cheapish low power GPU?

My specs should be in my sig, the main thing is I have only a 400w PSU...

I am looking at middle of the road graphics cards and have a few ideas, 9800GT (green edition), HD5670, GTS250 and probably the most expensive..the HD5770.

Which of those (or any suggestions) are the best bang for buck?

I have heard that people have problems with ATi drivers?

Will my PSU be enough to power them?

Thanks.

I would venture to say yes, that you will be able to power one of those. IIRC the 9800GT and GTX250 only have 1 6-pin connector. If you have an older power supply without a GPU Molex connector, you may need to get an adapter.

400W is kind of low, but as long as your not extreme overclocking as well, you should be ok. The Phenom dual core uses less power than a Quadcore and those cards are not power hogs. Additionally Corsair makes one of the better PSUs that give you what its listed at.

Thanks, I think it will be OK too. 30 amp on the 12v rail and Corsair is a good PSU. Any suggestions on which GPU I should go for?

400W is way more than enough for any of the cards you mentioned without issues. Most folks in forums (here and elsewhere) grossly overestimate what kind of power supplies they need. As it sits, I'm willing to bet anything your current rig loads at under 150W. The dual-core Phenom II isn't exactly a power hog. If you're using the onboard 785G's video, that's certainly not a big deal. An HD5770 only uses about 85W at full blast (Furmark).

The CX is a good budget power supply, and will supply its full 400W for extended periods without issue. I've got them powering far nastier rigs than what you would have here.

ETA : For single-card setups, ATi's drivers are fine; I still have yet to ever see any stability issues with them. I can't say that about Nvidia's drivers...

theflyingrat said:

400W is way more than enough for any of the cards you mentioned without issues. Most folks in forums (here and elsewhere) grossly overestimate what kind of power supplies they need. As it sits, I'm willing to bet anything your current rig loads at under 150W. The dual-core Phenom II isn't exactly a power hog. If you're using the onboard 785G's video, that's certainly not a big deal. An HD5770 only uses about 85W at full blast (Furmark).

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Palit over-estimates too, they reckon their GTS 250 (100w ?) needs a 450w PSU but I suppose they are just being extra careful.

I don't even have a DVD-RW in there as I have an external one. I just have one sata hdd, 2 sticks of ram and a sound card. I have 3 120mm fans, 2 are case fans and one CPU fan.

I am now very sure that I will have enough power to run any of those cards I mentioned. I just dunno which to get.

OT, but *all* mfgs and "PSU calculators" grossly overestimate. It drives me nuts. /rant off

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTS_450_TOP_DirectCU/26.html

I have decided on an HD 5750 now, it uses less power than any of the others I was thinking of except the HD 5670. I actually decided on the 5750 cos of price to performance ratio so the power consumption is a nice benefit.

I was surprised to see that the GTS250 will draw 174w at maximum.

The 5750 draws only 92w at maximum.

I would have gone GTS450. Better performance, similar power requirements.

fishys87 said:

I would have gone GTS450. Better performance, similar power requirements.

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I was going for the 512mb 5750 cos it is £75 and the 1gb is around £100, the GTS450 is around the same.

Actually I could get a GTS450 for £90 and it would be 1gb too, which would help at my resolution.