Cheapest pixel shader videocard with lowest watt usage?

[TheDervish]

I need an affordable new videocard that does pixel shading. I need it to have as low watt usage as possible. I think I can use AGP 4x. It's for an older computer. Any suggestions?

My current, crappy card is GeForce MX 420 (it has no pixel shading ) and I've been told it uses 30 watts.

 

[Speedo]

Take a look a Radeon 9800 Pro, 9600 Pro, or 9600 depending on what your exact definition of "affordable" is.

I don't recall numbers on their power consumption, but they can draw all of their power through the AGP slot, so it's nothing extreme (compared to more modern cards, at least).

 

[Pyrion]

Get a GeForce 6600GT instead. Not sure of the wattage, but the older Radeons don't do Shader Model 3.0.

 

[Speedo]

A 6600 will be a great deal more power hungry not to mention more expensive. There's no point dropping that much money into an older system, you're completely wasting it since your CPU and memory will be bottlenecking the card. SM 3.0 only comes into play when you're talking about newer, high end titles, which I somehow doubt that he's trying to run.

 

[CruddyLeper]

You could try an nVidia 5700 but Speedo is on the mark - ATI's card kick bottom at this end of the scale. If you do go 9600, make sure it's a 128Mb version though.


9800 Pro would be my choice.