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6850 on a Seasonic 350w PSU with 34a

jacktesterson

jacktesterson

Diamond Member
Hi all

I am thinking about upgrading my FX4300 Desktop to a 760 or 7950 (Or maybe a Used 670, etc)

I have 2 desktops, a FX4300 @ 4.6 GHz with a 6850 on a 550w Power Supply (OCZ ZT with 45a on 12v, 80+ Bronze) and a A10-5800K (no GPU) on a 350w Seasonic 350 OEM Power Supply (80+ bronze, 2 x 17a on 12v)

I'm **Thinking** about upgrading the FX4300 and putting the 6850 in the A10 build

Do you think a 350w Seasonic PSU with 12v rating of 34a will run a A10-5800k @ 4.2 GHz with a 6850? (Both stock voltages, its a Windforce O/C Model of the 6850) 1 x SSD, 2 x WD Green Drives. This PC doesn't actually game much (Mostly just when having some big screen Saints Row 3 fun) - but thinking of passing it down rather than selling if it will work.

The FX4300 Desktop uses a single 1920x1200 Monitor, while the A10 build is currently on a 50" 1360x768 Plasma
 
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That unit does not have 34A on the +12V - you can't just add together the amp ratings for each rail. The total +12V rating is almost always lower. In this case, it's 324W (27A).

A10-5800K is over 100W at full load, 6850 is 110W. The rest of the system about 50W. This is 250W of peak +12v power, or 80% of the units +12V rating. It'll probably work fine, since most of the time you'll be consuming around 200W or less. However I'd rather sell the 6850 and replace it with a current generation card, e.g. 7770 which consumes about 70W
 
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lehtv said:
That unit does not have 34A on the +12V - you can't just add together the amp ratings for each rail. The total +12V rating is almost always lower. In this case, it's 324W (27A).

A10-5800K is over 100W at full load, 6850 is 110W. The rest of the system about 50W. This is 250W of peak +12v power, or 80% of the units +12V rating. It'll probably work fine, since most of the time you'll be consuming around 200W or less. However I'd rather sell the 6850 and replace it with a current generation card, e.g. 7770 which consumes about 70W
Click to expand...

Didn't know that - I am not very knowledgable about PSU's other than using JonnyGuru as a guide to buying them. It's a subject I've never really looked into a lot other than buying a quality unit at a decent price.

From my own research, I think my system will run fine on it.

This review has a 6850 with an overclocked i7-965 running load at 270w

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_6850_6870_review,10.html

Also like I said - I'm talking a couple hours a week of gaming at most - 95% of the time it will be idle or playing media only.
 
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I killed an Antec 350W PSU with an HD 5850 (it never fully powered on). The 5850 uses slightly more power than the 6850. I wouldn't recommend it.
 
AnonymouseUser said:
I killed an Antec 350W PSU with an HD 5850 (it never fully powered on). The 5850 uses slightly more power than the 6850. I wouldn't recommend it.
Click to expand...

That doesn't sound typical... 5850 does use roughly 25w more on load.

hmmm

I *may* just sell it for a 7750 then to be on the safe side, or just sell the 6850 leave the HTPC alone.

I may do nothing at all - Was just looking to answer this question for options, more or less.
 
I just checked the 6850, and it only requires one 6-pin PCI-E connector, whereas the 5850 required 2 connectors (2 x 6-pin, or 1 x 6-pin and 1 x 6+2-pin). Also, the 5850 was factory overclocked, which I forgot to mention. Total system load was ~300W.

It may work fine, but don't do it if you can't afford to replace the PSU.
 
bigystyle84 said:
This review has a 6850 with an overclocked i7-965 running load at 270w

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_6850_6870_review,10.html

Also like I said - I'm talking a couple hours a week of gaming at most - 95% of the time it will be idle or playing media only.
Click to expand...

bigystyle84 said:
Anandtech also has it at 270w load system while playing Crysis, using a i7-920 overclocked.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3987/...enewing-competition-in-the-midrange-market/20
Click to expand...

These are measured from the wall so efficiency is not accounted for, you can safely reduce 10-20% from these numbers. However, also consider that Guru3D only stresses the GPU, and Anandtech's Crysis bench mostly stresses the GPU, so these are not maximum load numbers for the overall systems. Using the hardware in Guru3D's and Anandtech's reviews, you could probably go over 300W if you properly loaded both the GPU and CPU simultaneously.

I wouldn't do it, it's not expensive to buy a unit that's guaranteed to power the system safely
 
lehtv said:
These are measured from the wall so efficiency is not accounted for, you can safely reduce 10-20% from these numbers. However, also consider that Guru3D only stresses the GPU, and Anandtech's Crysis bench mostly stresses the GPU, so these are not maximum load numbers for the overall systems. Using the hardware in Guru3D's and Anandtech's reviews, you could probably go over 300W if you properly loaded both the GPU and CPU simultaneously.

I wouldn't do it, it's not expensive to buy a unit that's guaranteed to power the system safely
Click to expand...

Yeah - I don't want to upgrade the PSU - It's not worth it for me
 
Have you tested the system with a killawatt to see how much power it's using? If its loading now at under 200w, you should be fine adding a 6850. (Although, as was mentioned, a 7750 or 7770 would give you more PSU breathing room w/ about the same performance.)

Otherwise, we're just guessing - particularly without knowing the other components in the computer. (You could have 1 SSD using 3w, or a RAID-5 array using 45w. You could have no ODD, or 3 of them. Water cooling, neon lighting, blah blah blah.)
 
dave_the_nerd said:
Have you tested the system with a killawatt to see how much power it's using? If its loading now at under 200w, you should be fine adding a 6850. (Although, as was mentioned, a 7750 or 7770 would give you more PSU breathing room w/ about the same performance.)

Otherwise, we're just guessing - particularly without knowing the other components in the computer. (You could have 1 SSD using 3w, or a RAID-5 array using 45w. You could have no ODD, or 3 of them. Water cooling, neon lighting, blah blah blah.)
Click to expand...

See my Sig - Everything at stock voltage - No lighting, no special cooling - Pretty basic budget build. 2 low RPM case fans (1 x 120mm, 1 x 80mm)

This is the full build of my HTPC I want to add this card to potentially

AMD A10-5800k @ 4.2GHz | Big Shrukin HSF | Corsair Vengeance 8GB DD3-1866 @ 2133 1.55v | MSI A55M-E33 | Intel 320 80GB SSD | WD Green 2TB | Sony Bluray Superdrive | Seasonic 350w 80+ Bronze PSU | NMedia 5000B HTPC Case | LG 50” 1360x768 Plasma TV | LG 2.1 Soundbar NB3530A | 2x Xbox 360 Wireless Controllers | Win 8 x64 Pro |
 
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