two questions (GPU, PSU)

Okay so this christmas i'm asking for a new graphics card, and i'm really considering getting the EVGA 9800GT Akimbo 512mb. What I want to know is,1. What kind of performance could i get out of this card? 2. How far would i be able to overclock it?here are my specs- HP a1600n desktop computer, 2GB 667Mhz RAM, AMD Athlon 64X2 3800+ processor (2.0Ghz), and a Mad Dog 430 Watt power supply with 2 +12v rails, each at 15A. so mainly i'm worried about my processor bottlenecking and whether or not my power supply would be able to handle the card and/or how much it would overclock.two questions (GPU, PSU)
[QUOTE=''joe11king'']Okay so this christmas i'm asking for a new graphics card, and i'm really considering getting the EVGA 9800GT Akimbo 512mb. What I want to know is,1. What kind of performance could i get out of this card? 2. How far would i be able to overclock it?here are my specs- HP a1600n desktop computer, 2GB 667Mhz RAM, AMD Athlon 64X2 3800+ processor (2.0Ghz), and a Mad Dog 430 Watt power supply with 2 +12v rails, each at 15A. so mainly i'm worried about my processor bottlenecking and whether or not my power supply would be able to handle the card and/or how much it would overclock.[/QUOTE]



I think 15 amps on the 12 volts might be a little low, almost at the edge for the card so i'd be careful OCing the card. as far as your question, well for that you need to do your homework and look up on google ''9800GT review'' or ''9800GT benchmarks'' and read some graphs. I will tell you that it is a pretty decent card (for what i've heard) although If you were willing to spend a little extra cash, I would recommend the HD4850two questions (GPU, PSU)
well don't the ATI cards have a little bit steeper power requirements? anyways, keep in mind that it has 2 12 volt rails. i know you can't just say 15+15=30 amps but it would be somewhere around there, right? the thing i keep telling myself is, is that those power requirements are for a fully loaded system. i only have 1 hard drive, and my processor doesn't exactly suck a lot of power so... would i be able to get away with it, all things considered?
I have a similar specs as your pc goes. Like AMD athlon 64x2 3800+ (2.0) I have 2 gigs of ddr ram not sure what hurts they are running at but I do have a 500wat psu that can run a 8800 gt overclock 256mb and with this card it has preform for me quite well and far as the 9800gt gpu goes I'm not sure how the 2 would compare to each other cause you can't go by like mine is a 8800 and that is a 9800 cause you would think the 9800 should be better but I'm not sure if that is true or not.



You should look up that card a read all about it cause that is what I did for months before settleing on the card that I have now.
yes, thats actually exactly how i am. i've been reading up on this for quite a while. the specs of the 9800 are exactly the same, except the manufacture process is smaller. so it generates less heat and uses less power. what resolution/ settings can you run crysis on and what FPS do you get?
bump?
You'll need to ask this question to some one else cause I don't have crysis. From what I have heard is that Crysis is a tough game to get to play smoothly on some pcs. I don't care for that game. I use to play FPS games on my pc but scence I have a 32'' LCD HDT/ monitor and it isn't on a desk this monitor is like 3' away and I'm having to use a moble desk that has wheels and I have a wireless key board and mouse and so I just stick with RTS games they are easyer to play with with a settup like this.
Just pickup a psu with 500+ watts with 26+ Amps on the 12v rail and is 70%+ efficiency rating. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3276573%26Sku=ULT-LSP650 - 650 watt psu $50
Corsair VX-450W
An x2 3800 will probably bottleneck that GPU.
Bottleneck only occurs when the cpu is below the min requirements for the card and when a program'game wants a better cpu.
That CPU is below recommended CPU requirements for new games, it will bottleneck newer games. Its an old cpu, and wasn't that great even when it was new.
Well that is what you think. I beg to differ cause my pc as I said before I tink is 2+ years old and has done just fine for me and the only game that tends to slow down when I goto play on it is SC and I think the gpu is fine it is just that the pc can't handle this game.



Some day I plan to build my own pc but until then I have to stick with what I have.



I have a 500 watt psu with an 8800gt overclocked 256mb and it plays all current games that I have except for SC that is and even at low settings it still stutters.



Aside from that game C%26C Red Alert 3 and the rest of the the C%26C games I can play all on the max setting well not the max but really all but the rez I put on max.
Well, its not what I think. I had that same cpu/gpu combo. It bottlenecks. Just because games run at good frame rates doesn't mean there isn't a bottleneck. You'd get even better frames with a better CPU.