PSU and Graphics Card Upgrade Question

[breecat]

I've been learning a lot here in my search for a better graphics card for my system. I only have built-in graphics now, on a Foxconn 761GXK8MC m-board with an AMD Sempron processor. I have a PCI Express x16 slot for the new card. I realized I needed a better PSU also (and probably could use more ram; running 720 now). So I've been educating myself on good cards and PSUs and compatibility issues, and I hope I've come up with a good combo. I've never upgraded a video card or PSU before, only HDs/CD-roms etc.

I should note that I'm not a gamer - I'm a film and Netflix junkie with a new Samsung Syncmaster LCD monitor which is not living up to its potential right now. Eventually I'm also planning to try and hook the 'puter up to the TV to stream video, so I'm trying to shop for a card all with that in mind. But I'm also on a budget for now - $100-$150.

I have a couple of PSUs and cards in mind, but I wanted to check here first to make sure I haven't forgotten anything - and that they will work together on my system.

Here's my short list:

JATON Video-PX8500GT-512 GeForce 8500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 :
Newegg.com - JATON Video-PX8500GT-512 GeForce 8500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

and

Antec earthwatts EA380 380W ATX12V v2.0 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Newegg.com - Antec earthwatts EA380 380W ATX12V v2.0 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

OR any of these alternatives:

FSP Group SAGA+ 400R 400W ATX12V Power Supply
Newegg.com - FSP Group SAGA+ 400R 400W ATX12V Power Supply - Power Supplies

SILVERSTONE ST400 400W ATX 12V 2.2 Power Supply
Newegg.com - SILVERSTONE ST400 400W ATX 12V 2.2 Power Supply - Power Supplies

ZOTAC ZT-85TEH2P-FSR GeForce 8500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready
Newegg.com - ZOTAC ZT-85TEH2P-FSR GeForce 8500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards


EVGA 256-P2-N733-LR GeForce 8400 GS 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
Newegg.com - EVGA 256-P2-N733-LR GeForce 8400 GS 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
(on this one - is 64-bit fast enough?)

I also realized that I ended up with all GeForce 8000 series cards on my list, so maybe I should look at some Radeon too? Any opinions on that?

I am still a bit confused about GeForce/Radeon compatibility with my AMD processor? Is that an issue?

Thanks for all input and opinions!
Michelle

[Atomic Rooster]

No need to worry about brands the video card and CPU are. They all work together very happily.

Those are all very good choices you've made in both video cards and power supplies. The Zotac 8500 GT 512MB would be the best of the one's you selected.

You could consider going with an ATI card such as a SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 3650 512MB. I've heard good things about their video playback quality.

Now, you really wont need much more than a good quality 300W power for either the 8500 GT or the HD 3650.

This one will give you the power you need at a great price with excellent quality: Antec Basiq BP-350B 350W

[breecat]

Hi AR, I've been learning from your comments in other threads as well. Thanks for the fast feedback! I'm on my way out the door to dinner right now, but I'll respond again later this evening. I hope to make my decision and purchase this weekend. Whoo-hoo!

[KarmaKiller]

I agree.. you picked out very good components. PSU's are outstanding, and the GPU's are decent for your price range. Very good job!

[breecat]

Thanks guys! Thanks for the Sapphire link, AR - that one looks good too! Too many choices!

I realize I was confused about the name issue: it's the difference between ATI and NVIDIA that I'm wondering about in relation to compatibility with my system (not Ratheon/GeForce). What's the difference between ATI and NVIDIA?

One other question: in response to the PSU Atomic Rooster posted - I had been going with more expensive choices because I was reading that you shouldn't skimp on PSU because a cheap bad one could fry your whole system. That made sense to me so I was trying not to go 'on the cheap' with that component. Is $20 OK to spend on a PSU?

If all other elements of the PSUs are on par, I think the selling point for me will be the fan noise -a quiet one would be much appreciated, and I'd be willing to pay more for that as well, but maybe I don't need to?

[Atomic Rooster]

It would make more sense asking what's the difference between one card and another then to ask what the difference is between ATI and Nvidia. That's like asking what's the difference between Ford and Chevy. . . They are both high quality video card manufacturers and both have products that range from entry level to high performance.

The power supply I listed may be low in price, but it's high in quality. Antec has been a leading name in power supplies for years now. The advice you read is true, you never want to skimp on a PSU. Quality is key.

If everything else is the same, you'll need to rely on reviews to find one that is "quiet". Most of them are pretty quiet. But there are a few out there that do make quite a bit of noise.

[breecat]

Thanks for all the info folks! I have gone ahead and ordered at newegg. I got the Antec earthwatts PSU (with the free shipping it was only a few bucks more than the other Antec), and got the Sapphire card that Atomic Rooster recommended. I had not been looking at PCI Express x16 2.0 slot cards because I hadn't realized they were backwards compatible with the x16. So I spent some more time looking in that category, and all the reviews said this is the best card for home theater use. Looking forward to watching BSG-TNS space battles! That's my main purpose in this whole endevour! Thanks again for the input.

[breecat]

Well I'm back. Got my stuff and successfully installed the card and upgraded my ram. I can tell the difference in the color and clean graphics on my computer right away, and video is much prettier (it was quite pixelated).

