GT???

**cowey** · January 7th, 2011, 05:20 PM

Its been a while since i bought a graphics card. At the time i would only buy nvidia ( through personal choice ) but as previously recommended by people in the "KNOW" i would only buy cards which were GT.

Are these the the longest lasting best value graphics card?

im looking to spend no more than £80 but want a really good value card. Please help

**stroyal** · January 7th, 2011, 05:44 PM

Welcome to TechIMO!

GTX is better, sometimes?

Graphics card numbers and letters are among the most misleading, meaningless numbers ever to be uses.
Even when comparing apples to apples as much as possible, they make no sense.

Looking at this benchmark, it looks like Nvidia hasn't used GT in a while, but this is just 1 list I'm looking at.
PassMark Software - Video Card Benchmarks - High End Video Cards

80pd is about $120 isn't it?
I don't have that pound sigh in my keyboard.

I would be pretty easy to find the Nvidia cards @ $120
I'd have to check New Egg, but Aaron will probably be on sometime, and will know UK places.

**stroyal** · January 7th, 2011, 05:48 PM

What are your specs?
Most important
Graphics slot?
Power supply?size and brand, preferably complete specs.
CPU?

**stroyal** · January 7th, 2011, 06:38 PM

I'd say for that max price, you need a GTS450 1gig
That's if you have the right slot, and a power supply that will run it.
The case clearance will have to be checked also.

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Video Cards & Video Devices,Desktop Graphics / Video Cards,NVIDIA,$100 - $200
It's @ 1439 in this benchmark.
PassMark Software - Video Card Benchmarks - High End Video Cards

**Aaron_8015** · January 8th, 2011, 03:53 AM

Originally Posted by cowey

but as previously recommended by people in the "KNOW" i would only buy cards which were GT.

No wonder graphics card manufacturers are making money on low end cards...

You should be looking at the specs of the card and the generation which the card is from, to get an idea on performance there are many reviews on all sorts out there.

As mentioned a GTS450 would be the best you could afford, though I thinks its nearer the £100 mark.

You will need to list system specs including PSU (make, model, watts and +12v amps) before we can make any real suggestions that have a chance of working.

**cowey** · January 8th, 2011, 01:36 PM

i know its an pci express slot and ive just had the motherboard replaced with a geforce 6100pm-m2 ( as the old one melted!!!) but with regards to power etc how do i find it out?

p.s. thanks for the replies so far

**stroyal** · January 8th, 2011, 02:14 PM

The power supply has a label, with all the info, for it. Brand, total watts, 12v amps.
If more than 1-12v rail, each rail, and the total watts, of all 12v rails combined.

Pictures will save time.

If it is a pre-build, we can look it up, if you give us the model #, or service tag, if it is a Dell

CPU-z, I think can tell you most of the rest, I don't user it though, there are easier ways, like looking in the case for the mother board part, or serial number.

Right clicking "my computer"/properties. will give basic processor and memory info.

**stroyal** · January 8th, 2011, 02:32 PM

This board?

ECS Web Site

The manufacturer is ECS the Gforce is the chip set.

That should handle any card you throw at it.

Now we just need the processor, memory, and Power supply info.

The power supply is really the only thing that could hold you back anyway.

CPU and memory would just tell us if the card will be bottle-necked, by the rest of the system.
If you have 2 gig of memory, you are good to go.

**cowey** · January 9th, 2011, 10:07 AM

thats the mother board. defo!

microsoft windows xp home edition

amd athlon 64 X2 dual core processor 6000+
3.01 ghz 1.87 GB ram

power supply =

switching power supply, model KY3500ATX 550w P4
Ac input, voltage 230v, current 9.0a, frequency 50 - 60 hz

**stroyal** · January 9th, 2011, 11:07 AM

Need Power supply info.

Brand name
12v amps, on each rail, if more than 1.

If it is a brand name 550W, you have more than enough power.

What's with the odd RAM amount? 1.87, I would expect 2.0
Are you running on-board graphics now?

It's plenty, anyway.

**cowey** · January 9th, 2011, 01:26 PM

unfortunatly the only graphics card i had spare was agp not pci express so on board graphics it is........lol

i popped the model number into google and the picture matches the power supply in my pc so Id guess at sumvision

BigPockets.co.uk :: Sumvision PowerX 550W Power Supply £17.27

**stroyal** · January 9th, 2011, 01:46 PM

If that's it, you need a new one.
It only has 14amps on the 12v, and being a P4 it probably won't have the 6 or 8 pin video 12v connection.

A good 550 should have closer to a 32amps 12vrail, not that you need that much, but more than 14A

**stroyal** · January 9th, 2011, 01:55 PM

They only recommend a 400w
GeForce GTS 450

A good 400W is about 23 amps,

A 550w should do it, but the numbers don't add up, you can try it first.
If it runs OK and it isn't getting hot, it should be fine.

**cowey** · January 9th, 2011, 03:20 PM

it also says on the unit the following

Dc out put max, orange +3.3v 22a, red +5v 35a, yellow +12 24a, white -5v 0.5a, blue -12v 0.5a, purple 5vsb 2a, grey p/g ok

is that any help

**stroyal** · January 9th, 2011, 06:01 PM

Originally Posted by cowey

it also says on the unit the following

Dc out put max, orange +3.3v 22a, red +5v 35a, yellow +12 24a, white -5v 0.5a, blue -12v 0.5a, purple 5vsb 2a, grey p/g ok

is that any help

Then that is a different model, still a little low on the 12v for a 550W, but definitely enough to run that card

It has as about the same 12v amps as a good 400 watt, and that is what it's minimum requirement is.

But no guarantee, with a non- brand name power supply, on paper it will work.

**cowey** · January 10th, 2011, 02:24 PM

so the GeForce GTS 450 it is then

thank you everyone for your input, especially you Stroyal

**stroyal** · January 10th, 2011, 02:34 PM

Any time.

**cowey** · January 10th, 2011, 03:03 PM

well, funny you should say anytime...lmao

Brand New inno3D GTS450 OC GDDR5 512MB on eBay (end time 24-Jan-11 10:18:49 GMT)

does this look any good?

**stroyal** · January 10th, 2011, 03:36 PM

Looks like the average price.
Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Video Cards & Video Devices,Desktop Graphics / Video Cards,NVIDIA,GeForce GTS 400 series

The chips are all the same, so you are buying for manufacture,warranty, and, price.

And sometimes how load the cooling system is for a particular brand and model card will be different among the same chip.

I don't know that brand, although they have been around for a while.
I'm also not comfortable buying off E-Bay, even though I have bought whole computers successfully, it involved a stressful return, after nasty words.

It's probably fine, but XFS has the best warrentee.

I have a Saphire, I'm happy with (not a Gforce)