Time to upgrade GPU - need suggestions please...

[cutting_crew]

well its time after 4 or 5 years now to get a new GPU. theres just some thing i need it for, including but not limited to games.

i currently have a Geforce 6800, i am not sure what the power requirements were for it regarding the psu.

Cost is not an issue really but the limitation that i have is that the power supply has a max output of 350W. i double checked it just a second ago and its

-12V / 1A Max
+3.3V / 17A Max
+12V-A / 18A Max
+12V-B / 18A Max

Combined +12V-A and +12V-B shall not exceed 336W
Continuous output to not exceed 350W.

i am looking for the best card i can get as an upgrade to the 6800 without going over the 350W limit. ive been to some stores to look at the psu requirements and they seem to base them on dual core processors on the mobo..of which i dont have i am pretty sure. were they putting dual cores 4 or 5 years ago?

the cards i can see i have my eye on would be: 8600GT, 8600GTS, 9400 GT, 9500GT... although maybe these are too low end i don't know.

appreciate the suggestions. I would rather it be NV since i do some linux work too as part of duel boot. thanks..

[trinitrotoluene]

Your current card spec is here (http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce_6800.html) at the bottom of the page. Newer cards specs can be found here (http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_family.html).
I think the minimum upgrade is the 9600GT or 9600GS0 but those cards use the PCI-express bus and require (400w psu for 9600GS0 with a 6 pin power connector). If your motherboard use an AGP bus then your upgrade path is quite limited.

[cutting_crew]

no the 6800 card i have is on PCI-x16 slot so that is a good thing..no AGP... but the PSU does say 350W with the numbers in the first post.

could i get away with the 9600GT?

i was on those links yesterday(thanks for them btw) but i dont see where the psu requirements are listed. just the basic technical hardware specs.

[trinitrotoluene]

I don't know if the following power supply calculator (http://www.extreme.outervision.com/powercalc.jsp) can help you.

[Ilian Dinev]

The calculator is dead-on with its results, judging from watt measurements of different PCs I've had.
Right now, a C2D-based machine with GF8600GT takes less than 160W at peak loads... and 130W at idle.
My older machines were using-up 260W with Sempron and older videocards, that were always low-mid-end (like Radeon 9250, R9600).

[Nighthawk]

Get a 9800GT, it draws ~110W under max load, and has a good price/performance ratio. Your power supply should be able to handle it without problems(More than 200W left for the rest of your PC).

The supply recommendations from nvidia are very conserative.