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Still not true.
eVGA OC'ed 760 (500W): https://www.evga.com/Products/...
MSI OC'ed 760 (500W): http://www.microcenter.com/pro...

Overclocked models aren't OC'ed *that* much. For the OC versions, you're talking about bumping TDP from 175W to 200W-ish. That's still a 500W PSU range. To see 600W recommended PSUs, you need a card with a TDP that tops 250W, and none of the 760's I've seen will hit that number in their factory state.

The bad part is the "recommended" graphics card is now the upper level of the mid-range, the Nvidia 560 or 660, and the ATI 5870.

This is becoming a real big issue for Graphics cards, far more than video RAM or any other part of the system.

The problem is that the upper-mid-range cards now require *very* significant power. The 560/660 and 5870 above really require TWO 6-pin supplemental power connectors, since they're now pulling 200W under load. The problem there is that this means a 500W+ power supply, and ONLY high-end workstations or custom gaming rigs have those, so you're inherently cutting out the section of the population which games, has a pretty beefy rig, but got a pre-made system from HP/Dell/whomever, none of which have more than a 400W (and usually a 300W) power supply.

I'm a excellent example: I happen to have a HP Z210 workstation - that's a Xeon E3-1200-class CPU (which kicks the crap out of everything consumer-class, including the i7 series), 16GB of RAM, and an SSD. Yet, it was only designed with a 400W power supply, as it was targeted for mid-level pro graphics. I've been looking, and the absolutely fastest GPU I can use is the Nvidia 650 Ti; everything else draws too much power. Consumer PCs are in an even worse situation, since they might have a high-end i5 Ivy bridge CPU, but they've only got 350W power supplies, which probably can't even drive my 650 Ti, let alone a 660. So, you're looking at having to buy a system for $1500 (sans graphics card) rather than $500 to play these games.

Realistically, game makers need to target the lower-mid-range cards - at least, they have to be able to play very well at around 1680x1050 or 1440x900 on one of those lower-power-draw cards (e.g. Nvidia 650 or AMD 7850).

Frankly, I think this is going to be a *big* drag on the PC Gaming industry, since unless they can convince Nvidia/AMD to cut down on the power-draw requirements, or somehow get PC makers to beef up their PS more, new games won't be able to run reasonably on ANYTHING not a custom gaming rig. And that's a *tiny* portion of the market.

-Erik

Seriously, pre-made systems from HP/Dell/Whoever have not been gaming systems EVER. 500w has been a bare minimum for any gaming system for several years now. It's also worth noting that 500w power supplies sell in the $30 price range. Other than the fact that it'll cost you a lot for electricity and contribute to pollution on some level the power requirements for current gen cards are not a big deal. High end cards these days only draw 195 watts (source: http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-3688-KR ); just because HP gave you the shaft on your system's power supply does not mean the cards' power draw is unreasonable.

It would be nice to have just a grid of these connectors on the back of a PC though. I was poking a USB cable around the back of my PC the other day trying to find the port I thought was up by the mouse and ended up sticking it in the "EVBot Connector" resetting my PC. (Apparently, I'm not the only one: http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=676801&mpage=1 )

Go find me a motherboard or graphics card that don't have the logo. Go on, do it. I doubt you can.

First try:
http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/270-WS-W555.pdf

Second try:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_2011/P9X79_DELUXE/#overview

Hmm... Third try:
http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4046

Can you find a motherboard that actually has the logo?

The performance chipset for intel is still the X58. All X58 motherboards have 6 slots. The fact that you've never seen a consumer board with more than 4 says taht you've never actually looked at Intel at all. Additionally, while not a typical consumer board, here's one with 12: http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=270-WS-W555-A2&family=Motherboard%20Family&series=All%20Motherboards&sw=5

EVGA's dual 2011 board due in January 2012 should have 8 slots as well.

I had this exact problem with the between-mission videos (horrible artifacts, and eventual lockup). Since I run an nvidia card (gtx 260) which came overclocked from the factory, the solution was to download the EVGA Precision Tool (don't worry, it works on most nvidia cards, not just ones manufactured by EVGA). With it I could increase the speed of the fan, and underclock the GPU to prevent it from overheating. For me, the solution was to increase the fan speed to 100% and to decrease the GPU clock speed from 655 MHz to 630. I didn't notice any drop in frame-rate and things run stable now.

"Seriously though, if you like to game on your computer there is no such thing as too much power."

Someone hasn't seen the EVGA SR-2 mobo, yet.

There are some new external video cards that don't require anything but drivers and a USB port, such as the EVGA UV Plus. AFAIK, all USB video cards use a DisplayLink chipset, and there are rudimentary drivers here. It's not a very elegant solution, but if you want to use any sort of GUI, this should work.

wow, you really have a stick up your ass agents overclockers.

http://www.evga.com/articles/378.asp
EVGA had FOUR types of 8800GT with varying speeds and specs.

