ATHEN PALADINS FORUMS (in remaking)

Kitty I found the information on the differences between NVidai 9600GT and GS. As I told you online, the names chosen by Nvidia are often misleading and sometimes deceptive (ATI is not really better in that regard).

Only the 9600GT uses a new GPU (an upgrade of the 8600 GTS). The 9600GSO is in fact a renamed 8800GTS. But there is also the GeForce 9600 GSO 512 with improved specifications, after Nvidia cleared the stock of old 8800GS.

You'll find a good summary on

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_9_Series
and more specifically
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_9_ ... 600_Series

And the 8800 info is there:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_8_Series


Side note: anyhow any of those cards is better than an on-board graphic chip.

nice! thanks Chris...

The card in question is in fact a 1024mb card if that makes any difference

1024 V-RAM is an overkill, basically used by the manufacturer to increase the card's epeen size. It's used if you load heavy textures. For what it's worth my own videocard (bought 1 month or so ago) is a Geforce 275GTX, 896 MB V-RAM for I think it was ~180 euro. I've never ran into trouble with running the newest of the newest games on max settings.

What you need to look at is Shader Clock IIRC, and which chipset the card is based on.

Also you're going to love this link: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gef ... 491-7.html

Along with probably this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gef ... 491-2.html

Good luck buying a new card mate!

I don't think that any game uses 1024MB on the video board. Anyhow, this game would run on lower video RAM too... or it wouldn't be able to run on like 99% of the market! This amount of memory shouldn't have any effect on the games of today. And what Lupus said.

Even The Secret World at full settings will not require 1024MB.

now the 9600GS requires dedicated PCIe power from the PSU... So now comes finding what i need for a PSU, i have atm a 500ish watt cheapy brand from the Newegg racks Any suggestions to help supplement the card?

Ceokittymeow wrote:now the 9600GS requires dedicated PCIe power from the PSU... So now comes finding what i need for a PSU, i have atm a 500ish watt cheapy brand from the Newegg racks Any suggestions to help supplement the card?

Modular power supply unit ftw, and if you are planning on upgrading the puter further in the future I'd get about 700W. But there's a thread about this topic in the same forum.

You can have a look here, for general power considerations

Calculate the Power Supply you need
http://www.athenpaladins.org/forums/vie ... =45&t=5443

The results are usually "generous".



Now, about the card you want/bought, you need to know if you have a "rail" on your PSU that will be able to handle the card: you must have BOTH the right voltage (should be 12V) and the right current (amperage), to be able to deliver the right power (wattage = voltage x amperage).

Somewhere in the user's manual of your card (or on the web site of the manufacturer), you'll find the required current and amperage. Except a relatively high value for today's graphic processors (on a top level card, it can reach 22A+). See this thread were Cavey had issues with his PSU and a NVidia high-end card: http://www.athenpaladins.org/forums/vie ... =45&t=5341 (This is NOT your case though!)

On your PSU there should be some label with the mention of the voltage and current each rail delivers.

Something like this


Of course, the card must be alone on a rail for these values to be relevant: some rails might have several cables, so make sure only one is used.

If the rail can't deliver enough amperage, the card will just stop working from time to time and will likely halt the system.

http://www.svc.com/powersupplyguide.html

http://compreviews.about.com/od/cases/a/PSUWattage.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_supply_rail