Video card power usage

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Mike

Can someone tell me if there is a marked increase in power usage between the
GeForce 4 cards and the new FX series?I'm stuck with a 235 watt psu due to
it's proprietary design,and have been using a G 4 4200 without any
problems,even with games like Unreal2 and Halo,but was wondering what
improvement a card with DX9 support would offer.And which FX card would
actually be equal in performance to the 4200,I've heard that the model
numbering in the FX series is deceptive,and that the 5200 is actually
inferior to the 4200.
 
Mike said:
Can someone tell me if there is a marked increase in power usage
between the GeForce 4 cards and the new FX series?I'm stuck with a
235 watt psu due to it's proprietary design,and have been using a G 4
4200 without any problems,even with games like Unreal2 and Halo,but
was wondering what improvement a card with DX9 support would
offer.And which FX card would actually be equal in performance to the
4200,I've heard that the model numbering in the FX series is
deceptive,and that the 5200 is actually inferior to the 4200.
Click to expand...

The numbering is *way* different. To get an FX card with better performance
than your ti4200 you need an FX5700 Ultra or better. They use a little more
power than the GF4 series. The ti4200 is a good card, in your situation,
with your power supply, if the PC is running fine with the ti4200 I wouldn't
upgrade it unless I could get a bigger PSU somehow.

DX9 doesn't add much yet, just a little eye-candy in some games. You pay for
this eye-candy with power consumption and heat output. Consider this, DX9
games will run on non-DX9 hardware, and will for quite a while yet (large
installed user-base of non-DX9 cards). In a game like Halo, the
afore-mentioned FX5700 Ultra will give you a slightly better frame-rate than
your ti4200 (if it runs on your PSU). As DX9 is just starting to be
implemented games are only using part of it's capabilities. If you were able
to run the DX9 card with your PSU, the next game you buy may use more of the
DX9 instruction-set and run more slowly (or over-tax the PSU as it uses more
power to execute the instructions). The ti4200 would ignore the extra
instructions and continue to give you a good frame-rate.

Just a thought.

You could also ask this question in alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia if
you feel so inclined. I get a lot of information from there.
 
Can someone tell me if there is a marked increase in power usage between the
GeForce 4 cards and the new FX series?I'm stuck with a 235 watt psu due to
it's proprietary design,and have been using a G 4 4200 without any
problems,even with games like Unreal2 and Halo,but was wondering what
improvement a card with DX9 support would offer.And which FX card would
actually be equal in performance to the 4200,I've heard that the model
numbering in the FX series is deceptive,and that the 5200 is actually
inferior to the 4200.
Click to expand...

FX5200 is a little slower. FX5600 should be similar enough in power
to your TI4200, but I'd expect your power supply's lifespan to be
reduced even with the TI4200. For that reason I'd get a new case/PSU
before upgrading the video card again (you may need another PSU
eventually even if you keep using the TI4200), even though I'd expect
a FX5600 to be supported as well as the TI4200. Higher FX series
should have roughly a linear power increase with performance increase,
and may not be suitable from either a power or heat perspective.
 
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