430W power supply good enough for a 4870?

[statik213]

I've got an OLD Themaltake non PCIe 430W PSU. I'm running an Opteron 165, 4x512 MB DDR, 1 DVD-RW, 4 HDD (1 SATA, 3 IDE) a Radeon x850 and a Creative Audigy sound card. Do you think my PSU will be able to handle a 4870? I need to upgrade my mobo, cpu and ram also, but will do that in about 3 or 4 months after the AM3s come out and prices settle.

I can afford to lose 1 or 2 of my IDEs because I just got the 1.5 tb SATA and that should cover my needs. I just prefer to have a dedicated HDD for backups.

Also, would this setup + 4870 handle a mobo/cpu ugrade to one of the 125W Phenoms?

-K

 

[BlueAcolyte]

PSU probably cant do it.

 

[yh125d]

upgrade PSU first

 

[F1shF4t]

That psu is only a mediocre 350 watt unit (or a 250 watt one depending on the age).
They are no too bad for simple comps (In fact I have used two of them in parent's comps, however, I doubt a 8400gs, e2180 and one hdd will be anywhere near even 200 watts)

In your case I would strongly suggest you upgrade the psu. Something like Earthwatts 500 watt would be great for that setup, (unless your planning later on to use crossfire)

 

[SparkyJJO]

To put things into perspective, my entire rig with a q6600 @ 3.2GHz 1.4v, 4870 with a slight OC (max that CCC allows on the core anyway) 3 hard drives, 2 opticals, soundcard, DDC pump, and the 5 fans in the case (3 on the radiator and 2 case fans) pulls ~360W under a moderate load. Most of that is going to be from the 12V rail. Ye olde Tt 430W won't have enough on the 12V rail more than likely, even if it did it would be at its max and most PSUs don't like running at their max (at least lower quality units don't). I'd upgrade that PSU for sure.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: statik213
I've got an OLD Themaltake non PCIe 430W PSU.

Lemme guess... it is a Thermaltake TR430? Those things were good back in the days of the Pentium III and Athlon, but not suited for modern high powered video cards because they only have 18A of +12v power.

I wish they'd go away. Daddy, make those TR430s go away!

 

[statik213]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: statik213
I've got an OLD Themaltake non PCIe 430W PSU.

Lemme guess... it is a Thermaltake TR430? Those things were good back in the days of the Pentium III and Athlon, but not suited for modern high powered video cards because they only have 18A of +12v power.

I wish they'd go away. Daddy, make those TR430s go away!

Not sure if it's TR430 - -says W0009 on it. It is 18A on the +12v though. So, is this an absolute no-go? can i scale back to only 2 hdds and still run?

 

[statik213]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
To put things into perspective, my entire rig with a q6600 @ 3.2GHz 1.4v, 4870 with a slight OC (max that CCC allows on the core anyway) 3 hard drives, 2 opticals, soundcard, DDC pump, and the 5 fans in the case (3 on the radiator and 2 case fans) pulls ~360W under a moderate load. Most of that is going to be from the 12V rail. Ye olde Tt 430W won't have enough on the 12V rail more than likely, even if it did it would be at its max and most PSUs don't like running at their max (at least lower quality units don't). I'd upgrade that PSU for sure.

ok, my psu says it can do only 220w on the 12v. but i do plan on running w/ 1 less hdd and 1 less optical.

 

[Zap]

X-bit labs review

Yup, ATX 1.3 and 18A of +12v power. It is not a TR430, but a PurePower 430. My guess is that it is identical inside and differs only by the inclusion of a second 80mm fan.

18A = 216W. Trying to run a Radeon 4870 on it is a sure road to tears. The video card itself will draw between 150W and 225W of pure +12v power, while your Opteron 165 has a TDP of 89W (peak, unoverclocked). You see where this is leading?

 

[statik213]

OK, that's a little disappointing. But i guess 4 years is a good run on a PSU. I'll probably get an antec 500w earthwatts. psu I doubt I'd ever run SLI/CrossFire, probably have 2 optical and 3 hdds though and potentially a 125W TDP cpu (Phenom?).
BTW is there a significant advantaget in getting an ATX 2.2 PSU? The earthwatts is a 2.0 PSU.

 

[DSF]

For what it's worth, TDP is not the actual power draw of the chip, it's the amount of heat the cooling solution needs to be able to dissipate. That said, the PSU is insufficient anyway.

 

[I4AT]

There's really no reason to buy a $175+ video card and then skimp out with a dated PSU. The card also requires two 6-pin PCI-E connectors which means you would have to adapt at least 4 molex plugs. Even if the PSU had been strong enough it still wouldn't have been practical.

 

[Rabbits]

Get something bigger. I got a Zotac 8800GT and with 380W you really see the performance drop. It's like choking your graphics card. =/

 

[statik213]

All right, thanks for the help guys. I'll upgrade my PSU first

 

[magreen]

Originally posted by: Rabbits
Get something bigger. I got a Zotac 8800GT and with 380W you really see the performance drop. It's like choking your graphics card. =/

The psu won't make the performance drop. It could cause crashes, power outages and blue screens. But performance drop? You're looking at a different issue.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: magreen

Originally posted by: Rabbits
Get something bigger. I got a Zotac 8800GT and with 380W you really see the performance drop. It's like choking your graphics card. =/

The psu won't make the performance drop. It could cause crashes, power outages and blue screens. But performance drop? You're looking at a different issue.

