gtx 460 or 550 ti?

**boiler149** · April 15th, 2012, 06:37 PM

which is better, which one should i get, and why. thx!

**Taxmancometh** · April 15th, 2012, 07:29 PM

First things first. We need to know the 12+ amp rating on the PSU. There is a sticker on the PSU that will say. Second, do you have room for one of these cards?

**boiler149** · April 15th, 2012, 07:45 PM

This is the psu that i have
PC Direct - Viotek 800W 20/24 Pin High Quality Power Supply with Two PCI Express & SATA, 4+4pin for Server EPS+12v

here are the rest of the specs for the computer that I am building.

Intel 2130 I3
Intel Core i3-2130 BX80623I32130 Processor - Dual Core, 3MB L3 Smart Cache, 512KB L2 Cache, 3.4GHz, Socket H2 (LGA1155), 65W, Fan, Retail at TigerDirect.com

Motherboard
ECS P67H2-A2 Black Deluxe Motherboard - Socket H2 (LGA1155), Intel P67 Express, DDR3-2133MHz (O.C.), SATA 6.0 Gb/s, RAID, SLI/CrossFireX Ready, Dual Gigabit LAN, USB 3.0 at TigerDirect.com

With 8gb of ram.
case
Apevia X-TRPJR-BK X-Trooper Jr Mid Tower Case - ATX, Micro ATX, Baby AT, 2x Ext 5.25, 1x Ext 3.5, 3x Int 3.5, 1x 120mm Blue LED Fan, 1x 120mm Fan, 2x Front USB 2.0 Ports, Window at TigerDirect.com

Thank you for your help

**ShyguyXPC** · April 15th, 2012, 07:54 PM

Its a garbage PSU, 800W and only has 43A on the +12V rail... my 520W Antec does 40A on the +12V.

My Corsair 750W does 60A on +12V, and if I remember right my 750W PC Power & Cooling is near the same.

based on specs alone the PSU should be enough for the whole system and either of the 2 cards, but its a low quality low output PSU (the +12V rail is the important one these days and should be getting MUCH more of the total power rating on it)

I wouldn't recommend running either card with the PSU, no telling how long it would last, and if it didn't, how much hardware it would take out when it does die.

As to which card is the better one, the GTX 460 is (all 4 or 5 variants).

**truckpuller** · April 15th, 2012, 10:45 PM

My Antec25 650 earthwatts has 2 12v rails at 38amps each.

**ShyguyXPC** · April 16th, 2012, 02:05 AM

but its not getting 38x2 when combining both. That would be even more amps than my 750W Corsair can handle.

You sure its an Earthwatts, that model has 3x +12V rails.

Gets 540W total between all 3 when combined:

Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply

The EarthWatt Green series I think is what you have, has Dual 38A Rails, but only 650W max when both are combined, 54 or so Amps on +12V.

Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

but even this is vastly higher rated than the 800W this user has

**truckpuller** · April 16th, 2012, 10:23 AM

I have the model Antec 25 model EA 650 Green psu...the last one you posted. Yep that why i posted it was for his comparison.

**boiler149** · April 16th, 2012, 10:43 AM

So it sounds like I need to upgrade my power supply. The 460 is better then the 550ti though?

**KarmaKiller** · April 16th, 2012, 03:05 PM

Viotek = DiabloTek
It's the same manufacture/brand, just a rebrand.

**ShyguyXPC** · April 16th, 2012, 03:57 PM

all the more reason to replace it.

If you plan on only ever running just a single GTX 460 (assuming this is what you buy, since it IS better than the GTX 550 Ti), you should be able to put in a good quality PSU of about 400-450W easily.

for example a Corsair 430W would be plenty of power for your system.

If you should want to run SLI with dual cards down the road (Your motherboard supports SLI), then something in the 550-600W range would probably be best.

though from what I input into an online PSU calculator it shows with the Core i3 and even Dual GTX 460's you'd be fine with a good 500W PSU with power to spare.

depends on how many Hard drives, any Solid state drives, and fans you plan to install really.

550W would be more than enough to spare though.

500W: Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

520W (and also the best quality brand available): Newegg.com - 17-151

or this one, 600W: Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

All of these you'd need to use a couple of power connector adapters for dual video cards, but their cheap enough to obtain and should be included with most brand new cards in box.

If your only going to run the single GPU, that 500W Corsair would be good.

Or I could recommend this one for a tad less.

Newegg.com - Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W Continuous Power ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

I've used that one, and its more than capable of running your system with a single GTX 460.

otherwise, if you bought the Corsair 500W today, you could get in on that Promo code for $10 off only costing you $50 with free shipping. But the code expires today.

**boiler149** · April 16th, 2012, 04:29 PM

Will my computer be able to fit a 460 in it? I dont want to buy it and find out it doesnt fit. Apl the links for the build are above.

**ShyguyXPC** · April 16th, 2012, 04:46 PM

Well I can say this, if the 460 won't fit, then neither will most GTX 550 Ti's, since there's little difference in size for most 550's from the 460.

Damn that case looks tight, and not in a modern ebonics way either... it looks cramped as hell for a mid sized case.

and reading the reviews on newegg about it, I'd consider getting something else for that price.

Newegg.com - APEVIA X-TROOPER Junior Series X-TRPJR-BK Black Steel Micro ATX Mid Tower Computer Case w/ Side Window

Something like this would be much better.

