Video card thoughts

S

SuperFudd

Senior Member
Hi all,

First, here is a link to a video card rating chart:

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/video_lookup.php?cpu=GeForce+GT+220

I have a GT 220 and am happy with it. (see my system below) . Anything better should be more than capable in all but the most demanding Trainz environments. One nice thing about the GT 220 is it only requires a 300 watt supply and mine is 350 watt. Note that the GT 430 is about 35% faster and also only requires a 300 watt supply.
If you have a 400 watt supply you will do very well with a GTS 450, requiring 400 watts.
All this assumes the rest of your system is up to it.
 
Mine ranks at #73 GeForce 8800 GTS 512, but I can't figure out if that's good or bad!
 
Euphod,

It is clearly faster than mine but I suspect it is older, The GT 220 is maybe 1.5 years old, so yours may not suport all the latest driver features.
 
My Power Supply is a 300 Watt LiteOn ... can I put in a higher wattage Power Supply without damaging my PC ? (HP n8100m Desktop)

If I am limited to a video card that is for 300 Watt maximum power supply, here is what was recommended to me: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Galaxy+...Card/1325428.p?id=1218250289594&skuId=1325428

As you can see, these take a 400 Watt Power Supply:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/EVGA+-+...Card/1700595.p?id=1218282104676&skuId=1700595

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Galaxy+...Card/1324996.p?id=1218250287802&skuId=1324996

My old Nvidia 8500 GT was installed by Circuit City (now bankrupt) it worked for years and years. I just looked at the Nvidia 8500 GT specs and it says minimim 400 Watt power supply ! ! ! (Mine is a 300 Watt Power Supply). What does it do if you put a 400 Watt video card in a 300 Watt PC ?
 
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Cascade,

You can safely put in a higher wattage power supply as it will supply the same amount of power to the motherboard. The higher wattage just allows for more accessories, or higher power using accessories like a Graphics card, to be installed.

Just make sure that you get the correct Motherboard fitment, don't think it's much of a problem as I think they have been standardised.

Nathan
 
So technicly I could put in a 1200 Watt Power supply in, and the motherboard, and the rest of the PC would not fry ... as voltage is constant ... and wattage is drawn only by high power consuming video cards and devices. Correct ?

What the heck is "Overclocking" a Video Card
 
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Correct.

Overclocking a Graphics Card is the same as Overclocking your Processor. It allows you to increase the speed of the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and/or the Memory of the card essentially making it faster.

You must be very careful when doing this though as it could overheat and kill the graphics board.

Nathan
 
300 Watt Power Supply vs 300 Watt Video Card

My video card is bad.

So if I put in a 600 Watt power supply ... And I have a 10,000 baseboard route, 300 miles long... and load 786 locos ... and 14,000 freightcars ... all spaced far apart on the route ... will a higher wattage video card hold up longer ... than a 300 Watt video card ?

Or is my present 300 Watt Power Supply, for a new replacement 300 Watt Video Card good enough ?
 
Generally speaking, a gpu rated at 400w full load, which is the power (volts x amps x power factor) it will draw at full load, will be able to process more data than a similar card which draws 300w.
The most common enemy of a gpu is heat (assuming no psu malfunction). And heat is the reason why most folks, on an average budget, don't overclock their video cards.
The power rating of the card, in itself, is no indication of how long it will last. But it does indicate it's cooling requrements are greater than the 300w card.
Overloading a psu will increse the heat generated in it, possibly shortening its life, popping its circuit breaker, or outright burning out. Personally, I would consider running a psu overloaded to be an unsafe condition.
 
Cascade, looking back at your posts you mentioned you can get an Nvidia 430 which is a 300watt rated card. As long as this will run in your machine then I would go for that as it is an upgrade to your existing card. Don't worry too much about the power supply but bear it in mind for the future.

If you have any problems PM me and I'll try and help out.

Nathan
 
cascaderailroad said:
Circuit City installed the 400 Watt Nividia 8500 GT in my 300 Watt PC and it worked flawlessly for years ... back then I knew nothing about PC's ... although today I am a fart smeller' or vice versa (versa visa):hehe:
Click to expand...

One has a brown nose the other hasn't.
 
If your happy with your present gpu, then stick with it.
Personally, I would go to my local computer guru (Altoona must have one or two) and see what they want for an uprade to a 550-600w psu. Changing it out yourself would be some amount of work, but you may be lucky and all your present power cables will fit the new psu plugs.
 
Is your PC the compact version of that HP? If so, you will have a lot less options due to size.

But the 430 is a good card overall.
 
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