Best GFX Card for my PSU

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cwiz

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I have a CoolMax V-600 psu
3 12V rails @ 18A each
so thats 54A on the 12V rail
what is the most powerful gfx card i can wire into that?

rest o my specs:

MSI nForce4 s939 mobo
amd x2 3800+
2 gb ddr400 ram
74GB WD Raptor
500GB Seagate baracuda
dvd-r drive

Side question... can i use a card that requires like 50-54A or does the cpu, etc use some of the 12V power?

Thx
 
I think my Corsair TX750 has a 54A rail, and as you can see in my sig I'm using a GTX260. Don't quote me on that though, I'm not too good with electric-ey stuff :)
 
well you're problem will be a CPU bottleneck, not a psu issue. I wouldn't really recommend anything over a 3870 or 8800gt/gts to be quite honest as you just won't see improvement unless you can get more out of your cpu. But max you could put under it I would say is a 4870 or a gtx260 but those might be stretching it.
 
I usually have my cpu overclocked from 2.0GHz to about 2.5-2.55GHz. I plan on upgrading to a ddr2 based rig pretty soon so that should free up any cpu bottle-necking (amd or intel, depends on the deals that are out). i would prefer to keep my psu as its fairly new. i figure i should just get the best gfx card my psu can handle so that i dont have to upgrade again when i go to a ddr2 rig. so assuming i'm not concerned with bottlenecking, what card should i get?
 
like some of the above posters have said

your not going to see a significant improvment beyond a 8800 series card unless you improve your other hardware (cpu/mobo/ram)

before spending up to $200 or more on a video card, i would try to upgrade the other hardware first.
 
I'm running a GTX260 with 36A, so I KNOW 54A will be more than enough. I have an almost identical setup, and I "see" a HUGE improvement over the X1900XT I had in it... and so far crysis (on high), farcry 2 (med/high) and fear 2 (high) has no lag and no problem playing it. It just takes a couple of seconds longer to load than my C2D system...
 
Alright, i think im going to go with a GTX260 Core216 or 4870.... i'm just keeping my eyes pealed for the best deal. At least i'll be able to play dx10 games... i've been wanting to for a long long time
 
I'm running a GTX260 with 36A, so I KNOW 54A will be more than enough. I have an almost identical setup, and I "see" a HUGE improvement over the X1900XT I had in it... and so far crysis (on high), farcry 2 (med/high) and fear 2 (high) has no lag and no problem playing it. It just takes a couple of seconds longer to load than my C2D system...

I have 49Amps and run 2 video cards and a power hungry overclocked little chip.

54Amps is cutting it for GTX 260 SLI, but way more then enough for a single card.
 
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