question about graphics cards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814139031

does anyone know if this card will run second life

i was going to upgrade from my laptop to a Inspirion 530s to play wow and secondlife and i was wondering weather or not this card would run secondlife i couldent find any info on in in the forums or on the reccomended settings page

Regarding the minimum requirements and the recommended requirements this card will most likely run SL ..but after a fashion

It is recommended to use at least a 8500 or better when you choose a nVidia card, never mind how much memory this card has. I think it is related to the GPU's timing than the memory. The best choice is of course a good mix of both, a fast timing GPU AND a lot of memory on the card. So if you desire to run SL with ultra graphics settings I think you can't avoid to invest a bit more than $ 46

There's also this model at that site: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162016 - a 9600gt low provile by Galaxy.

I would wonder about the cooling and the power supply this one and the Jaton

well, if I would have one choice for free I'd prolly choose this card : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143143

...because you get FarCry2 for free *lol

and with a standard over-clocked GPU timing of 680MHz and 1 Gig of RAM you don't have to care about graphics for the next ..ummm.. 24 months ?!

yea i looked at that one too but i wasent too sure i wanted to get that one for the reasons of the power supply and the price. i wanted to stay under $50 and run around medium to low settings with a decent fps but what do you guys think about some of the cards on this list?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048%204026%201419530408&name=Low%20Profile

@ gunter: ...

Is that a low profile model?

The Inspiron 530s requires low profile video cards, and I think it may be limited as to what kind of power supply upgrades you can make, owing to it's small size.

It might be wise to reconsider buying a compact computer that requires low profile video cards when you want to run a program that needs a pretty powerful video card.

I ordered an Inspiron 530s by mistake - after hours of online shopping I must have been tired; I just clicked the wrong box. When it arrived I sent it back because of the low profile video card requirement.

I said ...

May I be honest ? Low profile fits for nothing. Ok, you save a lot of money..but for what ? For not being able to run any of the applications you want to ? Nowadays there are no low profile applications anymore, except Minesweeper and the Notepad maybe.
But running SL on a low profile machine ? Why the hell do you want to do that ? It's like wanting to travel on German Autobahn ..with a kid's trike..it just makes no sense.

I say : invest your money ! Buy a big machine ! And you don't have to deal with that issue for the next 2 or 3 years.

If you go for a computer that can take a full size card, you can get something significantly more powerful for the same, or less, money. Newegg has Nvidia 512MB 8600GT cards for as little as $40 after rebate. That's cheaper and significantly more powerful than anything on the $50-$75 low profile list.

Plus, the full height case won't limit your expandability in the future.

yea i would rather purchase the lager machine but the 530s is on sale right now so i was considering that first as it is cheaper than the larger machine with the same specs but i guess i could save money geting a cheaper card to cover for the more expencive tower XD

well i wasent looking for amazing settings just anything thats better than the laptop im running now (which by the way is on onboard graphics) so i guess its back to the drawing board XD

@ gunter: yea i knew what you said its just that, that card would cost more than the computer with tax and shipping included...

UPDATE

after searching around more for the larger tower i found that it doesnt have the right os i want and it does cost more so im going to settle on the 530s and the 8400gs that i found and i dont mind running low settings (its not like i already dont as this will defenently be an upgrade from my laptop) and just get an decent fps (something better than 1-10 which is what i have been getting in wow lately, ... yes 1 fps XD)

i have one last question though which is better?
the 8400 gs or a ati 3450 hd?

Can I ask why you're set on getting a Dell machine? There are lots of other brands out there, many which offer far more bang for the buck. What exactly is your price range, by the way? I notice the 530s has a starting price ranging from $300-900.

In any case, you shouldn't have to "settle" for anything. Settling usually means wasting money when it comes to anything as short-lived as computers. Whatever your budget is, I'm sure we could probably help you pick out something more powerful than a 530s, unless there's some other compelling reason you just have to have a Dell.



They're both low end cards, not really recommended for gaming, so you're not going to do terribly well with either. That said, which one to get really depends on what's most important to you, gaming performance or bells & whistles.

In terms of raw performance, 8400GS is the clear winner. Take a look at http://service.futuremark.com/hardware/graphics_cards/ . Both cards are practically at the very bottom of the scale, but the 8400GS does score about 45% higher than the 3450HD.

