Video Cards and Power Supplies

I have a question. I notice that alot, if not all, video cards require quite alot out of the cpu's power supply. Now I have used my video card for a little over a year (GeForce FX 5200), a 128 and a 256 version, and the power supplies that I run them off of are the stock versions that came with the Sony and Dell. I don't think I am getting the performance out of these cards, but I may be wrong. Does the power supply have an effect on performance? Or would my cards just not operate if the power supplies could not handle the job? Thanks for any and all info!

 

Are you experiencing any specific performance or stability issues with your computer or any video problems problems? If not, I believe you're not likely to see a difference by upgrading the power supply. In other words, yes, you'd likely see obvious video problems or experience other performance or stability issues if your power supply is inadequate for your system and computer usage.

Keep in mind other hardware specs (CPU, RAM, hard drive speed, etc.) are going to affect performance, too. If you'd like to go into more detail about what you do with your computer and what you'd like to see in terms of performance improvement, tell us more about it.

Is your card an AGP card?

As you may know, the FX5200 has been far surpassed in performance by newer graphics processing units. If you get a newer card, you may need to upgrade your power supply.

 

sometimes when the power supply cant completely keep up (really close, but not completely) then you will see lower performance without crashes like is the case with most underpowered video cards. However those cards will run perfectly fine on a Dell or Sony PSU

 

I don't see any major decrease in performance, but I do think I am seeing a reduction in FPS. But from what I understand, the power supply isn't really effecting that. I think I either A: Am expecting to much out of these cards or B: These is something I'm overlooking.

I would like to learn more about what does add to performance. In all honesty, I look for higher frames per second then I do for more precise detail.

Here are the two systems currently running the FX's.

HP pc m380n
Windows XP Pro (Media Center Edition)
Processor: 3.0 ghz
Ram: 1.5 gb (two 512, two 256)
Video Card: GeForce FX 5200 AGP 8X 128 mb

Sony Vaio (I never checked the model)
Windows XP Pro
Processor: 2.8 ghz
Ram 1 gb (two 256, two 128)
Video Card: GeForce FX 5200 PCI 256 mb

I mainly play WoW at the moment (It is an addiction, not nearly as bad as EQ), so I am comparing FPS on each computer on the same game same area etc.

Now I do know running down the bottle neck of a PCI slot is horrible on the Vaio (I really wish I waited and bought an AGP), it still clocks in 20-30 fps on games like World of Warcraft in the larger areas. Sometimes down to 16. In more internal areas (in Dungeons) in clocks 60 with ease. Am I being to demanding? I didn't think WoW was that graphically impressive. The worst part is (Even though sharp graphics isn't my main concern) I have the graphics turned down. Is this games larger Zones that harsh on the video card? I don't see a drag in performance to much (Maybe in newer zones from the expansion, such as the Outlands Major city, which has a lot on the screen and more levels of areas to see graphically).

The HP handles the game in a similar manner. I more then likely will be dumping the cash for a new video card for this one. I do shop value with video cards (80-150 preferably). I always thought the amount of video ram was how well the card can preform during graphical processes.

So, please let me take in some of your knowledge. What areas of your system effect FPS, and what areas effect actual graphic detail? Is there more depth then what I see?

Thanks for any and all support!

 

Anyone have any knowledge on this?

 

oh shoot, i was gonna type sopmething out the other night but got distracted (by homework lol) Ill see what I can come up with , its a lot to write haha. Now i have something to do in my computer class in...20 minutes!

 

I didn't read every word of every post above, but the FX5200 series is a fairly low end video card by todays standards. It was good 3-4 years ago. Any power supply 250w or above should run a 5200 without trouble, and most stock PSU's are in the 300-350w range. For better performance with WoW, upgrade both video cards....

 

What areas of your system effect FPS, and what areas effect actual graphic detail? Is there more depth then what I see?

Every part of the system works together and affects your FPS; CPU, video card, motherboard, RAM, soundcard, PSU (only if it is underpowered) A faster hard drive will decrease load times and could help stuttering if you run out of RAM and it needs to use the page file but doesnt really affect FPS.

Graphical detail is all in the design of the gpu. shader architecture is a main factor, such as shader model (SM) 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 (DX10) For example: a Geforce 7900GTX may give similar FPS to say a 8800GTS but the 8800GTS will have better visual quality. It isnt as noticeable on newer cards (except DX10 vs DX9/SM 4.0 vs SM 3.0) compared to older ones but there is a difference

A card's performance is determined by its core and memory frequencies, memory interface (ex: 128-bit, 256-bit etc...) number of pixel pipelines (its something different now with the DX10 cards, i cant remember what they're called)

I dunno if i made any sense here lol, if you have any more questions ill try to answer them