BUT - I can't play any video because it times out constantly! The lag time is ridiculous - as though I'm watching a slide show of still images! I'm talking everywhere too: YouTube videos of people's dogs, news videos, and don't even mention Netflix streaming video. DVDs are marginably better in that they don't hang as often or as long. But they still lag, and for anything on-line, forget it.

This is terrible! I'm seeing these beautiful graphics on movies - and they won't play!

I cannot figure out what's wrong. I got the latest drivers from ATI, my system is running cool, and I've got 1280m RAM. The CPU is maxing out a lot - maybe that's it? It's a Sempron 3000+ - it's supposed to be compatible with this card - a Radeon HD 3650. I haven't installed the new power supply yet. Some folks said they don't think I need it. Mine current one is 280 watts. Could the power supply be causing this? The CPU?

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Michelle

[Atomic Rooster]

Do you have the latest Macromedia Flash, Java, and Direct X updates?

[breecat]

AR, yes they're all up to date. Seems like my CPU is sucking up all the resources and not releasing them. My whole system is getting more unstable tonight. FFox has crashed repeatedly. When I have Firefox or IE open (with nothing else open) my CPU stays at 100% usage, and the program usually freezes. Then it won't free up the resources after it's closed. Resources used stay high 80-90% in an MXTask.exe operation and I have to End Process.

Besides not being able to watch any streaming video, I'm now getting slow Windows desktop icon loads, windows box "shadowing" (when a window is dragged) and other graphics instability errors. Everything is running really slowly too.

My system didn't do any of this until I loaded this card this morning. I think I'll have to take it out in the morning and see what happens. It's too late tonight to mess with it. This stuff wears me out. I've been tweaking things all day with no luck. I'll try again in the morning.

[Atomic Rooster]

You should try the new power supply. It may be underpowered and causing the problems.

[breecat]

I will try that before I give up, AR. Are there any freeware/shareware tools I can use to test the Power supply performance? How about the CPU?

I ran a program called Hot CPU Tester Pro 4 last night before I went to bed - it said it would run for 6 hours - but this morning it had no data about my CPU. It had run but there was no data in the results window. Weird.

I don't have time to mess with it today as it turns out, so the power supply install will have to wait. Maybe this evening.

[breecat]

Hi AR - Just wanted to let you know I successfully installed the new PSU. It works like a charm and runs quiet, but it sure didn't solve the graphics card problem. I had a ticket in at AMD and went through their whole troubleshooting advice list this afternoon. I will just copy the email I sent to them to sum up how it went. Basically I've given up and am sending the thing back to newegg.

Ironically enough, the picture quality on streaming video seems to be better now - back with my old onboard graphics - so maybe my RAM upgrade and/or the new PSU have helped with that and I don't need a new card. I would really like to use the digital input on my nice LCD monitor, but not if I can't watch anything! I still don't know what was wrong, but I sure feel like I wasted a lot of time with it this weekend.

Thanks for your help - and if anyone has any thoughts on this, I do welcome them.

Here's my note to AMD:

I went through all 15 plus items in your troubleshooting list - bios, drivers, graphics settings, DirectX settings, etc etc etc, - and the card still slows my system to a crawl, eats all my CPU resources, and won't play any videos, even little mpegs I have on my own hard drive, without skipping most frames.

I finally took it out and re-installed my old on-board graphics. I am now watching 2001 Space Odyssey with no skipped frames, in analog, and I have both Firefox and IE open with multiple windows. A half hour ago with your Radeon 3650 card and a digital connection, 2001 Space Odyssey was a collection of hiccup-y still shots, and it would have been impossible for me to have both browsers open. I don't know if this was a defective card or just a piece of junk, but it's going back to newegg.

[Atomic Rooster]

Yea, it sure does sound like the video card wasn't happy in your system. So are you getting another in exchange or are you going to try a different card?

[breecat]

For now I'm just getting a refund. I still don't know what was wrong, so I'm going to wait. I don't think the card itself was defective - it looked and ran fine and the memory and specs all showed up in my tests. It may have been the drivers/software or some bios incompatibility.

I would like to get a separate card still, with a DVI connection for my LCD monitor at least, but I've given up on the idea of hooking this system up to my TV at all. Maybe I'll look for a cheaper and lower-end card.

[KarmaKiller]

I've heard of incompatibilities with PCI 2.0 cards and older chipsets. Maybe you could try a first generation PCI-e card, see if that works.
Something like the 7series from nvidia is cheap to get, and more then enough for movies.
Just a thought.

[breecat]

Thanks for the tip, KK. I think I will go back to looking at the 1.0 versions. newegg is going to waive me restocking fee since I told them I've decided I want to try another card after I return this one. Separate purchase, but they did the waiver as a courtesy. They really are a good company.

BTW, I signed up and am now folding! Thanks for the link - I love these kinds of projects!

[KarmaKiller]

You

[stroyal]

I noticed 1 thing, the on-board vid it SIS, and the new card was ATI.

Sometimes you have to use a program like driver cleaner to remove the old drivers first, if the cards are different brands.

Driver Cleaner Professional download from Guru3D.com