Lunde

hi first a look on my setup

vista home 32 (yes! i know!!!)
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 processor 5000+
NVIDIA® NForce™ 430 chipset
3 gb ddr2 pc5200
2x500 gb seagate baracuda 7200.10 hd's

so here is the rest:
my current psu is only 300 watts wich limits my choice of gpu to the one geforce 8500 gt 512 mb pci express wich came along with my pc.
so here's the big money spending question

what to buy.........
i play the latest games,moh airborne,call of duty 4 and crysis just to name a few.
i was thinking about psu like:
Corsair vx550w or corsair hx620W

and for gpu:
XFX GeForce 8800 GT alpha dog edition

are these suggestions a bit to far off target or too much gpu for my cpu and so on
my current problem is i think the 8500gt is to weak in high resolutions while gaming,only playable in 1024x768 my 20inch flatscreen is capable of more than that.

so,need some advice and guidance on gpu and psu upgrade.
tia.

temeteus82

I think that you need at least 500W PSU for that 8800GT.

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Lunde

yes you are right,minimum 500watts so 620watts or up to 650watts?

Grace

Both of these units will be fine. Any unit above 450W will be fine, but a unit of 550-650W output would work best. The HX620 which you mentioned is a great unit, but any unit around that output will work.

Lunde

thanx for your advice,now the only thing left is the 8800gt going to choke my cpu or should i stay with the 8500 gt?
and another thing can i use the scores in windows experience index for anything in this matter of upgrade or not?

Grace

The 8800GT is a fine card. If you are playing games frequently and can afford it, get one, the cheapest will do fine.

No, don't take into account the scores of WEI for upgrades, they don't matter much.

kris23

your 5000+ is good enough, buy the 8800GT, a cheap model will do.

and since you're getting a new PSU, i recommend something in the 650w range with 8 pin PCI-e connectors just in case you need them.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX ATX12V / EPS12V 650W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC, CCC - Retail

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX ATX12V / EPS12V 750W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC, CCC - Retail

i recommend the 650TX over the 620HX because it is simply alot better, both these PSUs are very high quality with support for future graphics cards.

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OldBuzzard

The only reason to go with the 620HX would be if you just couldn't live without a modular PSU. Being modular is the ONLY advantage(?) the HX620 has over the TX650.

I have an 620HX, but then, that's all Corsair had when I built this system. If I was building the same system today, I'd go for the 650 or 750TX.

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When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

Lunde

thanx to everyone who helped me with their advices on this subject.

kris23

just so you know, nearly all modular cabling systems add resistance to voltage flow to your components, NOT a good thing.

while it is not much, it will hinder your PSU's performance and efficiency more than solid, soldered cables.....

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OldBuzzard

Maybe, in a poorly designed and manufactured elcheapo PSU. But Corsair's modulars are tight fitting and gold plated. They will have less resistance that the 'standard' molex connectors that the average PSU uses to connect to the hardware. Just one 'cold solder joint' would have more resistance than all of the Corsair's (or other high quality PSU maker's) modular connections combined.

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When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

kris23

like you said, corrosion also adds to resistance so thats why im looking for PSUs with copper contacts at the very least (as an element, copper is superior to gold in conductivity) gold is used however, as it is the most conductive noncorrosive element in the periodic table. i think i remember seeing a few with actual copper contacts

copper is only beaten by silver which corrodes far more easily than copper.

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Grace

Which is not true. Even very high efficiency units have modular cables nowadays. A 0,1mm thicker cable easily offsets the 'added resistance' from a connector. But that's not even necessary since the cables and connectors used in today's PSUs work down below 50% their power potential, meaning that a 12V power cable will never transfer above 6-8A when it can easily handle 20A. But even if that wasn't true, the voltage regulation circuit of any quality unit would correct the voltage loss itself. Some of the most efficient units I ever tested were modular.

Concerning copper-gold-silver connectors, all good connectors for PC PSUs are gold plated. A proper gold plated connector can easily withstand much more power than what the cable would and will last like forever.

The only problems I know of concerning modular PSUs were with early cheap units which had poor plain metal connectors, which obviously degraded very quickly.

Modular units are no different than normal units performance wise. Even if you believe they are, their 'resistance' difference is not only minimal but 'extremely unimportant'. The 'modular units pwn'-'modular units suck' thing is a plain marketing war between companies, the quality and design of the unit itself makes all the real difference. There are very good modular units out there, as there are several bad old-style units as well.

kris23

while true connectors probably are far better now with quality PSUs, there are those cheaper models that have lower quality components and cheap aluminum connectors (all the ones i have now are aluminum apparently.

gold connectors are the best to use so oxidization is less of an issue. copper wire as long as they're sleeved is also protected from oxidization. im also wondering, are the power connectors on the motherboards today something of aluminum?

the thing is, when energy is transferred through connectors like these, especially one of higher resistance generate heat energy that is easily avoided..

knowing today's computers, the amps flowing through may create a noticable decrease in power.

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Grace

A proper connector, even an el-cheapo aluminum one will not cause a voltage drop higher than 0,01V on the 12V line. (Actually, it shouldn't cause a voltage drop of 0,001V, but I'm being lenient for the sake of the discussion)

This means that if a cable is transferring 5A, the power loss will not be higher than 0,05W. Multiplying that by 15 (75A is a pretty high 12V line output and 15 12V cables are plenty) it's 0,75W power loss because of the connectors. So, in a worst case scenario, the power loss is still negligible at maximum power output.

Good connectors and thick cables are important when building a megawatt-level audio system inside a stadium, where you have to use cables tens of meters long and extremely powerful amplifiers. As far as PC PSUs are concerned, proper units already have cables way thicker than they need because cables of these diameters are very cheap, so power losses due to connectors and cables are negligible.

Please forgive any math mistakes and/or lack of proper explanation, it is very late and I'm too tired.

kris23

well, i knew the amount is negligible but i simply wanted to get some answers and thanks for them.

lol sorry for bugging you with questions after a long day, my bad

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