HD 4850 PSU requirement?

[Aolish]

hey guys I have yet another question... A friend of mine has a system that needs a video card upgrade. He's only running a X300 on his Gateway 820gm PC. He really wants to start playing some games on it. He says he has a PCI-E slot so obviously this will give him a lot of headroom with the cards he can buy. However according to:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/app...dpNo=1191363&body=MAIN

it lists that the PSU is only a 300w. Now i'm not sure how entirely accurate this info is. But assuming its true he obviously needs an upgrade. Anyone know what kind of psu he will need to start playing todays games? Something like a 500w would suffice? thanks for any info.

 

[JPB]

I think a 500watt psu with a good rating would suffice just fine for a 4850.

However, I could be mistaken here, But isnt the likes of Gateway and Dell have power supplies that really cannot be upgraded ? Something along the lines of a aftermarket psu wont mount in the case ? Or hook up ?

Im not totally sure.

I would ask DSF about this. He seems to be the PSU guru :thumbsup:

 

[Aolish]

thx, hopefully he see's this thread.

 

[JPB]

Just put DSF in the topic summary. He'll see it. And im sure he'll be glad to help.

 

[HumblePie]

Originally posted by: JPB
I think a 500watt psu with a good rating would suffice just fine for a 4850.

However, I could be mistaken here, But isnt the likes of Gateway and Dell have power supplies that really cannot be upgraded ? Something along the lines of a aftermarket psu wont mount in the case ? Or hook up ?

Im not totally sure.

I would ask DSF about this. He seems to be the PSU guru :thumbsup:

well, somewhat. Some cases sold by them are a bit cramped and don't allow some of the bigger after market PSU's to be put in. I find the Antec Earthwatts line to work well in most cases for these. Also, if need be, a bit of customization to remove certain limiting brackets can be done to those cases if need be.

The only PSU upgrade problem that I've seen in the recent past is with Sony brand computers. They took the standard 24 pin connection and pulled out 2 of them and moved them to another connection on the motherboard. If you are willing to do at worst some wire splicing or a bit better, some soldering, a PSU can be swapped out still. For most people, this is enough of a deterrent to swapping PSU's because the aftermarket ones basically don't "fit" because Sony wanted it that way.

While I would never buy a company built system for myself, I worked in CC, BB, CUSA, and Conns throughout my life and have sold those every variety of computer there is. On the occasion, about once every 2 or 3 weeks before, when someone came in wanting to buy a pre-built "gaming" machine from the crappy selection of PC's we had, I'd show them what PC they needed to buy and what parts to put in, and have the tech guys "if available" do it all for them for a small fee. It still usually ended up cheaper than whatever "super high end" $2000 to $3000 wanna be gaming computer we were carrying which usually was a peice of junk compared to buying a good vid card and PSU and maybe some extra ram to go into a "cheap" computer of the same brand.

 

[Aolish]

So my friend has decided to get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817371019

Along with the 4850 to install into his Gateway 820GM. JPB you do bring up a good point... your probably talking about proprietary hardware right? What are the chances of my friend getting into some trouble with installing the PSU on a gateway system? If its to great perhaps I should tell him not to even bother? These Gateway and Dell systems are just so unpredictable.

 

[bryanW1995]

I'd steer clear of that psu. try this one instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817371006

it's cheaper after the rebate AND it's a great psu. I have mine running a highly oc'd q6600 with no problems at all, and the 30a on the combined 12v rail is almost certainly better than the 500w basiq.

 

[Modular]

Second vote for the Eartwatts 430. I'm running my MSI 4850 on one. Great PSU.

 

[Aolish]

wow thanks guys!!!! Any more info and tips is greatly appreciated guys. :thumbsup:

 

[unr3al]

I hope he's planning to get a new CPU as well. Otherwise he could just as well be buying an X1950pro where bottlenecking is concerned...

 

[Aolish]

unfortunately he isn't lol