ATI Technologies said Friday it had employed technologies originally designed to reduce energy consumption of graphics processors for notebooks to trim power hunger of high-end desktop graphics cards, such as Radeon X1800 or more advanced.
When X-bit labs originally measured power consumption of high-end Radeon X1800 XT graphics card back in September, 2005, it was about 112W under maximum recently, the absolute maximum for that time. However, when the measurements were carried out later, the power consumption dropped to slightly below 103W on the same graphics card with the same BIOS version, but on a newer driver.
maybe they should also start thinking bout power consumption like intel and amd with there processors, its not anymore about raw power but also efficiency. SLI two of nvidia’s latest vid cards and watch your electricity bill soar up, not to mention a constant room heater, its crazy. this is a good step. Video cards are one of the components that eat up most of a psu’s available power
Now if Asus will only follow suit eliminating the external brick on those dual geforce cards I’ll be able to finish my quad gpu SLI gamebox. It’s just so hard to find three available outlets at a lan party.
112W, just for a video card? That is ridiculous (as in: crazy, over the top).
All videocards I’ve ever owned have been with passive cooling, which puts their power budget in the order of 10W, maybe even less (much more, and passive cooling would kill the GPU). No plans on changing that policy for me. Never had much problems playing modern games. If there was a bottleneck, then elsewhere (CPU speed, memory).
But hey, maybe I didn’t try enough of them. And for real ‘enthousiasts’, it’s never enough, is it?
All videocards I’ve ever owned have been with passive cooling, which puts their power budget in the order of 10W, maybe even less (much more, and passive cooling would kill the GPU). No plans on changing that policy for me. Never had much problems playing modern games. If there was a bottleneck, then elsewhere (CPU speed, memory).
Any tips for a decent passively cooled card ? I’m going to replace the old card in my girlfriends computer because the fan has recently been making let’s say “unhealthy” and loud noises. The old card is a TNT2 so anything as powerful would do.
Here are 5 choices for you, starting from cheapest to most expensive
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.as… ($29.99)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.as… ($34.99)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.as… ($44.99)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.as… ($54.99)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.as… ($94.99)
First two are plain cards with no support for DVI, dual head and completely not suitable for gaming. Later two support DVI, dual head and should be decent performers as far as gaming goes.
HOWEVER, first check what kind of motherboard your gf’s computers has. If it’s too old the AGP slot might not be compatible with modern AGP cards.
Theres even a chance its even a PCI slot, as the TNT2 was available as a PCI card, if thats the case, the early Radeons were available as PCI cards
Hey thanks those look great, have a “+1 helpful” :-). She doesn’t game and doesn’t need DVI, so I’ll probably go for the cheapest option. I’ll check the motherboard, but I didn’t see any ISA slots when I opened it up so it can’t be that old I guess.
That depends on your budget.
Sapphire and ASUS makes a lot of ATI cards with passive cooling.
I think that the ATI Radeon X1600 is one of the best cards with passive cooling. This one should be able to run most games, I think the current price is about US $200 http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=2&l2=8&l3=241&model=961&model…
That’s a PCI-e card. I doubt that a computer equiped with TNT2 card will have a PCI-e slot.
I’m going to replace the old card in my girlfriends computer because the fan has recently been making let’s say “unhealthy” and loud noises. The old card is a TNT2 so anything as powerful would do.
If that is the *only* reason, I’d just get an equally sized replacement fan. A bit of work, cooling paste, cheapest solution. But assuming “let’s get something better while we’re at it”, and you’ve got some cash to spare (or lazy ;-), I’ll chip in with some buying tips:
As for speed: unless you’re doing hardware accelerated 3D with it (first person shooters etc.), anything you can get your hands on, is fast enough for ordinary desktop work. If you are doing hw accelerated 3D, forget PCI (read: you’re probably looking for an AGP, not a PCI-Express card). To get an idea of video card speeds, look around here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/site/vgacharts/
For example, GF2 MX is faster than an old TNT2, GF4 MX (which I’m currently using) is a couple of times faster yet, and a $40 card sold new right now will probably laugh at that (and play current games fine).
If you’re buying new, don’t bother with 64MB cards, price difference with 128MB isn’t worth it. More than that (256MB+) is likely to give you 0 gain for games that you’ll play on a system previously equipped with a TNT2. Only makes sense if you plan to move that card to a new PC.
If you consider no-noise, passive cooling important (I do, but maybe low noise is okay for you), make sure that’s what you get. Call the shop, have it confirmed, and send the card back if it has a fan (pictures on websites don’t always match what you find in the box). Or buy it somewhere where you can look at the card before pulling your wallet.
For hw accelerated 3D gaming under Linux, many internet forums will tell you that nVidia (GeForce) based cards have better driver support than ATI (Radeon) based cards. For Windows-only gaming, probably doesn’t matter much. Again: for plain desktop work only, anything goes.
Then make your selection based on features: TV output, DVI/flat panel output, dual monitor support, games included(?), etc. Actual manufacturer of the card usually isn’t that important, chip used (GPU) IS. Such a GF 6200 based card could be my favorite, but if a TNT2 is fast enough, than anything with ‘Radeon’ or ‘GeForce’ in it should do.
BTW. did you check there’s no built-in video on the motherboard? If there is, and it happens to be capable enough for your use, you can just rip out the old card and load up some drivers 😉
As for speed: unless you’re doing hardware accelerated 3D with it (first person shooters etc.), anything you can get your hands on, is fast enough for ordinary desktop work. If you are doing hw accelerated 3D, forget PCI (read: you’re probably looking for an AGP, not a PCI-Express card).
Maybe you meant the other way round.
Roughly speaking, the scale is: PCI/AGP/PCI-Express
I’m glad to see power consumption going down. My Nvidia 6800 GT is a great card, But it gives off alot of heat and in turn requires a good case if you are looking for a quiet PC.
As for what card to buy…
The Nvidia 6200 is a good choice if you dont have the latest games in mind
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_6200_Series.html
The Nvidia 6600 is a all round good card. But I dont like the price of the AGP versions
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/6600_Series.html
Also ATI’s x700 and 9xxx line maybe worth a look
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/9700_to_9800_Series.html
PCI express cards seem to be better priced.
For instance the x1300 and x1600 from ati are good cards. The x1600 will be a good gaming card. With out the price of the x1800 or x1900.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/X1300_Series.html
PCI cards hmmmmm…
Nvidia’s FX 5×00 line comes to mind
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/FX_Series.html
And the Nvidia’s MX 4000
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/MXPCI_Series.html
PCI gards are not great for the latest games. But Vrally, BG2, Cesar 3 and others will work.
Its nice to see that the battle between ATI and Nvidia has made great cards from both companies.