New computer building advice.

[jeansberg]

I'm thinking about building a machine with a Radeon X1950 Pro. I know it's not the best card out there, but it's good for my price range.

The following comparison to the Geforce 7900 GS worried me, though.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/x1950pro-gf7900gs_19.html

Lows:

Rather high power consumption
Long PCB may prevent installation into small system cases
Inconvenient position of the additional power connector

I have some questions about that.

1. How big does the PSU need to be?
2. How small does the case have to be for the size to be a problem? 
3. What is the 'additional power connector' for?

As for the rest of the system, I'm getting a Core 2 E6400 and 2 gigs of RAM.

P.S. I am not an ATI fanboi nor am I an Nvidia fanboi, so no rants about that.

 

[Gasolineh]

1. buy a thermaltake full tower (never need a new one untill you have a mental breakdown and enter the red mist and destroys it)

2. 600w psu

2.5. addtional connector? on the gfx? just plug in what ever fits there


maybe you should wait untill the nivida 8000 series are out and go for a 7950GX2 1024mb ram ;D

my baby looks just like that =)

 

[jeansberg]

Geforce 8800s are already out AFAIK.

 

[Gasolineh]

yeah but they havent lowerd the prices yet. unless they have done it most recently

 

[thesneakster]

yes, but their out.

 

[Gasolineh]

well that was comfirmed allready! got damnit! spam

 

[jeansberg]

So I take it I'm ok with getting a 'standard' computer case, as long as it's not a 'compact' or 'mini' or anything?

 

[thesneakster]

HMmm.... anyway, even better would be to buy a 8800GTX

Also, BTW, the 1950XT and 7900GS can't really be compared. One is a single core, lower power GPU, while the other is a dual core GPU (the x1950)

 

[Gasolineh]

AMD and ATi just seem expensive at the moment

 

[thesneakster]

but it's so FAST!

 

[jeansberg]

HMmm.... anyway, even better would be to buy a 8800GTX

Also, BTW, the 1950XT and 7900GS can't really be compared. One is a single core, lower power GPU, while the other is a dual core GPU (the x1950)

This thread isn't about the XT, though.

 

[thesneakster]

Oh, my bad

 

[Gasolineh]

ATi always be in the shadow on nivida until they optimize the games for both cards

 

[fsbritney]

Bearing in mind that I struggled to upgrade my graphics card, how difficult would it be to upgrade my processor? What information would I need to find out?

 

[jeansberg]

Well, it definitely won't be easier than upgrading your graphics card. It has to be compatible with your motherboard, at least. Do you know someone at a computer store you could talk to?

 

[Archonsod]

1. How big does the PSU need to be?

Depends on what else is plugged into it. 500Mw + should be fine though, unless your planning to charge a car battery or something at the same time.

2. How small does the case have to be for the size to be a problem?

It's not the case, it's the Mobo. Generally speaking, check there's plenty of room behind the PCIe slots - some mobo's stick the CPU socket or similar sillyness there.
 

3. What is the 'additional power connector' for?

The card can't pull enough power through the PCIe socket alone, so you need to connect it to the PSU too (with ATi that probably means two power cables - one to the card itself, and one for the card's fan).

 

[jeansberg]

Cool. I'll probably have the computer store install it, since I'm buying the rest of the computer from them as well.