PSU and Graphics card

Sorry if this has been brought up before but I was hoping someone could help me out with this question I have.

I have the Radeon x1650 pro 512mb AGP graphics card in my PC which according to sources, including the ATI website itself, requires a 350W PSU or more to run.

Now at the moment I have the original PSU, which runs at 300W max.

Could this, or would this, hinder the card working at it's best, ie performance and looks?

My previous card was a Radeon 9800SE 256mb AGP card and from what I can see the x1650 pro has made little or no difference to my gaming enjoyment, ie perfomance and looks.

Maybe I am expecting too much from this card compared to my last one.

I'd say 300W was enough ...

Hi,

I have exactly the same setup as you !

How much RAM have you got on your system ?

This graphics card seemed to slow my machine down at first, so now I have 1.5 Gig of RAM.

Hope This Helps !

DJ PIP

This of course depends on how many other components you have running in the computer. But an underpowered PSU isn't going to help anything. It's also very dangerous, underpowered components run a high risk of being damaged.

In other words, get something bigger before it's too late. 430W should be enough, but without knowing the rest of the computer 500W will be fine as well.

As for the lack of performance.
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=240&card2=369
In all truth your original 9800 SE is nearly the same in performance power as the X1600 Pro. The X1600 Pro may sound more impressive, but in terms of performance they're very similar.

gavo said:

Sorry if this has been brought up before but I was hoping someone could help me out with this question I have.

I have the Radeon x1650 pro 512mb AGP graphics card in my PC which according to sources, including the ATI website itself, requires a 350W PSU or more to run.

Now at the moment I have the original PSU, which runs at 300W max.

Could this, or would this, hinder the card working at it's best, ie performance and looks?

My previous card was a Radeon 9800SE 256mb AGP card and from what I can see the x1650 pro has made little or no difference to my gaming enjoyment, ie perfomance and looks.

Maybe I am expecting too much from this card compared to my last one.

Click to expand...

From memory there were a number of versions of the 9800 se, some of which were as good as the 9800 pro, it was made from reject 9800 pros which was an very good gaming card in it's time.

Check your aa and af settings and drop them back lightly to improve performance. Check you have the latest drivers.

The 1650 is a mid range card, an HD 2600XT would probably show some improvement but the top end cards are no longer available in AGP. Power supplies depends which brand as to what they count but basically a 300 watt power supply from Antec could be the same output as a 400 watt brand X.

The rest of your machine maybe limiting performance as well. What is it? What is your Trainzoptions.txt file look like?

Cheerio John

Firstly, sorry for the late reply guys. I have had issues with my ISP for the last two days and therefore have had no Internet.

And secondly, thanks for your replies, they are much appreciated.

My spec is not the best there is. I am using an Intel P4 2.8 800FSB, 2GB RAM running at 400mhz, dual channel and of course the X1650 pro 512 MB AGP GPU, all on a 478 socket motherboard.

However I did some testing with this card using the built in Glasgow to Falkirk route with a Railwaves Virgin Voyager running it from one end to the other, on max performance settings, with the display set to 1280 x 1024. Besides a little bit of stutter in and around the Cowlairs sidings area and on the entry to Falkirk High, it was very smooth during the run.

I know my 9800se could not run smoothly at full performance settings and at that display mode either, so while maybe the card has no visual advantages, it certainly, for me anyway, has yielded much better performance advantages, so no complaints.

Although I have not had any problems with the lack of power my current PSU has, I am still going to purchase a new PSU to help with the demands the extra power of this card maybe putting on my system.