But as for features, the 3450 comes out ahead. The 8400GS does not natively support HD video or Blu-Ray playback, for example, if that's important to you. For HD with nVidia, you need at least an 8500.

nVidia in general tends to be more readily compatible with most games than ATI. And recent driver problems notwithstanding, nVidia has a much better track record with SL. ATI, for some reason, consistently refuses to follow established OpenGL standards.

Me, I wouldn't get either card, but if I absolutely had to choose one or the other, I'd go for the 8400. Performance is more important to me than features in a graphics card, not that either one is actually going to perform well. Plus, I've had significant problems with every ATI product I've ever bought, while just about every nVidia product has been almost trouble-free, so that does affect my judgment.

thanks for the awnser

and the reason why im "settling" on the dell is because i wanted a few things on what ever machine i was getting
i wanted at least 4 gigs of ram and then i heard that unless you have a 64 bit os then 4 gigs is useless so then i want the 64 bit vista on it also
and then second is that i just wanted a desktop to replace my laptop to play a few games im more of a casual gamer on pc because im more of a fan of xbox (and i will probably always preffer consoles) and i just wanted to play a few games that are already running on my laptop just on a little bit better settings and i can leave my laptop more for school work while i can have a designated computer for gaming on

so i found a sale on dell.com selling the 530s with
Intel® Pentium® dual-core processor E5200 (2MB L2, 2.5GHz, 800 FS)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit
4GB2 Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 4DIMMs

for $399 which is $105 in instant savings which i thought was a good deal

as for my price range i was hoping to have everything under $500 but ill be a little over at this point and i thought that would be fine

so where do you think i could get a better computer (not used i wanted new) for a better price when i continued to look around more i couldent find any thing better than what i have

For just $399, I'd have to agree, that is a pretty good deal. I'm having a hard time finding anything better for that amount.

If you can jump up a few bucks to $469, here's something I just found on Newegg's discount page: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229055

Much better processor than in the Dell, much roomier case, same RAM, same OS. You could add on a GeForce 8500 or 8600 for $50-100, and still be pretty close to your $500 goal. I do notice in the pics that the motherboard is a bit cramped, so a fill size video card would block one of the PCI slots (not uncommon). You could get an extension ribbon for all of ten or fifteen dollars, though, if you want to use that slot. The case certainly has enough room to mount one or two cards away from the board itself.

I didn't look very hard to find that, by the way. If you make a project of it, you might well be able to find something even better in the same price range.

That particular one is from CyberPowerPC, the same guys who originally made my desktop. (I say "originally" because I've since rebuilt it myself twice, once due to a defective motherboard, and again due to a leaking liquid cooling system, so I consider it a home-built machine now.) Their customer service is spotty, sometimes quite good, sometimes really terrible, but so is Dell's. There really are no solid goodguys in computer support these days (unless you want to spend $5K with Falcon Northwest). You won't be talking to India when you call Cyberpower, at least, which is a plus over Dell, in my opinion.

thanks i was looking around before hand but i couldnt find much probably because i dont shop for computers much so i dont know exactly where to look but i will definently shop around more and see what i can find
thanks


UPDATE:

what do you guys think about these?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2032280010%204020&bop=And&CompareItemList=N82E16883227121%2CN82E16883103153%2CN82E16883103190%2CN82E16883229055%2CN82E16883241005%2CN82E16883103189%2CN82E16883107700

on pretty much all of them i would probably need a better graphics card but there was one with the halo 2 paint that came with a 8400gs which is one of the cards i was thinking about getting and dealing with on my slim model but im curious on what you guys thing would be better to do

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227121

that would be my pick the Quad core stay away from the HP its got a goofy AMD junk chip (IMHO) the low end Acer isn't bad nor the cyberpower but both you will need to add a new PCI-e Graphic card the ipower has at least the 8400 and its an so so card. but will blow the others away as well as your lap top

what do you think about this a geforce 8600 gts 256 mb

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133198

in a machine intel core 2 duo e7200 2.53 Ghz processer 4 gig ram 64 bit vista and intergrated nvidia 7100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103189

set up to play wow and secondlife?

would be around 480 minus shipping and tax

remember im not looking for runing on amazing graphics just around medium settings and have a decent fps

For just $50, I think you've probably found a winner in that video card. PNY isn't among the top tier of nVidia partners, but they're decent. I've never had one of their products fail or anything. They're just not as glitzy or fast as the likes of ASUS and EVGA.


