Well i've been buying a few parts for my new computer, so far I have the case, monitor, power supply, and mother board. I have recently settled on buying a sapphire 4970, and i noticed you need two 6-pin adapters. Well, turns out my Corsair 450VX that I have already bought doesn't have any... what can I do? I did buy from newegg, but I don't really know how anything that has to do with returns, rebates, or RMAs work.. any suggestions...? *sighs*
450W is not enough to power that monster. Newegg is usualy nice about accepting returns within 30 days, but you will have to pay for return shipping & a restocking fee. [Sorry, misread your post, I though you typed 4870. Have not seen any reviews or power tests on the 4970 yet...but I know the 4870 uses 25.5A @ 12v, and your power supply makes only 33A @ 12v...leaving only 7.5A @ 12v for everything else.] http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3437&p=10 If the 4970 is a core-shrink, it might use less power. Where did you find a review of this card?
A Corsair VX 450W is plenty to power that card. Don't return it. You need two 6-pin connectors, but the PSU already has one, I know, as I have built a PC with this unit. All you need is an adapter for the other connector, which the card should have come with. No offense, but I wouldn't take PSU advice from someone who built a PC that uses 300W with a 1200W PSU from a terrible brand.
Oh thank god... I didn't know it came with adapters though, will it be as reliable as a power supply that comes with two 6 pins?
Alright, now that we covered that, what 4870 graphics card would you recommend the most? I'll be using a 22" monitor by the way. I feel like getting the Sapphire 4870 1GB, but I don't know if theres any better ones out there. I've read from that reviews that it's a really cool card, which is a big plus.. what would you get?
Yes, it'll work fine, because it's far better than the average 450W Power supply. For a 22" monitor, you don't need a 1GB HD4870.
I don't really know which 4870 to get.. I want to get the toxic cooling one, I heard it runs nice and cool, but on newegg, there is this graphics card that had been picked twice as a best choice and has the highest rating for a 4870 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129113 Is it a good card? Or should I just stick with the sapphire 4870?
There's next to no difference between that and the Sapphire one, and it costs $85 more, and has no rebate. There's simply no reason to buy it.
Most HD4870s will perform exactly the same. So the price is really down to how many extras you want. Nicer cooling or added in game = higher price.
Not exactly though, there are some inexplicably higher priced 4870s, even with the same brand as cheap ones. Avoid these, there is nothing that justifies their extra cost.
Sapphire's "Toxic" coolers are junk; you will end up buying a good replacement after about a week when the super-close fins clog with dust.
Any heatsink will fill with dust if your case has no filters. I can understand criticising heatsinks for certain things, but that makes zero sense. In narrow environments like graphics cards, tight fins are absolutely essential.