Newegg.com - HEC Blitz Black Steel Edition ATX Mid Tower Computer Chassis Gaming Case w/ Front Blue LED 120mm Fan & Top 120mm Fan

its got PLENTY of room.

have used it myself, installed a Triple Crossfire Full ATX Motherboard, Power Supply, an extra long Geforce GTX 260 1792MB Card, in this and had room to spare.

Plus with its ventilation side panel, front mesh panels, top and front/rear mounted 120mm fans, its actually a pretty quiet running case, assuming your PSU and Video card are quiet running as well.

Its not the BEST built case, but for $40 its one of the best cases out there.

Looking for something a bit more flashy:

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1 Black Steel / Plastic Computer Case

Has a $10 off Promo code that ends today, and an additional $20 Mail In Rebate, so if you got in on both of those, you'd of eventually paid a mere $30 and Free shipping with it.

This case has enough room to mount and install some of the largest cards on the market. Despite its smaller mid size.

**boiler149** · April 16th, 2012, 04:56 PM

Whats the size difference between a gt 430 and the 460? My friend has same case that i posted and it fits his gt 430. Is there a big difference in size or just a small one?

**ShyguyXPC** · April 16th, 2012, 05:17 PM

um, just do a google search for the cards and you can see.

Pretty simple to do.

To answer the question though...

A HUGE Difference in size.

the GT 430 is a really small card, most are half height cards, and no longer than the PCIe x16 slot itself.

Most GTX 550's and 460's are at least 7 or 8 inches in length, up to 9 inches, and 2 slots wide.

There are some odd ball cards out there that are smaller, but their hard to find, rare, pricey and or just a crappy cooling design to effectively cool the cards as they need to be.

Below is a picture of my Geforce GT 220 card, about the same size as a typical GT 430 Card (some GT 430's are full height, but not longer than this)

The card is mounted in a Mini ITX motherboard, so its smaller than a MicroATX board.

The following pictures is a Radeon 4870 in the same board, to show size difference.

The GTX 460 is closer in size to this card than the GT 220.

Here's a Pic of a typical MicroATX motherboard (your board you listed is a full ATX, so its larger)

Here's a pic of the same board with a Geforce 9800GTX, which is larger than the GTX 460 but not by much.

This pic shows that board and system mounted in an older Coolermaster Elite 300 series case, that has similar internal dimensions to the one I linked above.

You can see there's just enough room past the 9800GTX card to connect the power cables at its end, and the Hard drive had to be placed one slot below or above it to fit it.

A GTX 460 would be a bit shorter, but it'd look similar to this.

Here's a pic of my current main system, uses a Thermaltake Armor Case, that can hold up to Server size Extended ATX, EATX boards.

the 2 cards pictured is my Geforce GTX 285 top, and Geforce GTX 470 bottom.

both are running in the system right now.

the GTX 460 is similar in size to the 470, maybe a tad shorter but not by much.

You can see that the Motherboard, which is a normal ATX sized board, is about the same depth as the cards, and due to the case, there's more than enough room to mount them.

Here's a pic of the Radeon 4870 with those 2 cards as well

but looking at your case, and seeing where the mounting points for the motherboard would be. that case won't even properly hold a full size ATX motherboard.

It has 7 expansion slots, but it only has enough mounting points to hold a MicroATX motherboard (Which most mATX boards only have up to 4 slots)

So your going to run into troubles mounting your Full Size SLI capable P67 chipset motherboard, into that thing. Basically from the RAM Slots back, the board will be mounted UNDER the Drive cage area.

You'll have at least a few mounting points unfastened, and the board will extend in and under the drive cage area.

You really need to look at a new/better case than that.

**truckpuller** · April 16th, 2012, 10:18 PM

The GTX 460 is 8 1/2 inches long and 9 inches to the end of the power connector.

**Taxmancometh** · April 16th, 2012, 10:25 PM

THAT'S THE SIZE OF MY... oh never mind.

**truckpuller** · April 16th, 2012, 10:33 PM

Here's the inside of my case..needs cleaning again as you can see its a GTX 460...shhh

**ShyguyXPC** · April 17th, 2012, 04:10 AM

DAMN, you just put that thing in there recently.... my 470 doesn't even get that dirty if I left the system uncleaned for a full year.

Where is your PC at, in a wood working shop? or someplace really dusty like that?

As to the cards size, yeah, the 9800GTX in my pics is about 9 inches or so in length, so its close to the same size.

The OP, is going to need a different case for the build, the Motherboard they have selected it 9.6" deep front to back, which is average for ATX. its not going to fit in that case properly, and would only be about a half inch or inch longer than the video card, once mounted in there.

**ShyguyXPC** · April 17th, 2012, 04:16 AM

At least its not one of these: Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100270SR Radeon HD 4850 X2 2GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

11.2 inches in length... one of the longest Gaming GPU cards ever made too.

the Radeon 6990 if I remember right was right there at about 12-13 inches in length depending on the card manufacturer and style of shroud/fan/framing used on the actual card.

**truckpuller** · April 17th, 2012, 09:55 AM

Originally Posted by ShyguyXPC

DAMN, you just put that thing in there recently.... my 470 doesn't even get that dirty if I left the system uncleaned for a full year.

Where is your PC at, in a wood working shop? or someplace really dusty like that

Nope its in a bed room in the house. i live in Missouri and we get all them dust bowls from Kansas and Oklahoma

Been having the windows open in the house and my driveway is gravel and mud so i suppose the dust from the driveway get in house..i have to blow computer out like every 2 months when the windows are open..i use a compressor with 200 psi...