As for the computers on your list, here are my thoughts. The Cyberpower machine would be my pick, out of those four. Here's why:

First, I'm not a fan of Acer products in general. They tend to be very low priced, which makes them popular with businesses, but in my experience, they're not very reliable. Unless you've got tech support personnel close by at all times, as businesses tend to, I wouldn't get an Acer computer. Some may disagree with me on that, but that's been my experience. They break pretty easily.

I'd also steer clear of that HP. It's got a slower CPU than all the others, and Distilled1's description of it as "goofy" is pretty accurate. The so-called "triple-core" Phenom X3 is actually a quad-core chip, with one core disabled, for the sake of marketing. They turn off one quarter of the thing, slash the price, and call it something else. (Shows what they could be selling quad cores for if they really wanted to, grrrr.)

I wouldn't touch any product that is deliberately handicapped, just on principle. And that's before we even get to the fact that the disabled core can potentially cause problems with the CPU cache (since it's shared among all cores), and that applications can have trouble figuring out what to do with the odd number 3 instead of the typical 2 or 4. Techport has a pretty good article on the subject. http://techreport.com/articles.x/14606

That just leaves the IBUYPOWER and the Cyberpower machines. Either one will probably work well for you. But in my opinion, the Cyberpower comes out ahead, if you consider the following:

1. The Cyberpower has a better CPU, and faster FSB. As you can see in the benchmarks section of that same Techport article I linked above, the E8400 scores anywhere from 5-20% higher than the Q6600 on almost all tests, even though the the former is a duo and the latter is a quad. If you give both machines the same video card, the Cyberpower should easily outperform the iBUYPOWER.

2. If you don't consider swapping out the video card in the iBUYPOWER, then the difference between the two machines will get even more drastic. Give the Cyberpower that GeForce 8600 you found, and it will then have a MUCH better video card than the iBUYPOWER, in addition to the better CPU and faster FSB. And when you add everything up, the combo comes out to only $20 more than the iBUYPOWER. For $20, you get a faster CPU, and a much better video card. Seems like kind of no-brainer to me.

3. If you look at the open-case pictures of both, the Cyberpower wiring looks much cleaner. All wires have been carefully routed and bundled, so as not to interfere with airflow any more than is absolutely necessary, and to maximize ease of adding/removing components. The iBUYPOWER's wires, on the other hand, look just haphazardly strung across the case, without much regard for the consequences. As a result, the Cyberpower appears to have less wires in it, even though they've both got the same amount, and the Cyberpower's case looks more roomy, even though the two are nearly identical. It seems pretty clear that Cyberpower is putting a lot more care into their assembly process than iBUYPOWER is. That can be important.

4. Even though the two cases are almost the same, notice the Cyberpower's hard drive bay frame is a lot narrower, leaving far more open space around the metal plate, on both sides. This should help maximize airflow through the drive bay, keeping your hard drive(s) cooler. It's a small thing, but every little bit adds up.

5. The Cyberpower comes with a better optical drive, if that matters to you. Dual layer DVD's are great.

6. The Cyberpower does have a smaller hard drive than the iBUYPOWER, which as far as I can see, is its only comparative shortcoming. But drive space is so ridiculously cheap these days, it hardly matters. In this day and age, when a terrabyte drive can be had for a hundred bucks, that initial 70GB difference comes out to all of $7 worth of space. Both machines will support up to four internal drives, so the sky's the limit for future expansion.


