Video Card that uses Less than 300-Watt?

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AboveBeyond

Weaksauce
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My friends has a comp that only have a 300-Watt PSU and I'm trying to find the best video card based on that PSU. Any recommendations?

He's not replacing the PSU so lets not focus on this but rather what the best video card he can get.

Thanks!
 
So, since your friend doesn't want to buy a PSU for whatever reason, he is willing to risk killing the new video card, and the PSU?

We'll need to know the rest of the system specs, i can't imagine a computer with only a 300watt PSU having a good CPU.
 
Other than something like a Radeon 4770 I think your friend has precious few choices.
 
Why can't he just get a bigger PSU? Also, you never mentioned how much money you want to spend. Plus, you also didn't mention which CPU he had. From what you linked, it could be a Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Pentium Dual-Core, and Celeron-D. Well, that really narrows it down.

This thread is going down hill fast. Also, the title of the thread was, "video card that uses less than 300watts", which doesn't make any sense, because you could get just about any video card that is less than 300-watts. You meant to say, which video card uses less than about 100-150watts, and will risk destroying my computer because my friend can't get a bigger PSU.
 
I wouldn't get anyhting that requires external power. So stick with either a 4670 or a 5670.

Either should allow your friend to play at 1280 res
 
If he's running a dinosaur system with a Pentium 4 or something older than three years with a terrible processor by today's standards, than maybe it's time for a complete upgrade. If you want to play it safe, you could get a 5670. It's not as powerful as a 4770 but it uses less power since it doesn't require an external power connector. With that being said, even upgrading to a quality 400 watt PSU like the Corsair 400CX for only $50 would give you extra headroom for a better gpu.
EDIT: Just looked at benchmarks for power consumption. You might be able to get by with a 5750 since it uses only a few watts more than the 5670, but I wouldn't go with the 4770 since it uses more than the 5750.
 
From the looks of it doesnt that need half-height cards? If so, he wont be getting a GPU worth gaming on, nvm the power requirements. Its likely a proprietary PSU anyway that he couldnt really replace...and also probably doesnt have 6-pin PCIe connectors unless someone else can confirm?

If your friend wants to play games...he needs to replace a few components...not just add a GPU IMHO.
 
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nissanztt90 said:
From the looks of it doesnt that need half-height cards? If so, he wont be getting a GPU worth gaming on, nvm the power requirements. Its likely a proprietary PSU anyway that he couldnt really replace...and also probably doesnt have 6-pin PCIe connectors unless someone else can confirm?

If your friend wants to play games...he needs to replace a few components...not just add a GPU IMHO.
Click to expand...

Good point on the PCIe connector. I'll probably have to open the case and take a look at it.
 
AboveBeyond said:
Good point on the PCIe connector. I'll probably have to open the case and take a look at it.
Click to expand...

Its a business solution type of PC with half height cards and a 300w PSU....dont waste your time...one 6 pin PCIe connection is rated for 75 watts all by itself.

Edit: clarification
 
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Why people said to get a card with no 6 pin, wow do people read this thread, also talk about a Pentium 4 when he stated it has a core 2 duo.... :rolleyes:
 
MrGuvernment said:
Why people said to get a card with no 6 pin, wow do people read this thread, also talk about a Pentium 4 when he stated it has a core 2 duo.... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Cuz a card with no 6 pin shouldn't use more than the 75w the pcie slot is rated to deliver.

We're trying to not blow up this kid's 300w PSU of unknown manufacture.
 
The 5570 is also another card to consider. It's very power efficient and can play many games well at 720p.
 
hate to go off-topic here, but who else absolutely despises amd's new card model names? i researched graphics cards all night last night, and i had to occasionally copy and paste model names because i was getting so confused. completely unnecessary, wtf is wrong with naming cards sequentially?
 
Nah, its only the sub $100 cards that seem kinda random. From the 5750 on up they make sense.
 
I think they do. Here is how I see it:

HTPC: 54xx
Budget-Gamer: 55xx
Gamer: 56xx/5750
Mainstream:: 5770/5830/5850
Enthuiast: 5870/5970
 
thats sort of right, but i wouldnt really call $200-300 cards mainstream. i think your average desktop owner spends less than $100 on a video card. i was at costco the other day and not a single PC they sold had anything more than a 5670, and some of these costed upwards of $1500.
 
Fel said:
hate to go off-topic here, but who else absolutely despises amd's new card model names? i researched graphics cards all night last night, and i had to occasionally copy and paste model names because i was getting so confused. completely unnecessary, wtf is wrong with naming cards sequentially?
Click to expand...

They *ARE* numbered sequentially. If you are going to despise a naming scheme, it's Nvidia's that's by far the worst. No idea wtf that company is doing when it comes time to name a card.

