graphics and supply question

[krigl]

Hi, appreciate help with this - I'm planning to upgrade: which of these cards are better, or could you recommend a better one for a similar price?

Leadtek WF PX7950GTEX Extreme 512MB DDR3 PCI-E

MSI NX7900GTO T2D512E, 512MB DDR3 PCI-E

I want to use an Enermax Liberty500, ATX12V v2.2 500W power supply. Is it enough? I have an A64 3200+ and 1.5 gb memory at the moment, if that helps. I'm not planning to buy a DX10 card till 2008, and after updating my mobo, memory, core etc...

Regards

Krigl the tech n00b

[NicksFXHouse]

500watts is very low for a modern system. Typically your going to want something in the 650watt range for a single high power card and 850watt+ for dual cards.

I have seen 450watt power supplies that deliver a true 400watts and 600watt power supplies that actually only deliver a true 300watts where the system needs it.

It really depends on the specs... post the output specs for the unit (12v 3.3v and 5v)

[cheesegrater]

Is it this one?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817194003

It has two 22A 12V rails. Enermax are good power supplies. I think your power supply is fine, no need to buy a new one.

[NicksFXHouse]

its not just the card, its his entire system. The card may only want 18-20A but if the system is running a bunch of hard drives, CDroms, fans, etc, etc that PSU may not be enough however from his description, first glance of the cards and PSU, and not knowing what else is in the system I would say it will work but may be close on capping out, especially if any overclock is involved.

[krigl]

Thanks for the comments, I was hoping for a supa-fast answer but unfortunately no one was around when I posted... no big deal - my bad planning  :) - I'd already ordered it and the MSI card by the time I read this (sorry I didn't get round to answering it before) - my student is buying it for me and was waiting for an answer...

I have 2 hard drives, 2 fans and one cdrom drive. It's useful to know that the power supply might be at full capacity, and it looks like I might be pushing it a bit, but I have no overclocking anywhere at the moment. Hopefully it will be alright until I upgrade again.

Cheers

Krigl

[NicksFXHouse]

[quote]Thanks for the comments, I was hoping for a supa-fast answer but unfortunately no one was around when I posted... no big deal - my bad planning

[krigl]

I think you will be OK without an overclock. If you have any concerns, install Speedfan, boot it and let it sit in the tray while you run a game for a while, then close the game, open speedfan and on the CHARTS tab, select voltages and place a check in the 12v.. see if it remained in spec, then the 3.3v, see if it remained in spec and then finally, the 5v.

If those show no significant voltage drop, you are good to go.

Thanks Nik!