On paper, the Cyberpower, combined with that video card you picked out, is the best machine on your list, in almost every measurable way.

wow thank you very much

i pretty much had it down to the 530s the $430 acer or the ibuypower because i wanted to try to keep it on the cheaper end but now you have defentnly convinced me to get the cyberpower (and my brother who wants to play on it too is going to try to help out some too XD) but now the only problem is that the card is currently out of stock so i will not purchase untill i can garentee i can get my hands on one of those

so now here come the part i will fail at... actually installing the graphics card into my system XD i have never done it before but after looking at the pictures i think i can handle it just fine but there is one thing that troubles me

on the 5th pic (from the left) on this site

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.aspx?CurImage=14-133-198-07.jpg&Image=14-133-198-09.jpg%2c14-133-198-02.jpg%2c14-133-198-03.jpg%2c14-133-198-04.jpg%2c14-133-198-05.jpg%2c14-133-198-06.jpg%2c14-133-198-07.jpg%2c14-133-198-08.jpg&S7ImageFlag=0&WaterMark=1&Item=N82E16814133198&Depa=1&Description=PNY%20GeForce%208600%20GTS%20VCG86GTSXPB%20Video%20Card

it shows a picture of the card and what slots there is on it

now i know i have the x16 pci slot and i read a review of the system stating that there is 2 4 pin connectors and that that card is supposed to ship with a 2x 4 pin to 1x 6 pin converter which i will need but there is a third slot labled the sli connector

what is this and does the cyperpower sytem have what i need to install the card or do i need to buy something extra?

SLI is a proprietary nVidia technology, which connects two or more video cards together to act as one, to increase graphics processing power. ATI has a similar technology, called Crossfire, just so you know.

If you were using multiple video cards, the SLI connector on each would be plugged into another piece of hardware, called a bridge, which would enable the cards to talk to each other. But since you'll only be using one card, you don't need to worry about that. The SLI connector will just sit there, unused.


I would not recommend waiting for that video card to come back into stock before purchasing the computer, by the way. The computer is on the discount page right now. There's no telling how long it will stay there. It could cost more in a few days, or it could disappear altogether. Newegg's offerings change all the time.

I would suggest picking another video card, this one perhaps: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130320 . It's got the same specs as the one from PNY, and after mail-in rebate, it's actually $10 cheaper. Plus, it's got a 4-pin power socket onboard, so you don't have to worry about an adapter.

Also, EVGA's tech support is fantastic. They've gone above and beyond, every time I've called them with a question or a problem. They're probably my favorite tech company, as far as service goes.

Installing a video card is one of the easiest things to do inside a computer, but if you do run into any problems, the EVGA people will be more than happy to walk you through it, and troubleshoot with you over the phone. They're great.

alright after many hours of shopping i decided to say f*ck it and im going to build my own XD

now i never have done this before and actually broke open an old computer to see what it looks like on the inside and i also read a few guides online and talked to a few people and i think i am capeable of doing this

so far this is the parts i am going to buy
i already have a tower, 2 cd drives, a floppydisk drive, and a heatsink and 12v fan that i am recycling from my old computer

PARTS IM THINKING OF BUYING:

Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136075
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options|hide options)
Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan
$41.99


MotherBoard:

Foxconn A74MX-K AM2+/AM2 AMD 740G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813186151
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options|hide options)
Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty

$49.99 - $10.00 Mail-in Rebate

graphics card:

EVGA 256-P2-N762-TR GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814130320
Return Policy: Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy
$69.99 - $30.00 Mail-in Rebate


Ram: (two of these)

Kingston 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model KVR800D2N5/2G - Retail
Item #: N82E16820134581
Return Policy: Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy
$38.98
($19.49 each)

Processer:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Brisbane 2.2GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO42000IAA5DO - OEM
Item #: N82E16819103214
Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy
$35.99

Operating System:

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM
Item #: N82E16832116483
Return Policy: Software Return Policy
$89.99

Power Supply:

OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817341002
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

FREE MOUSE:

OCZ Equalizer Laser Gaming Mouse - Retail
Item #: N82E16800998120
Return Policy: Memory (Modules, USB) Return Policy

$159.98
-$40.00 Instant
-$9.99 Combo (free mouse)

= $109.99 - $40.00 Mail-in Rebate

now i am petty sure about everything except the powersupply. I am not sure if i need that much power what do you guys think? can i get away with less like 600 or 650?

Now i am almost positive (with my limited knowlage) that all of these componants should work togeather and I think that i have every peice that i need for a working computer

two of those MIR's though need to be purchased by the 31st so i will be checking tomorrow and be making my decision on what to buy

I will probably buy the graphics card regardless of what people say because i will need that no matter what option i choose to go by upgrading a comp or by making my own

the total cost of this build is 480.50 shipped (lots of free shipping) - 80 in mail in rebates but i might have to buy some more stuff like the thermal compound some alcohol to clean my used parts and maybe a fan or two but then i could also get a cheaper power supply (its $70 now with the rebate)

thanks for the support =)

That's the spirit!