So odds are high that this card is going to die early too.

Did you buy a card with a lifetime warranty? Both EVGA and XFX offer lifetime warranties on 8800GTs. Personally, I won't buy RAM or video cards from a company that doesn't offer a lifetime warranty, as there are more than enough manufacturers for both products offering these warranties. My current 8800GT is an EVGA, and it's nice knowing they're on the hook for this flaw if it happens to strike me. The card manufacturer has probably spent millions on Nvidia silicon, so they have clout to extract some compensation from Nvidia, whereas I do not.

But why does a new CPU needs a newer Chipset ?!?!?

i thought of an EVGA 8800 gts.

EVGA.

http://www.evga.com/community/messageboard/

Same here with a 1996 Sharp 20" CRT TV. Although I do have a problem with my TV out from my new EVGA GeForce 7950 GT KO video card. I get B&W/gray scale everywhere even outside of Windows. I have no idea what's the problem is. You can read my full details here. I don't know if it is the RCA cable, TV, and/or the VCR. :(

IIRC, eVGA is the only manufacturer that won't void your warranty if you replace their stock cooler with an aftermarket one. Also, eVGA offers a lifetime warranty on their cards.

eVGA Warranty (As of June 22, 2005, all eVGA cards have a lifetime warranty).

Disclaimer: I don't work for eVGA, I prefer Sapphire Radeons myself =)

I just bought myself a completely new gaming rig -- my first such rig in about seven years. Prior to that I'd been upgrading various components in my old box. But the newest games were starting to far outstrip my machine's ability to play them (Doom 3/Quake 4 were the earliest offenders). Thanks to a pleasant year-end bonus from my employer (and rather serious prodding from my partner), I got a completely new box:

• ABIT AN8-32X SLI (nForce 4) motherboard,
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ CPU,
• eVGA geForce 7900GT CO SC graphics card,
• Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic sound card,
• 2 Western Digital WD2500KS SATA drives, 7200RPM, 250G each,
• LiteOn SHM-165P6S DVD-RAM/DVD+-RW/DVD+-R/CD-R/CD-RW drive,
• 2G (1Gx2) Crucial CT2KIT12864Z40B PC3200 RAM,
• Enermax Liberty 500W power supply (12V @ 22A for the gfx card),
• ASYS CK-1022-5 "Eiffel Tower" case, complete with chasing blue-LED rice

Sadly, the graphics card has turned out to be the biggest problem in the new rig. It seems that everyone is having trouble with the new NVidia 7900-based boards. My first card would display "exploding" geometry once it warmed up a bit. Happily, eVGA have been very good to deal with, and performed a free cross-ship RMA. The new card still exhibits a few glitches, but only when I expressly go looking for them. When actually playing games, it's been very well behaved. It's only done the exploding geometry thing once since then, during a game of Oblivion. I'll keep leaning on eVGA to perfect this card.

I have very mixed feelings about the Creative sound card. Creative has a very spotty reputation for drivers, especially when multiple CPUs are involved. However, virtually all the competing sound card vendors have gone away, or have chosen instead to go for a race to the bottom in terms of price (and, sadly, quality). So I got the Creative X-Fi. It makes the games sound pretty good (it's breathed new life into QuakeWorld), but I would have much preferred something that works with Linux. I have my eye on the upcoming Razer Barracuda sound card, though...

I'd have to say that I'm probably happiest with the case. I was very paranoid that I wouldn't have enough space for all the cruft I planned on putting in it, or that it would be very difficult to work with, but it's turned out to be just lovely. It weighs a ton, but no more than the old Antec tower it's replacing. It's very accessible, has a large interior, very well ventilated, very sturdy, has a clean appearance, and the blue LEDs don't hurt, either.

As I said, this is the first new rig I've put together in seven years (the last machine I built was a dual-Pentium III on a PC-100 motherboard). I'd appreciate commentary from a more experienced eye. Could I have selected better RAM? Better drives?

Schwab

Except I'd rather eventually watch King Kong on HD-DVD on a 30" than a 19" monitor. Before you tell me to get an HDTV, I'll point out that most of the lower-end models don't actually do true 1080i, let alone 1080p. Furthermore, I don't have the budget to buy a 1080p HDTV and two 19" LCDs. So the sweet spot in the middle could be the Dell 30".

The Geforce 6800GS is available in AGP.

GeForce4 MX 440 SE, 64MB SDR, TV-Out - $79

I win :-P

(I've got the dualhead + TV out version of this card... works wonderfully)

When a new card comes out, check nvidia's website and see if they have a link to it if it's another pre-order type of thing...

www.evga.com has PCI nvidia cards. Their PCI GeForce2 MX is product number 032-P1-NV29-01. You can look it up by going "products" from the sidebar, and getting a list of all the nvidia cards by selecting the manufacturer and clicking "submit". Hope this helps...