Power Supply and Graphics Card Decision

[mopar man]

Ok, I am on a small budget, and it will be a little while before I get anything, but I need help deciding something.

I recieved a mobo that supports P4 cpu, PCI-Ex16, etc.
(I know it is outdated by a good bit, but I got it free)

I need a power supply that will power a 9600gt, and have decided it will be one of these two:

Ultra 650watt, 32amps on the 12 volt rail (I think, I'm still learning about Power Supplies)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3276573&body=MAIN

PC Power and Cooling 500 watts, with 35amps on the 12 volt rail:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008521&prodlist=bizrate


I know 2 people who have gotten Ultras, and love em, but yeah, doing research I found that the PC Power and Cooling company is supposed to be pretty good.




Graphics wise, would the 9600 or 8800GT be the better choice? From what I have seen the 9600 competes with the 8800, but I want your opinions.

 

[Obi-Wan Jerkobi]

The 9600GT usually scores 3 or 4 fps lower even though it's $50 less than the 8800GT. It also produces less heat and uses less power. 8800GT is just a little bit more powerful for $200 while the the 9600GT is 99% as good for $150. I would go with the 9600 as it really, really gives you bang for your buck. And it isn't as hot as other graphics cards. And I believe that how it works is that a lot of amps on a single 12v rail is better than few amps on a couple of 12v rails. So I would get the PC power and cooling PSU.

 

[SNGX1275]

I'd go PC Power&Cooling and the 9600GT.

 

[mopar man]

Ok, good, two people saying the same thing for once.

By the way, I have no clue why I posted this in the Meeting Spot originally....

Thanks!

 

[mopar man]

Ok, I have another question.

I am still learning, and would like to know something about Processor/Mobo compatability. The mobo I have is a Fatal1ty board supporting LGA775 Pentium 4's, and I noticed that Dual core and Quad Core CPU's use the same type, LGA775. If it supports that type of processor, then why would it not support the Dual Cores? Granted, it wasn't out when they come out, but could a simple bios update fix it?

Also, trying to figure something out here, what does it mean when they say that the 9000 series only supports OpenGL2.1, and not DX10.1? I thought 10.1 wasn't even out yet, and am kind of confused.

Thanks!

 

[Obi-Wan Jerkobi]

1: Core 2's use a different type of processor architecture (not necessarily different connector but different insides) that might not be supported by this old of a motherboard. If it's really that old, I'd bet that it only supports 90nm processors like the Pentium D and 4.

2: OpenGL 2.1 should be backwards compatible and as for not supporting DX10.1, that's just something AMD used to get a step up on nVidia, nVidia doesn't fell like implementing it yet. Yes it's normal that the 9000 still only supports DX10.0.

 

[mopar man]

Ok, so how much of a bottleneck is a 3.0ghz P4 with a 9600gt? I found that it was Designed for the 90nm, so yeah, that is the answer...

The OpenGL 2.1 is also clarified. Thanks!

Now for the final question:
What kind of frame-rate could I get out of Crysis with this setup, on low?

 

[Obi-Wan Jerkobi]

Well, I haven't really benchmarked a Pentium 4 and a Core 2. But my friend's system has an e4300 system with a 7300GT and the other has a Pentium 4 OC'd to 4GHz from 3.66 and a 7300GT and the e4300 does better, both systems use DDR2-533. I wouldn't worry about it though.

Sorry I can't answer the last question, I don't have Crysis and if you look at my specs they really don't live up to the requirements.

Anyway, Good Luck with your pc, it's probably a major step up from a Dimension 2400! :haha:

 

[tutkas]

graphical part will manage good i think but if you are running a single core P4 it might start laggin (i used to have a P4 with radeon X1950) in places where's a lot of AI activity + physics but generally the game would be playable!

 

[Obi-Wan Jerkobi]

graphical part will manage good i think but if you are running a single core P4 it might start laggin (i used to have a P4 with radeon X1950) in places where's a lot of AI activity + physics but generally the game would be playable!

That's pretty much what my computer currently does on video games!

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

I agree with SNGX. That would be the way to go.
As for Crysis, it should be fairly playable on high, with some AA and AF.