I'm sure you are. It's not as hard as most people assume it "should" be. Just be sure to get parts from companies that have good tech support. As I mentioned before, EVGA is my favorite, as far as that goes.



Nice choice. WD hard drives are all I use.



I'm not familiar with Foxconn, so I can't really comment all that intelligently. I will say I'm a little concerned about the description as "flimsy" from the second reviewer. The motherboard is the one part of the computer you really don't want to skimp on. Any other part can be swapped out in seconds, but if the motherboard is bad, you literally have to take the entire machine apart, and put it back together all over again.

If you can afford to spend a little more on a solid motherboard, it would be worth it.

Also, you can take this anyway you want, but I'd rather go Intel than AMD, if it were me.


Looks good.



I'd recommend getting a factory pre-matched pair, rather than two individual sticks. When you buy a matched pair, they've been tested together to make absolutely certain they match as they're supposed to.

Also, I'm a little put off by the fact that full specs are not listed. For Cas Latency, it just says 5. There are three other numbers missing. It's important to know what those are.

For RAM, I always go with Corsair. In my experience, their stuff is extremely reliable, and very reasonably priced. Newegg happens to have a fantastic deal on a 2x2GB XMS2 set right now, only $24.99 after rebate. This would be my definite pick: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184



I don't know a whole lot about AMD products, so as with the motherboard, I can't comment very intelligently. I prefer Intel. Specs look decent, though.



Before you decide on Home Basic, have you looked at MS's feature comparison page?

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/default.aspx

True to its name, Home Basic is pretty bare-bones. It doesn't support some everyday features you might want to use, like the ability to burn DVD's without having to buy a third party program to do it. It also doesn't have Media Center, if that matters to you.

Also, not that it matters for the particular machine you're building, but Home Basic only supports 8GB of RAM, whereas Home Premium supports 16GB, and Ultimate supports 128GB. Home Basic is the least future-proof of the lot. Again, I'm not sure that really matters for this particular project, but it is something worth thinking about.

Home Premium is only $10 more (OEM), and it gives you a lot more features. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488



Power supply knowledge is my weakest area as far as PC components go, so maybe someone can correct me if I'm mistaken, but I do see a potential mismatch here. For the video card you chose, the minimum recommended amperage on the +12V output of the PSU is 22 amps. But this unit only puts out 18 amps on each of its +12V rails. That could be a problem.


It's nice to have overhead, but really, you could go down to 500W, and still have plenty of room to spare. That graphics card requires just a 400W minimum, and you're not putting much else in there. Again, just make sure you've got enough amps on at least one +12V rail, and anything above 450W or so should work just fine.


You forgot about a CPU fan. Kind of important, unless you want to melt your shiny new processor.



$70 is a pretty good deal, and you can't complain about the free mouse, of course, but if you can find something cheaper, I'd put the difference toward a better motherboard. Plus, that amperage mismatch has e concerned.

You don't really need an SLI certified PSU, by the way, since you won't be using SLI. No sense paying for a label if you don't need what it represents.


NP. This stuff is fun for me.

yea i was reading that too but it seems that everwhere i read (about every part) there is at least one flimsy connection complaint but i might upgrade if i can save some money on the PSU

also i was talking to a close freind who he happens to love AMD and doesnt care much for Intel at all so i was taking his advice from what i can get a handle of it seems that intel is cheaper but amd last a little longer, intel are more powerful but amd has more features so on and so forth (in general) so i decided that since i was going to get an amd processer then i would get an amd motherboard. It really does annoy me though that newegg has them listed in seperate groupings and it made me wonder if they were not compatable or something but as long as they have the AM2 slot i should be fine right?



