I've brought up upgrading my gpu on here a few times, but I had decided it wasn't worth it since my 9500gt can still play what I want (black ops, and more recently battlefield bad company 2). At medium settings, but it can still play. Since battlefield 3 is coming out soon, I highly doubt my 9500gt will cut it so I'm forced to upgrade. I've done quite a bit of looking around.
I don't really want to spend over $300.
I think this one is my best bet: Newegg.com - MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
It has great benchmarks and reviews, and has great cooling (I read around 70c on max load). Cooling is a must because my case is crap and has very little cooling besides two low powered fans. My 9500gt currently is around 68c during the winter and closer to 75c in the summer.
I've run into two problems: space and power. Space is solvable I believe. The card is about 9.5" and I measured about 10.5" from the expansion slots to the hard drive cage. So it should fit, and if it doesn't, I can always take the cage out and put the drive in one of the many 5.25" bays w/ converter.
As for the power, my crappy 500w psu has only 28A on the +12v rail. However, I think this may be okay. According to MSI's and GeForce's websites, this product only draws 170w and needs 2 x 6-pin pcie connectors. Now, 170w out of the +12 rail accounts for only 14.17A. My processor, 95w, only takes about 8A. That is only about 22.17A out of 28A. I only have 1 6-pin cable, so I'd have to use the included molex-to-pcie adapter, which should take even more load off the +12v rail and, according to this, will put it on the part that powers the drives. This shouldn't be too bad because I only have 1 HDD, and 1 dvd burner and 1 SSD...which draws almost nothing. Does this make sense?
This is supposed to be a low powered card. Tomshardwarereview.com has only 263w out of the full system and that's with a 2600k.
In the event that I shouldn't stick with my current PSU, I did find Newegg.com - Rosewill Green Series RG530-S12 530W Continuous @40°C, 80 PLUS Certified, Single 12V Rail, Active PFC "Compatible with Core i7,i5" Power Supply that will just fit in my $300 budget without mail-in rebates being considered, which is a bonus, because I hate them.
With considering mail-in rebates:
Newegg.com - OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
I really don't want to spend any more than I have to, so if I can use this gpu without getting a new psu, then that will be my first option; I really want to include battlefield 3 into that $300, which I'm assuming will be around $60. If you guys think I can't, then please help me chose which psu will be the best replacement.
I don't really want to spend over $300.
I think this one is my best bet: Newegg.com - MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
It has great benchmarks and reviews, and has great cooling (I read around 70c on max load). Cooling is a must because my case is crap and has very little cooling besides two low powered fans. My 9500gt currently is around 68c during the winter and closer to 75c in the summer.
I've run into two problems: space and power. Space is solvable I believe. The card is about 9.5" and I measured about 10.5" from the expansion slots to the hard drive cage. So it should fit, and if it doesn't, I can always take the cage out and put the drive in one of the many 5.25" bays w/ converter.
As for the power, my crappy 500w psu has only 28A on the +12v rail. However, I think this may be okay. According to MSI's and GeForce's websites, this product only draws 170w and needs 2 x 6-pin pcie connectors. Now, 170w out of the +12 rail accounts for only 14.17A. My processor, 95w, only takes about 8A. That is only about 22.17A out of 28A. I only have 1 6-pin cable, so I'd have to use the included molex-to-pcie adapter, which should take even more load off the +12v rail and, according to this, will put it on the part that powers the drives. This shouldn't be too bad because I only have 1 HDD, and 1 dvd burner and 1 SSD...which draws almost nothing. Does this make sense?
This is supposed to be a low powered card. Tomshardwarereview.com has only 263w out of the full system and that's with a 2600k.
In the event that I shouldn't stick with my current PSU, I did find Newegg.com - Rosewill Green Series RG530-S12 530W Continuous @40°C, 80 PLUS Certified, Single 12V Rail, Active PFC "Compatible with Core i7,i5" Power Supply that will just fit in my $300 budget without mail-in rebates being considered, which is a bonus, because I hate them.
With considering mail-in rebates:
Newegg.com - OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
I really don't want to spend any more than I have to, so if I can use this gpu without getting a new psu, then that will be my first option; I really want to include battlefield 3 into that $300, which I'm assuming will be around $60. If you guys think I can't, then please help me chose which psu will be the best replacement.
