Looking for Low Power Consumption PCI Video Card

**Geese** · 11-09-2004, 02:55 PM

Preface: I have searched extensively, but I cannot find the exact power specs for ATI and Nvidia video cards.

My 2699 came with a Morex 60W. I used it to install XP and get some things set up.

It powered the following very nicely:
EPIA MII12000
256 DDR
WD 80GB 3.5" HDD
Panasonic 8x DVD Slim
Xenarc TS USB
Mini USB Keyboard
Deluo GPS receiver (serial/ps2)
Cisco 350 PCMCIA Wireless Card

Because of the whole 800x480 issue, I put an nVidia FX5200 64MB PCI card in. Long story short, the 90W Opus can't handle it. The power supply calculator lists the 5200 as 60W at peak usage...

So, I'm looking specifically at these two cards to replace the FX5200:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...130-175&depa=1
or
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...103-152&depa=1
Because of their seemingly slower performance/lower power reqs and because they are custom resolution capable.

Can anyone point me a chart of the power requirements of these cards? Can anyone recommend one over the other for stability in hot/cold environments?

Thanks in advance.

**Geese** · 11-09-2004, 05:55 PM

Evening bump...

**Geese** · 11-09-2004, 07:30 PM

I just ordered a cheap GeForce2 MX200 32MB PCI card. We'll see how much juice it takes.

**starfox** · 11-10-2004, 01:55 AM

I don't think anyone's measured such things before. Personally i've found that a lot of the nVidia low end stuff still drains quite a lot of power, and ATi's low end stuff isn't so bad, but it's variable between models... like the 9200 uses more power than a 9000 because it's based on 8500 architecture.

**Geese** · 11-10-2004, 07:54 AM

Starfox,
Thanks for responding. I remember seeing the power calculator giving the FX5200 60W, and cards with 32MB of RAM taking 30W.

This card doesn't even have a heatsink, so I'm hoping I can get away with underclocking it and having a 60mm fan going across it.