yea i read something about that but didnt see anything on newegg so i thought that if i bought the same exact ones, is what they were referring to but i see now thanks



maybe i might upgrade for only $10 but i wont need any of those extra features that are included Aero = bad for gaming, i have a Zune so that software burns CD's and media center might be the only thing i might want (only to stream music to my 360) but i now have an ihome for my zune so i dont need that either and this laptop i am using now already has home premium and this computer was going to be used mostly for web browsing and playing a few games so if i have the extra cash burning a hole in my pocket i might shove out the $10 but then again it would probably be alot cheaper to do it now then have to pay more later IDK, well see what i do XD


darn this the part i wanted the most help on XD



ok i was assuming that i needed to add up all of the W from all of my components and i estimated around 500~550 so i think i thought i would need more but it seems like i wont according to what you are saying so i should be fine with 500 probably?

also my graphics card requires a 4 pin connecter can i use one of the 4 pin (molex?) connecters that come with the psu or do i have to use a 12v rail which is what you seem to be saying? and if i do that means i need to get one that has an output of 22 amps on at least one rail correct?

also is that only for the graphics card? like do i need more rails for my cd drives as well or can i use the 4 pins that come with the psu. I noticed in the specs that it says it comes with 2 6 pins but then in the pictures it shows some 4 pins and satas as well

if anyone can confirm this it would be great


lol yea i guess i forgot to mention that the heat sink i have also has a 3 in 12 volt .08 amp fan with it

You'll find plenty of fans on both sides of the fence. The reason I prefer Intel is they tend to be more powerful. They are a little more expensive, but I think it's worth it. Not everyone agrees, though, obviously.

As for which one will last longer, they should be pretty much the same. I've never ever had a CPU burn out (knock on wood). I've got a closet full of old machines, some so ancient they've got 486's in them, and they all still work. As long as the voltages and the temperatures are kept within normal parameters, they last pretty much forever.

(Actually, I'll take that back. I did have one 486 machine killed by Y2K, so they don't ALL still work. It was a Thinkpad 500, which ran at a whopping 50MHz, if I remember correctly. On January 1, 2000, it said "Internal Clock Failure", shut itself down, and then refused to power on ever again. That's the only computer I've ever had just totally die.)


That's correct thinking. The motherboard and the CPU have to match, AMD with AMD or Intel with Intel.


I'm not sure what you mean by "separate groupings". But the answer is yes. The CPU you picked out is AM2, so you need a motherboard that has an AM2 socket in it.


If it weren't just a question of ten dollars, I'd say it would be worth thinking about exactly what features you will and won't use. But for such an insignificant amount of money, you might as well go for Premium. It's better to have the features and not need them then need them and not have them.


I didn't actually add everything up. If it's really all coming out to 500-550 or so, then 600+ is what you want.


The 4-pin connector is just a connector. The wires that feed into it are the 12-volt rail. Well, two of them are, anyway. Two of the four wires are a 12-volt feed & return, and the other two are a 5-volt feed & return. The 6-pin version has a couple of extra wires for 2-way communication between the GPU fan and the motherboard, for enhanced fan control.


Yes.




That depends who you ask. There's some debate over whether multiple rails are actually better than a single rail with enough current for everything. Whether it really is better or not, though, multiple rails are the way it's usually done.

While http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/11/15/typical-frame-rate-performance-by-graphics-cardgpu/ doesn't specifically mention that model, I would assume that it does (since nVidia's GPUs all use the same API in theory) and I would expect it to perform somewhere between the 7900 and the 8800 on that chart.

As far as laptops for SL is concerned, I would go with a Lenovo Thinkpad. Microsoft has filed a patent for pay-per-use software (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10129438-92.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5). . Since companies don't generally patent business models that they don't intend to use, sooner or later, odds are you will want to go through a little bit of trouble to save a lot of money down the road and switch to Linux. The ThinkPads are well-supported on both Windows and Linux. I'm running on a ThinkPad T400 right now on Debian Linux and it works great (http://debian.org/ http://www.goodbye-microsoft.com/).

If you do decide to go with a ThinkPad, go talk to your broker and buy a share of IBM stock. It'll pay for itself when you pay for your laptop at a 33% shareholder discount.

In the future, when purchasing a computer, I would avoid name-brands and go get a custom system built based on your personal needs from your local corner computer store. If you want a compact computer, odds are you can get a computer built into a cube case about the size of a toaster without sacrificing your ability to use commodity hardware.

You'll get more computing power for your dollar and have a better computing experience when you get your desktop built-to-order instead of dealing with oddball proprietary hardware from an overpriced off-the-rack PC.