• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Unpowered PCIe Graphics Cards

P

PGHammer

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 8, 2002
Messages
3,315
The one things thaqt has invariably driven me nutty as of late is that even middle-end graphics cards in PCIe have invariably gotten thirsty for extra power (if not extra dollars) and it's gotten harder and harder to find a graphics card with decent performance that doesn't require extra wiring.

The situation is this - Mighty Mouse (rig in the signature below) is in line for a new graphics card. However, a new power supply is not currently in the cards for it because while I plan on building a replacement rig, I don't plan on putting any parts from it in the replacement (a completely new-from-scratch rig is in the cards because I'll be going with a new CPU + new motherboard + new RAM, which will pretty much force new everything else due to falling prices and other changes).

The mix of games being played runs to casual and some lower-end DX10 games (no Crysis or other high-end AAA titles here).

I'm well-aware that most of the AMD cards that fit the restriction are hobbled by 64-bit buses and DDR2; what I'm looking for is the best of the admittedly-hobbled bunch in terms of overall usability.

The GPU choices are only three: HD4350, HD4650, and HD5450. (HD4670 was eliminated due to too many dual-slot cards being the ones available at all; I am looking strictly at a single-slot solution.)

Lastly, I am looking brick and mortar (not online) because I am paying *cash*. (Another reason I'm looking B&M: I have a $25 gift card from Best Buy, and no e-tailer I am willing to deal with has managed to offset that.)

How do the three GPUs (in 512 MB DDR2 trim) compare to each other?
 
According to Tom's Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart, the DDR2 4650 is four steps above the 5450, and the DDR3 version is a couple steps higher yet.

Looking right now, BB has two XFX 4650 models, $70 and $80 (on sale from $90). The ZDF2 is only $5 more than Newegg. Not sure what the difference on the ZDFR is - the numbers all look the same from what I can see. The XFX page says that both are 128-bit also.
 
kohan69 said:
9800gt green
Click to expand...

The OP must buy with cash at a B&M Best Buy (that means no online). The only one of the 9800GTs that is 512MB and that *might* be available at his local store is the 512MB PNY 9800GT EE, which according to a newegg user review is a single slot card. The 9800GT EE is slightly better than a 4670 for performance, so it's going to blow away the other three cards mentioned here for gaming.

But this is the AMD forum, so...
 
Olle P said:
There's a new kid in town...
Meet the PowerColor "Go Green" Radeon HD5750.
Same performance as the regular 5750, but roughly 20% less power consumption and no separate power connector.

Cheers
Olle
Click to expand...

The PowerColor GoGreen line is decidedly intriguing (they also have HD5670 and HD5450 models in addition to the HD5750).

Two cons, however - retail availability is nil (not even MC carries PowerColor) and both HD5670 and HD5750 models are dual-slot (as far as HD57xx dual-slot solutions B&M, the bang-for-buck champ remains the XFX HD5770; it's priced at $199.99 at BB B&M, but requires either dual Molex connectors or a 6-pin PCIe connector (a 6-pin/dual-Molex adapter is included)).

The PNY card is out for lack-of-availability reasons (no local BB has it in stock).

Mighty Mouse is used primarily for text and casual/low-end gaming as it is (which is why it has a mere HD3450 installed in the first place); the reason I'm looking to upgrade is due to video, not gaming so much. Single-slot is pretty much a must because of the mobo's two PCI slots, both are in use (X-Fi XtremeGamer and ATI HDTV Wonder) and only the sound card front (X-Fi XtremeGamer Titanium) has any likelihood of going into this rig in the future. (It currently dual-boots 7 x64 and Kubuntu, and while Kubuntu has no issues with the PCI-bus card, I'm not sure the same is true of the PCIe variant.)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top