some graphics card advice please

[SPARTAN1630]

okay, im hoping to upgrade from 8600 to a gts 250 this july with my specs veiable in my motto whatever thing...will it work? it calls for a 45o watt, but a friend says ill be good, but since you guys and gals have more experiance than both me and him i was wondering if i could get a second opnion

[bartvandenberg]

your specs dont show up, so noone has any idea what your specs are.

it recommends you have a minimum PSU wattage for a reason. system stability.

but its the recommended amperage of 24amps that is more important than the watts really. a decent 400 watt psu with 24 amps should run that card, given your system isnt a gaming pig, with a core2extreme, mulitiple raptor drives, dvd and blu ray drives, sound cards etc.

but, running a psu with a low wattage means it will be peaked a lot, and that'll kill it quick.

give us your specs, and ill get you a definite answer though.

[SPARTAN1630]

your specs dont show up, so noone has any idea what your specs are.

it recommends you have a minimum PSU wattage for a reason. system stability.

but its the recommended amperage of 24amps that is more important than the watts really. a decent 400 watt psu with 24 amps should run that card, given your system isnt a gaming pig, with a core2extreme, mulitiple raptor drives, dvd and blu ray drives, sound cards etc.

but, running a psu with a low wattage means it will be peaked a lot, and that'll kill it quick.

give us your specs, and ill get you a definite answer though.

my PSU is 600 watts...i have 2 dvd drives and 2 hdds...about 4 fans besides the ones in the usual places ( cpu gfx card psu ect.) and my amd athlon dual core requires 89 watts..the system requirement site for the card says i need a 12v rail...mine has 2 i am very knowlegable in cmputer building but this is somthing thats confusing to me

[billygoat333]

sounds to me you should be ok... you should def. check the amps on that 2nd rail, should be stated on the sticker on your psu.

[SPARTAN1630]

theres one with 30 amps and one with 22...how can i tell the dif between the two? cuz if i can find the one with the 30 it should be okay becuase the cards manu website says it needs atleast 24amps on a 12 rail do you guys have any ideas? and thanks for all the help so far, honnestly your the nicest people i could talk about this kinda stuff, most people give me **** answers or don't respond at all, greatly appreciated guys

[billygoat333]

get a multimeter and test it? thats what I would do. maybe someone here would know of a better way. :)

this site has been one of the best forums I have ever been on due to the high caliber of people on this site. :)

[SPARTAN1630]

im short on cash lol. but, what if i try both rails? if i put the 22 on the card it wont kill it will it?

[bartvandenberg]

my psu has quad 12 volt rails, at 18amp each, equaling 41 amps. check the combined number. your cant pick and choose what rail to power your card off of. if your first rail is 30, and the second is 22, you're laughing for minimum requirements.

you'll be fine with a 600 watt psu. easy.

it says you have 3 gigs of ram. is that 2 x 1gb sticks and 2 x 512mb sticks? or 3 sticks on 1 gb each?

[SPARTAN1630]

thanks man, i hope you right, i really get paranoid abotu my rig...you should see me when the heat spiles a tad
but its a 2 gig stick and 2 crappy 512 mb sticks from my old dell inspiron..im planning on getting another 2 stick to add to all of it this week before i get the GFX card

[bartvandenberg]

oh.. so your running single channel mode then? you def want to get on the ram thing.

and in case you thought about it, dont waste your money on 8 gig's.

8gb's of ram = complete waste of money!

[SPARTAN1630]

lol thanks, but my 2 stick was sopposed to be dual channel ram but my on dimm didnt like it. and i know anywhere between 3-6 gigs is good

[SPARTAN1630]

yeah i my g skill was sopposed to be dual channel 4 gigs but i could only get one stick in my bios would memory dump every time i had both in
and anywhere from 3-6 gigs is good lol

[progbuddy]

my PSU is 600 watts...i have 2 dvd drives and 2 hdds...about 4 fans besides the ones in the usual places ( cpu gfx card psu ect.) and my amd athlon dual core requires 89 watts..the system requirement site for the card says i need a 12v rail...mine has 2 i am very knowlegable in cmputer building but this is somthing thats confusing to me

You could run a 4870 on 600 watts. I'm running a Sapphire HD 4870 on a 550 (it calls for 500).

[SPARTAN1630]

You could run a 4870 on 600 watts. I'm running a Sapphire HD 4870 on a 550 (it calls for 500).

i could yes, but there more expensive...im looking at a GTS 250 and its only 2 dollars over $100 thanks though