Black Raven Dragoons

[Damorte]

So I'm coming to the conclusion that my 8600GT is just about outdated. I have some extra fundage ($300 to be exact) at the moment and was looking into a new card. I am partial to nVidia, just seem to have had better luck with them in the past. However, the cards I was looking at would pull more power than my box has to offer so I also have to upgrade my power supply. Here's what I've narrowed it down to after a few weeks of investigation and reviews:

EVGA GTX 260 Super Clocked Core 216 896MB PCI-Express Video Card

and
[url=http://www.frys.com/product/5503410?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG]
Antec EarthWatts 650W Continuous Power Power Supply[/url]

I like that particular power supply because of its reduced energy consumption and drastically improved efficiency over what I currently have, a 300W energy-drain garbage disposal that came with my system (Gateway DX4300-15e). So what are your opinions on these? Think they'll do me some justice?

[Zancarius]

1) Don't get it from Frys. Get it from Newegg. With the rebate, that same card is a little cheaper. Buuuuuuuuuuuuut...
2) I've had bad luck with EVGA cards and wouldn't recommend them. I'd stick with MSI or PNY (or Asus).
3) I like Antec power supplies. Whenever possible, I tend to buy them. I've never had one fail on me yet, and I have had a few that are at least 7-8 years old and still work just fine.

I don't have any specific recommendations for the card as I don't game much anymore outside of WoW. Generally, online recommendations are pretty safe to follow, so take their advice. I might check against Tom's Hardware if you haven't.

[Damorte]

1) Don't get it from Frys. Get it from Newegg. With the rebate, that same card is a little cheaper. Buuuuuuuuuuuuut...

Well, I have a Fry's right by my house, I was planning on swinging in tomorrow and picking it up. I usually order my parts from Newegg though and maybe I'll just be a little more patient....

2) I've had bad luck with EVGA cards and wouldn't recommend them. I'd stick with MSI or PNY (or Asus).

Good to know, I wasn't aware of this. However PNY, Asus, and MSI tend to be approx $60-80 more expensive so that kind of puts me in a bind. I'll prbably wander around Newegg a little while and see what I can come up with.

3) I like Antec power supplies. Whenever possible, I tend to buy them. I've never had one fail on me yet, and I have had a few that are at least 7-8 years old and still work just fine.

YAY! That was my biggest concern. I hadn't bought anything but a CoolMax or Rosewill before.

I don't have any specific recommendations for the card as I don't game much anymore outside of WoW. Generally, online recommendations are pretty safe to follow, so take their advice. I might check against Tom's Hardware if you haven't.

Thats all I play! I did check Tom's and found their hierarchy of graphics cards chart. It was pretty useful. Thanks for the advice Thal!!

[Zancarius]

I really don't like Fry's. We don't have one here in the part of NM I'm from, but I have some friends from California who've been screwed over on more than one occasion, particularly by their mislabeling of OEM hardware. It's probably just a fluke.

Good to know, I wasn't aware of this. However PNY, Asus, and MSI tend to be approx $60-80 more expensive so that kind of puts me in a bind. I'll prbably wander around Newegg a little while and see what I can come up with.

Well, you can always go for the cheaper hardware, but with EVGA you run the risk of purchasing a board with bad capacitors (IMO). The problem goes back about 8-10 years ago after a stint of corporate espionage when a company's "secret" formula for the dielectric compound used in electrolytic capacitors was half-stolen by a competitor (half-stolen because a critical component was missing that prevented the build of of gases inside the capacitor--thus the capacitor would leak or, in worst cases, explode). Granted, it was a much bigger issue with motherboards, but the problem (unsurprisingly) leached its way into the graphics card market. I'm sure EVGA isn't outright awful, but my experience (see the link above) is not uncommon with some of their older boards. I trust they've cleaned up their act, but given the price compared to their competitors for the same product offering I can't say I hold out much hope.

YAY! That was my biggest concern. I hadn't bought anything but a CoolMax or Rosewill before.

Don't ever get CoolMax (unless you mean CoolerMaster--they're OK and produce some pretty decent PSUs). Rosewill is hit or miss. I built a small HTPC using a case manufactured by them that contains a small special-purpose power supply. It seems okay, but I've read that their PSUs are generally DOA 50% of the time. Corsairs are also good, but you pay a premium for their products and I'm not sure it's worth it.

Thermaltake is another good brand to try. Some reviews point to early failure, and while I haven't owned one long enough to corroborate those claims, I've been impressed with some of the ones I've used. They do make some of the cheaper modular power supplies, though. If you're not sure what they are, take a look around for one--you only plug in the cables you need, so it makes cable management much easier.

Again, I've used predominantly Antec ones since about 2000ish, and I've never had one die yet. Many of the ones I had were on 24/7 at my parents' business for at least 3 years, and I think one of them is still in periodic service in a system used by a family friend (I might be mistaken, though). In fact, my home file server has an Antec PSU made sometime in 2003. It's been in 24/7 operation for about 7 years.

Thats all I play! I did check Tom's and found their hierarchy of graphics cards chart. It was pretty useful. Thanks for the advice Thal!!

I generally don't always look at Tom's, but they're a pretty good resource and I usually recommend them to people looking around for hardware. It's important to know that they do sometimes go a little overboard with their reviews, but they're not as bad about exaggerating as other reviewers. On important thing to keep in mind is that most benchmarks are synthetic and don't really perform an adequate analysis to make a qualitative determination of which board is better, but sometimes I'd rather point to brand preference all else being equal.

That said, I'm glad you're not getting an ATI. Their drivers used to be terrible, although they've markedly improved over the years. I dual boot between Windows and Gentoo Linux, so I personally would never purchase one simply because the Linux drivers are either unstable or just don't work well enough (NVIDIA works great; I can play WoW under Wine at about 80% the FPS I'd get under Windows). Plus, if you ever do intend to run Linux or some special purpose graphics-related applications, NVIDIA is pretty much your only bet.

No offense to ATI fans. I just don't like those cards, and I don't see the huge improvements since AMD's acquisition of them that some sources claimed we'd observe.