Anyway, ATI's naming:
<generation> <segment> <place in segment - 2 digits)
So 5870:
5 generation
8 segment (high end?)
70 position in segment

5870 > 5850 > 5770 > 5750 > 5670 > 5650 etc etc etc

Performance follows the numbering near flawlessly. The *only* exception I can think of was the 4770, which was faster than the 4830 (but still slower than the 4850).

I have no idea how you could make that any simpler or more straight forward - bigger = better.
 
Another vote for a 5750 as the MAX and it would cut it pretty close.
 
If he is using the microtower (vs the small form factor), it can take a full sized pci-e card.


Seems like the major roadblock is the psu. Xbitlabs has the best reviews when it comes to measuring power use by a videocard (goes in depth how they test it):

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gpu-power-consumption-2010_3.html


For very safe bets I would suggest the 5670 and the GT240. 5670 is slightly faster overall in games but usually sells for $80 and up. I have seen GT240 on sale a lot for about $40 (after rebate). The efficiency of the 5670 is ridiculous. Probably the record holder on fps/power.

5750 should also work and possibly even the 5770 as the Core 2 Duo is power efficient and he probably has only one hard drive and one optical in there. Check the 12A rating on the psu (should be a sticker on the side of the psu) and post it here. I'm guessing that its 18A. Doesn't matter if he has PCI-E connectors on the power supply because you can get an adapter that uses two molex connectors. If he has only 18A, I would not get the 5770 as it would work but it would be running the psu close to capacity when gaming. Not good long term. Safest bets would be the 5670 (first) then the GT240.
 
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Ehren8879 said:
Cuz a card with no 6 pin shouldn't use more than the 75w the pcie slot is rated to deliver.

We're trying to not blow up this kid's 300w PSU of unknown manufacture.
Click to expand...

i wasn't asking a question, i was saying "Why" as in "that is why people said. not to get a card with a 6pin connector"

Not "Why.." as in english isn't my first language type :D
 
MrGuvernment said:
i wasn't asking a question, i was saying "Why" as in "that is why people said. not to get a card with a 6pin connector"

Not "Why.." as in english isn't my first language type :D
Click to expand...

using "why" as the first word in a sentence is generally indicative of a question.
 
rUmX said:
I think they do. Here is how I see it:

HTPC: 54xx
Budget-Gamer: 55xx
Gamer: 56xx/5750
Mainstream:: 5770/5830/5850
Enthuiast: 5870/5970
Click to expand...

herfalerf said:
thats sort of right, but i wouldnt really call $200-300 cards mainstream. i think your average desktop owner spends less than $100 on a video card. i was at costco the other day and not a single PC they sold had anything more than a 5670, and some of these costed upwards of $1500.
Click to expand...

You're somewhat right. I was actually on the fence over this. The 55xx series are not worth their retail price, but the 5570 does have very respectable performance in relation to power draw. I consider the 5670 to be very similar to the 5570 as well. They both can power the low resolutions of most gamers (1024x768/1280x1024 still being the most common, according to Steam survey) but the former will allow higher IQ settings and possibly AA, depends on game tho. Then the 5750 is pretty equal to 4850/9800GTX. I threw the 5850 into the mainstream category because you can find that card for around $250 AR. Any card $350 or more are in Enthusiast territory.
 
He is totally right, not somewhat right. Mainstream users aren't spending $200 on videocards. Most of them don't even have them, they have integrated video!

A good breakdown would be: budget, mid-range and high-end. Budget, under $100. Midrange up to $200 and everything over high-end
 
List shoulda been htpc, mainstream, budget gamer, gamer, enthusiast.

Why is your friend so against getting a new power supply. That thing is going to really hold him back :\
 
Well the best you can do with 300W is probably a 5850. I've been running a 5850 with a C2Q for almost a year now on a 300W with no problems.


But since your PSU is likely to be generic I really wouldn't chance higher than a 5750 or 5770.
 
Hey guys, a little update on this: I got the 5670 and it was been running fine for about a week now. My friend can now play SC2 with decent performance.

The card didn't need an external power source(ie it didn't even have an external power connector on the card). So it was perfect for his PSU to draw minimal power.

Thanks for the help!
 
needmorecarnitine said:
He is totally right, not somewhat right. Mainstream users aren't spending $200 on videocards. Most of them don't even have them, they have integrated video!

A good breakdown would be: budget, mid-range and high-end. Budget, under $100. Midrange up to $200 and everything over high-end
Click to expand...

if you look at his list I think he just worded it wrong, I think he meant "mainstream gamer" not "mainstream user", notice that everything after HTPC is tagged gamer except mainstream, so I think he means a mainstream gamer...
 
Good to know it works, i always thought it interesting as technology moves on via some computer parts, instead of getting smaller and smaller and more and more efficient, some cards seem to take more power.
 
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