It is possible. Some of the newer video cards (though AFAIK not the 8800 GT) have different performance modes. For instance, a GTX 280 has three modes, that clock the core at 300MHz, 400MHz and 602MHz. This is to save power as well as reduce idle temperatures. It also serves as a fail-safe, when there's something wrong. Sometimes if the cards aren't getting enough power they will continue operating, but at one of the reduced power states.

 

[magreen]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: magreen

Originally posted by: Rabbits
Get something bigger. I got a Zotac 8800GT and with 380W you really see the performance drop. It's like choking your graphics card. =/

The psu won't make the performance drop. It could cause crashes, power outages and blue screens. But performance drop? You're looking at a different issue.

It is possible. Some of the newer video cards (though AFAIK not the 8800 GT) have different performance modes. For instance, a GTX 280 has three modes, that clock the core at 300MHz, 400MHz and 602MHz. This is to save power as well as reduce idle temperatures. It also serves as a fail-safe, when there's something wrong. Sometimes if the cards aren't getting enough power they will continue operating, but at one of the reduced power states.

Wow, interesting. Learn something new every day. thanks for the (partial) correction.

 

[statik213]

Would this be a good supply for my setup:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817341012
System:
Opteron 165 but should be able to handle 125W TDP Phenom (or similiar).
4870x2
1x Optocal
4x HDD
1x Audigy2


How much more peripherals could I add to this setup w/ that PSU?

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

I have that OCZ 500w PSU. It's powering:

Phenom X4 9850 @ 2.75Ghz
4 GB RAM
2 HDD
2 DVDRW
1 8800gt

My machine has been perfectly stable with it. However, I've had a couple of issues with OCZ rebates; my experience has been that both times I submitted for rebates, I've had to contact them directly in order to get my checks. So I'm not too keen on that.

I have a feeling, though, that I'm close to the limit with that PSU. You may want to look for something a tad beefier.

I had plugged my Phenom X4 9850 into my g/f's PC, and it would hang while booting into Windows. Her PSU is an Antec Earthwatts 500w. It's not as robust as the OCZ unit, but that indicated to me that I was perhaps approaching the limit of what decent 500w PSU's are capable of handling. I'm sure higher-end brand PSU's can do better.

None of this is research, though, merely anecdotal.

 

[statik213]

Nvm, I just ordered the big-brother of that PSU. Might as well be future proof.
This looks like a decent deal:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817341010

 

[statik213]

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
I have that OCZ 500w PSU. It's powering:

Phenom X4 9850 @ 2.75Ghz
4 GB RAM
2 HDD
2 DVDRW
1 8800gt

My machine has been perfectly stable with it. However, I've had a couple of issues with OCZ rebates; my experience has been that both times I submitted for rebates, I've had to contact them directly in order to get my checks. So I'm not too keen on that.

I have a feeling, though, that I'm close to the limit with that PSU. You may want to look for something a tad beefier.

I had plugged my Phenom X4 9850 into my g/f's PC, and it would hang while booting into Windows. Her PSU is an Antec Earthwatts 500w. It's not as robust as the OCZ unit, but that indicated to me that I was perhaps approaching the limit of what decent 500w PSU's are capable of handling. I'm sure higher-end brand PSU's can do better.

None of this is research, though, merely anecdotal.

Cool, thanks... I already went w/ the higher model PSU. I think I should be in the safe.

 

[dangman4ever]

Shit, didn't get here in time. Just an FYI, don't use that StealthXStream past 500W or so. It's based off the FSP Episilon PSU design which has out of spec ripple, or voltage fluctuations, at high loads that can damage or kill your system. Granted, you may not reach such high loads but why pay for a PSU that can kill your system?

 

[fustercluck]

Kinda funny I found this thread. I have a 500W PSU and think I'm going to try and get by with an HD 4870 video card. PSUs are really damned expensive and 500W seems like a lot still to me, even though 750W seems to be the standard. My cpu voltage is at stock so are all my other voltages.

Anyone tried running an HD 4870 on a (maybe crapp) 500W PSU?

Dammit. Ah well, unless I see a really good deal on PSU somewhere I'm probably going to just keep this one, it's only about a year old.

 

[dangman4ever]

Which 500W PSU do you have? Not all 500W PSUs are the same you know. Unless you live outside the U.S, quality PSUs can be had for a cheap price. Not too familiar with the pricings and availability of PSUs in other countries so can't say anything about that.

Also what are the rest of the specs of your system?

 

[statik213]

Originally posted by: dangman4ever
Shit, didn't get here in time. Just an FYI, don't use that StealthXStream past 500W or so. It's based off the FSP Episilon PSU design which has out of spec ripple, or voltage fluctuations, at high loads that can damage or kill your system. Granted, you may not reach such high loads but why pay for a PSU that can kill your system?

crap... i bought the 600w PSU. Plugging my system into my kill-a-watt reads around 240w at peak, running my current ati x850xt and opteron 165. I want to upgrade to a 4870 soon, and a new cpu/mobo/ram when the am3s come out.

Do you have any links that describe this issue? Maybe OCZ has fixed this, since this is a later revision, 'cos the connectors don't seem to match up w/ the newegg spec. There are two PCIe 6-pin connectors documented, but there's an extra two pins alongside one of the 6-pins. I wonder if this is to make one of the 6-pins into a pcie 8 pin.