Hello,

I am looking into purchasing one of the following graphics cards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143045

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCompare.asp?CompareItemList=N82E16814143046%2CN82E16814150131%2CN82E16814130274&SubCategory=48

my question is if my current power supply will be sufficient.

I currently have a ISO Switching power supply that is 350Watts. On the rails it has the following:
+3.3V - 20A
+5V - 28A
+12V1 - 10A
+12V2 - 15A
-12V - 0.5A
+5Vsb - 2A

The exact power supply model is ISO P450S.

looking at the voltage levels with the speedfan program, the current voltage levels are at:
VCore1: 1.52V
Vcore2: 1.5V
+3.3V: 3.23V
+5V: 4.92V
+12V: 11.71V
-12V: -8.58V
-5V: -2.69V
+5V: 5.03V
Vbat: 3.07V

This is just for an idle computer.

Computer spechs:
3400+ AMD S754 512 L2 w/ stock fan
K8NHA Grand Bio Star MB
1 40GB Hard drive
1 300GB Hard drive
DVD-Rom
DVD-RW
Floppy
4 PCI devices, (wireless, sound, nic, and video capture)
1 AGP, current video card, GeForce FX5200
1GB DDR400 (3200) ram

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!
George

"The exact power supply model is ISO P450S"

Channel Well Technology Co Ltd

You're definitely gonna need a new PSU & the video cards you listed are pretty pricey. You really wanna invest $250-300 in a "dead-end" S754 system?

Jam,

Thanks for the reply.

My current computer does what I need it to do except game playing.

I am planning to buy the graphic cards used to lessen the price to around half the new price, if possible.

One of my options was to upgrade the motherboard to a newer one. See http://www.computing.net/hardware/wwwboard/forum/44868.html

I had that $164 one in the mix. I am really not sure if it is worth the extra $100 to upgrade to 16 pixle pipelines and higher clock/memory speeds, from the 12 pixle pipelines that the cheaper one has.

What is your opinion?

I really don't want to drop too much into this system, but I believe that if I upgraded to a better graphics card that I could sit on it for another 2-3 years. (since i'm in college, I don't need the top of the line, word processing and programming type things).

Thanks!
George

I'm sure some (possibly many) will disagree with me, but I saw this board the other day & thought it might be a 1/2 way decent option for someone who wanted to ride out their S754 A64 for a while longer. It only has 2 PCI slots & 2 DDR slots, but it supports PCI-E & only costs $22 after rebate (free shipping):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813170011

400W PSU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103013

7600GT:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150140

I strongly question a new PCI-E motherboard because of one simple reason - the AGP slot arguably has more longevity than the already dead-ended 754 socket (even worse for you because you currently have an A64 3400+).

Add to that, the fact that there isn't any performance advantage going with a PCI-E card vs an AGP counterpart and it makes it really dumb to make a motherboard switch primarily for PCI-E.

I already gave my honest advice but it's not my money or rig we are discussing here.

Goodluck.

I only mentioned that board because at $22, it's a hell of a deal. I overlooked the fact that you have 4 PCI cards though, so I doubt it would work for you. How about a mini review of your BIOSTAR K8NHA Grand?

If you want better gaming, you definitely need to replace the FX5200 & any high end AGP card is gonna require a PSU plug-in, so a new PSU will be necessary.

As for the video card, Sabertooth probably nailed it in your other thread, "Get a 7600GS (AGP) and call it a day"

Thank you for all your help.

As far as a review on the Biostar K8NHA Grand, the motherboard has accomplished everything that I use it for. note that I do not overclock at all. and leave the majority of settings at factory default.

It has been a very stable motherboard and I have never had a problem with it. It only supports 2GB of ram however, (2 ddr slots), so there is not much expansion for that.
The 5 PCI slots are very useful, however, one is mostly unusable due to graphics card heatsink going over it. The layout is nice, and it is real easy to get to all the componet parts. There have been no heat issues, and the system seems to range from 40-70c for tempurtures, according to speed fan.

Be adviced that this motherboard came in my factory built computer, made by systemax, from tigerdirect. So I had there support, not biostars.

More info at

http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails.asp?model=k8nha+grand

I looked up some info about the performance difference between the AGP and the PCIe x16 and found that there is very little difference, just a 2% increase, but the tests rig had a different mb and cpu.

Thank for your all your help. I think I will just take your guy's advice and just get the 7600GS and say its good enough.

Thanks for all your help Jam and Sabertooth!

George

Hey, quick question,

between these cards, what would you choose?
Thanks!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCompare.asp?SubCategory=48&CompareItemList=N82E16814130036%2CN82E16814143045

I would just snag the cheapest 7600GS available as we speak. However, if you are averse to the MSI brand and or the e-tailer, you might as well get the 6800GS (better buy) instead of the 7600GS from eVGA because you are already open to spending roughly $160.00 anyway.