Looking to get a new video card

[StarBob]

So I want to spend around $200 for a new video card. Right now I'm running a Geforce 9600 GT. I was looking to stick with Geforce as well. The issue I'm coming up against is that my power supply is a 450 watt and the cards I'm seeing in this price range are edging up at 500 watt minimum. So my dilemma is this: Do I spend more and throw in a power supply for the quality or should I settle for a less power-demanding card that will not be as big of an upgrade from my current?

Also, what sort of upgrade am I looking at right now? Virtually every modern game I play has become bogged down to a point that makes it not nearly as fun to play so I'm looking for something that can knock out a fairly jacked up Crisis as well as let me run the more graphics intensive parts of Dragon Age, GTA 4, and maybe WoW if I get back in to it.

Any suggestions? I could swing for a little more, maybe 250 if I had to get a power supply, but I don't want to be spending extra money for a completely marginal upgrade. Thanks!

 

[Quixoticism]

If you want to stick with nVidia the GTX 260 is right at that price point. Cards ask for a lot from a PSU on the box but your current power supply will most likely be enough.(depends on how much hardware extra you have running in your box)

The Radeon HD 4870 performs better in most titles than the 260 and is cheaper as well if you can find one if you want to try the ATI route.

 

[AtomicSpark]

I love my Asus ATI Radeon HD 4870 Dark Knight edition. It's cool, quiet, and pretty powerful.

 

[StarBob]

I love my Asus ATI Radeon HD 4870 Dark Knight edition. It's cool, quiet, and pretty powerful.

Are you describing Batman or the video card?

 

[StarBob]

Right now I'm looking at these two:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161292

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150438

The 4890 has a faster clock but no HDMI port... no that I Have anything that uses and HDMI port but maybe someday I will. Both require a 500 watt PSU so I'm looking at some new ones now... I just want one that's not a thousand dollars and effective... time to take a look at them.

 

[Viperidae]

If power consumption is at all a concern, don't go with the 4xxx series. Inefficient hogs. But if you don't care, 4870 vs 4890 will depend on your monitor's resolution. It is over 1600x1200? Go with the 4890.

 

[StarBob]

No I'm pretty set in 1600x900 for the moment and that's what I run all my games in so I'm not too concerned with that. What about the 5000 series? I haven't really looked at it but last time I made the mistake of going for a newer series even though it was less powerful... so this time I'm trying to make sure I don't make any mistakes I'll regret later on when my framerate is <20 and I'm looking at textures from 1993.

Edit: Oh snap after over 4 years I've finally broken 100 posts.

 

[Quixoticism]

Gz on the posts.

In this review of the 5000 series you can see the effect that each video card has on the total power load. You can see that the 4890 is the biggest power hog and still remains under the 300w mark.
Even with a couple of extra hard drives you should be fine and under the mark with your current power supply.

The 5000 series are good if you want to future proof your system, but are less powerful and more expensive than the competing cards.

 

[Viperidae]

The 5000 series are good if you want to future proof your system, but are less powerful and more expensive than the competing cards.

The competition... what other DX11 cards are there on the market?

 

[Quixoticism]

I mean the cards in the same performance/price area. Aka the GTX 260 and HD 4870.

 

[Asus]

The 4890 is a little lower on power than the 4870 when clocked at the same speed (the chip was shrunk so it runs cooler and allows for more OCing). You can get a DVI to HDMI adapter. My card came with one. ATI can do audio out over the HDMI for if you want to hook it up to an HDTV system. And with the special DVI to HDMI adapter ATI includes (included in most boxes anyway) you can still do the audio out over hdmi even if the card itself doesn't have the port. Although you can't with a default DVI to HDMI adapter.

But yeah, if you have the money go with a 5850. If not the 5850 then the lower priced 5770.

Also, what model and brand is your PSU? Probably the most important thing to know. Just knowing the watts is not good enough since the watts are not distributed the same way on all units (3.3v/5v/12v balance of power).
But it is definitely possible that the 450 watt PSU is good enough assuming the balance of power is for todays standards and not 5 years ago.

 

[StarBob]

I bought the 4890 since the price with free shipping was so close to the 4870. I don't have Windows 7 so DX 11 isn't a big deal to me (I'm still running XP). I can't remember my PSU brand (though I just looked not long ago), but I bought my computer about a year and a half ago pre-built and I'm just going to hope that it's sufficient. If not, I figure I can pick a new one up without incinerating my wallet... I'll just endure the arduous process of having new hardware in my hands that I can't use.

Also, I noticed that my mobo's PCI express slot wasn't 2.0 even though my Geforce 9600 was 2.0. I figure it didn't even make use of the extra bandwidth but will that be a big choke point for my new card?