Video Card upgrade, power supply questions

Ive asked around a few places and did not get a very solid answer, and then I saw the PSU topic here in the help forum, so thought I would make my own. Apology in advance if i should have posted in his topic.

Gigabyte K8NSC-939 motherboard
Antec TruepowerII 430W
Geforce6600 256mb AGP
Athlon 64 3700+ Single San Diego Core
2x Kingston 1024mb PC3200 DDR
Plextor DVDRW PX-708A
Lite-On 8x DVD-Rom
NEC floppy
Sound Blaster Audigy sound card
Headset and Microphone
Vantec Stealth fan x 2 exhaust and intake

I'm looking to upgrade the video card to improve game performance.
I've been looking at a 7600GS, 7600GT, and 7900GS. I wondered which out of those anyone recommeded getting based on power requirements/not overheating if possible and other issues.

I remember the 7950GX or GTX when they came out were running very hot, and being my room is dusty, I don't want a super hot running card. But I do want some better performance.

Also, I wondered if there is a wrong way to hook up power to a video card. There is only one power cable that reaches my video card and it happens to also be plugged into the hard drive and the lite on. Should the video card have its on straight run of power cable from the PS or does it matter?

I thought that might be slowing the 6600 down, but it benchmarks what it should on 3dmark05.... just a little on the low range rather than high.


The 6600 benchmarks 2200 on 3dmark05 and the FX5500LE benchmarks a measely 150.

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Originally Posted by ValiantKnight

I'm looking to upgrade the video card to improve game performance.
I've been looking at a 7600GS, 7600GT, and 7900GS. I wondered which out of those anyone recommeded getting based on power requirements/not overheating if possible and other issues.

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I've got an nVidia 7900GT. Really good card. :)

If you've already got two fans in your computer, then you should be okay. Still, maybe be a little... well, not concerned but cautious. How hot does your CPU and motherboard run at at full load? If they're cool enough then you should be all right with the graphics card.

Quote:

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Also, I wondered if there is a wrong way to hook up power to a video card. There is only one power cable that reaches my video card and it happens to also be plugged into the hard drive and the lite on. Should the video card have its on straight run of power cable from the PS or does it matter?

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You're talking about your GeForce 6600... Well, as far as I know... no. I think that it's good practice to try and spread out the power around. However, I don't think that having multiple components on one cable would cause one to get underpowered.

As far as I know. :)

Well i was talking about any video card in particular, I can buy an extension to bring down a 4 pin if theres another one hidden in there(so many useless connectors). But if 1 hard drive and 2 DVD drives won't zap too much power, then I don't need more clutter.

Speedfan says 28C, 34C for Temp 1 and 2.
Core temp says 36 idle, and 50 load
HD0 is 40-45C

The only AGP choices i can find atm are 7600GS, 7600GT, 7800GS, 7900GS

The 7900GS is the most powerful AGP card on the market and should work wonderfully with the 3700+.

As far as PSU/HSF, depending on the amperage a 430W power supply should be enough to power all your components. Depending on what manufacturer you go with, the heatsink/fan on the video card may or may not be a problem since it's up to the design manufacturer and not nvidia as to what kind of hsf sits on top of the core. Measure the temps (especially while gaming and after gaming). What you're looking for is an idle temp below 55C and a load temp of 70-75C or below. You also want to check how fast the card cools down after a heavy gaming session as that will give you a good indication on the effectiveness of the cooling solution. If your temps are too high you'll want to look at a third-party hsf.

But yeah, go with the 7900GS. I've heard nothing, but good things about it.