread:

Under $200 and fine for what you're looking for.

XFX 4850 1GB

Corsair 450W psu

Total = $194.98 shipped
Total = $174.98 shipped after mail in rebate

edit: btw the max resolution for a 20" widescreen is most likely 1680x 1050
 
Thanks for doing the legwork. Did some reading and yes, the 4850 will probably fine for what I want. FYI, for any others looking at this thread here is a good comparison.

Also, you were correct in the resolution of the monitor.

Last question, should I cave and go for the 4870, will the 450W PSU suffice?
 
What do people recommend for linux? I've had both and I seem to have headaches both ways.

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Last edited:
BladeRun said:
Thanks for doing the legwork. Did some reading and yes, the 4850 will probably fine for what I want. FYI, for any others looking at this thread here is a good comparison.

Also, you were correct in the resolution of the monitor.

Last question, should I cave and go for the 4870, will the 450W PSU suffice?
Click to expand...

It could run the card, but I like to keep my psu under 70 percent load. I'd move up to a psu that has a little more headroom

Seasonic 500w psu

BFG 550w psu
 
I like my GTS 250, but the very/performance of the deals on the 4870 is amazing. Buy a little bigger on the PSU if you can, usually won't cost much more and will leave some headroom for future upgrades.
 
as usual nobody has asked what cpu is in that pc. OP if I am not mistaken the m9500z can come with different cpus so what do you have in there?
 
It really doesn't make that much of a difference with a 4850, which is what I suggested. He's not going to be cpu bound playing @ 1680x1050 with an AM2/AM2+ cpu. If it was an older manchester core I'd agree, but it really wont make a huge difference.
 
Machine has the following proc:

AMD Phenom 9650 quad-core processor [2.3GHz, 2MB L2 + 2MB L3 shared, up to 3600MT/s]
 
BladeRun said:
Machine has the following proc:

AMD Phenom 9650 quad-core processor [2.3GHz, 2MB L2 + 2MB L3 shared, up to 3600MT/s]
Click to expand...
thanks. a 4770 if you can find it would be nice as you could keep your current psu. a 4850 would be great too but with your psu not such a good idea.
 
I was gaming with an HD 4770 on a 24in monitor, powered by a passive Antec Phantom 500w PSU. No problems at all.
 
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