replace my old power hungry 6600GT with >/= and less powe

nzimmers · Post by **nzimmers** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 6:44 pm

Hi guys,

I have a (old/hot/power hungry) 6600GT and I am looking for a replacement card that has about the same or better performance and requires less power. I would prefer something without a fan and would be happy to buy a new motherboard if there is an intigrated solution

The power consumption charts that I have seen are out of date and missing alot of the newer cards which is why I am asking here!

I currently have an Asus P5B with a E6300 core 2 duo... I think my current system is using about 140W+ so I really don't know if I should chuck everything and start from scratch?

Thanks for any input

lm · Post by lm » Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:17 pm

If power consumption is your only reason to upgrade, I would wait until there's some second reason also for the upgrade.

You sound like you are totally guessing your systems power consumption, am I right?

Start by getting a Kill-a-Watt and measuring the true number... You could measure other things too and realize changing a couple incandescents here and there gives you better savings.

Post by **CA_Steve** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:21 pm

The 6600GT only consumes about 50W according to Xibit Labs

The 4670 consumes about the same at load, much less at idle and brings you into the modern age. Here's a review.

Don't know what your applications are, so, it's hard to recommend a solution.

Tephras · Post by **Tephras** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:23 am

Tom's Hardware recently posted a VGA power consumption article that included the 6600GT and most of the new video cards, here's the relevant page.

nzimmers · Post by **nzimmers** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 5:31 pm

I actually have a kill-a-watt, I haven't measured the power consumption of my system in a long time but I remember I was a bit surprised that it was over 100 watt and I know that the 6600GT is a power hog (also it has a loud tiny fan on it)

it's been almost 3 years since I bought the 6600GT so I guessing there must be quite a few cards out there now that are at least as powerful and consume less power

i was thinking about this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121240

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:11 am

64-bit DDR2 on 8400 GS vs. 128-bit GDDR3 in 6600 GT. That affects greatly in cards performance.

nzimmers · Post by **nzimmers** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:19 pm

how about this one: 8500GT

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121093

it's got 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 and it's 2D and 3D load are nearly half of my current 6600GT according to

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gef ... 122-6.html

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:23 pm

4670 ....

or else no real point in upgrading. 8500 doesnt gain much except possible hd viewing.

of course if you wanted to just do that, you could get an even lower line 4000 series that others have on here that use less than 50 watts on load.

8500 is poopie.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:46 pm

CA_Steve wrote:The 6600GT only consumes about 50W according to Xibit Labs.

They left off the 8800GS, 9600GSO, and the 9800GT (likely to be a 55nm). And they didn't mention if the 260 is 65nm or 55nm.

Typical Tom article.