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GTX 550 power requirements


Todd Knutson 1169549
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Todd Knutson 1169549
Posted
Posted

I'm planning on upgrading the graphics card that came with my computer, and my computer knowledge is limited. After doing some research online I've settled on the ASUS GTX550. The Geek Squad employee at BestBuy said I would need a separate power supply to run it and suggested the Corsair GS600. Do I need to upgrade with a power supply? Or can I install it with my current set up.

 

My system..

ASUS CG5275

i5 [email protected]

8.00GB RAM

64-bit

 

As I said, I'm not much of a computer person so opinions from everyone are appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

Todd

Flying is easy. Landing is the trick.

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Richard Gerrish
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whats the wattage on your current power suppy

Richard Gerrish

Developer, STM Applications Group

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Todd Knutson 1169549
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Hey Richard!

 

Don't know what the wattage is as I'm not sure where to look. I believe the card I'm looking at requires 400W.

Flying is easy. Landing is the trick.

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Richard Gerrish
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from memory i believe 400W is correct. there should be a sticker on the Power supply that'll tell you what you've got

Richard Gerrish

Developer, STM Applications Group

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  • 2 weeks later...
Todd Knutson 1169549
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Yup, 400 watts.

Opened up the case and found it on the PSU like you said.

 

I decided to upgrade to 600 watts before I install a new graphics card. The card requires a 400 watt minimum PSU. One of my coworkers builds computers as a hobby and he's been pretty adamant about upgrading the power. I trust him since he's not trying to sell me somthing

 

Thanks for the help Richard!

 

Todd

Flying is easy. Landing is the trick.

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Brian Fuller 973577
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Yep, that should be fine.

 

Curious, what video card do you currently have?

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  • 2 weeks later...
Todd Knutson 1169549
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I've been using the card that came with the computer. Just a basic Intel HD. I don't know much else about it. I just installed a Gigabyte HD6850. So far I'm a little disappointed, but I don't know if I can blame the card. My goal has been to increase the FPS. I've been flying the PMDG 737ngx, and it really dropped the frame rates. With my old card my frame rates would be in the teens. With the new card my FPS have only increased by around 5 FPS. I'm in the high teens to mid 20's with the same scenery settings.

 

I ran a 3D Mark Vantage program to test the card and scored 12,500

 

As an experiment, I tried comparing FPS with different aircraft at the same airport.

 

With the default Beech Baron I could get 70 FPS.

Default CRJ 700, 50FPS

Feel there ERJ 145, 35FPS

PMDG 737ngx, 22FPS

 

I also tried maxing out all of the scenery sliders and graphics global texture in FSX just to see what would happen. FPS dropped by about 50% for all planes.

 

Todd

Flying is easy. Landing is the trick.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Gavin Bernard 1026637
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Well upgrading your graphics card will increase your frames, but not much. FSX relies more heavily on the CPU than GPU. It also depends more on the clock speed than amount of cores since, if I'm correct, it can only use one core.

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?cid=1026637

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Luke Kolin
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FSX relies more heavily on the CPU than GPU. It also depends more on the clock speed than amount of cores since, if I'm correct, it can only use one core.

 

FSX SP1 and above will use multiple cores, but for limited tasks.

 

Cheers!

 

Luke

... I spawn hundreds of children a day. They are daemons because they are easier to kill. The first four remain stubbornly alive despite my (and their) best efforts.

... Normal in my household makes you a member of a visible minority.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Todd Knutson 1169549
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I returned the 6850 card and bought a 560ti. I havn't noticed much difference graphic wise between the two cards. If anything I like the 6850 more as it was cheaper but the 560 is more user friendly, flight simmers seem to prefer it, and I'm sick of messing with it.

 

After PMDG came out with their update for the 737ngx I saw a big jump in FPS with that plane. 20 fps went to 30 fps.

 

I had been turning the sliders down to 3/4 levels while flying the pmdg plane and turning them to full when flying other planes. The other day I forgot to turn the sliders down before flying the pmdg and didn't notice it. Since then I just crank the sliders and fly.

 

Want to know the key to happiness with graphics cards? Turn off the FPS meter and fly!

 

Todd

Flying is easy. Landing is the trick.

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