New Vid Card in an Old System. Need new PSU advice

Thadar

Junior Member
Jul 19, 2007
4
0
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Greetings folks,

I have an older system and need some advice. I have very limited funds at the moment and need to upgrade this system to make it gameable for the next year or so until I can do a full rebuild with a new system.

Currently I have a Giga-Byte GA-8PE667 Ultra Motherboard running a 2.4 Ghz P4. Im looking to buy this Video Card as my new one and add in another Gig of RAM (making it 2GB total). As such, my old 4+ yr old 400W PSU just wont cut it anymore and needs to be replaced.

Could I get some suggestions for a reliable PSU to run my modest rig? Thank you all in advance.


Edit for below message: My concern is that the PSU has lost juice. The Comp has basically been running day and night for about 3 years. It rarely ever gets shut down. So, Im guessing that its not going to be enough. Maybe it will be, but hopefully someone can answer that for me and if not, provide a good model that would suit my needs. Thanks for the reply.
 

GenHoth

Platinum Member
Jul 5, 2007
2,106
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Corsair and Seasonic are very popular here. Though that 400 W may be enough for you. Once some of the wattage buffs notice the thread I'm sure they'll let you know
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
http://anandtech.com/cpuchipse...howdoc.aspx?i=2903&p=7 (flip to the power consumption page) shows that Anand's reviews show a Core 2 Duo system with 6600 takes about 200 watts under heavy load, with nVidia 8800GTX in it. Even the Pentium D designs only need about 240 watts under full load.... so I'd say the current 400W PSU will be able to do that and more.
 

John

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
33,944
1
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Thadar, what brand/model is your old psu? You may or may not need a new one, especially since the X1950Pro only pulls ~65W under load.

A nice $45 AR EarthWatts 430 will do your rig some justice and is a better option than the Fortron mentioned above IMO.

[*]It costs less AR :p
[*]It has better efficiency which means less heat, less fan noise, and it will save you money on your electric bill
[*]30A on a single 12V rail
[*]Antec AQ3 year warranty
 

SolMiester

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2004
5,330
17
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I bet your PSU is NOT enough, sorry mate, I have just been thru the x1950pro scenario, my TT 460w didnt like it @ 22amp on the 12v.

These cards need 30amp total on your 12v. I would seriously check the your psu specs 1st.
 

John

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
33,944
1
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Originally posted by: SolMiester
I bet your PSU is NOT enough, sorry mate, I have just been thru the x1950pro scenario, my TT 460w didnt like it @ 22amp on the 12v.

These cards need 30amp total on your 12v. I would seriously check the your psu specs 1st.

The X1950Pro only pulls ~65W under load, and if you are using a quality psu it does not require 30A (360W) on the 12V rail. Of course the Antec EarthWatts I linked to above fits the "recommended" guidelines from ATI. ;)

 

SolMiester

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2004
5,330
17
76
I think where this differs is that he is on AGP bus, which means more draw thru the molex/pci-e connectors as apposed to a PCIe card.

I am just saying his current PSU wont be enough.
 

mpilchfamily

Diamond Member
Jun 11, 2007
3,559
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Just a reminder that the 30A recomendation found on the specs is for total system. ATI is just making sure that you get a PSU that will be able to handle your system so you can't blaim them for an under powered system. At the most the system will only need 26A.
 

fire400

Diamond Member
Nov 21, 2005
5,204
21
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12 pipelines? that's it? the x850 had 16.

an x1900XT 256 is faster than this card.

anyway, get it, but upgrade your psu.

once you've realized F.E.A.R. running on this comp of yours, go pci-e

test your system, cash it, upgrade, cash it, redo.
 

JEDIYoda

Lifer
Jul 13, 2005
33,986
3,320
126
Originally posted by: dclive
http://anandtech.com/cpuchipse...howdoc.aspx?i=2903&p=7 (flip to the power consumption page) shows that Anand's reviews show a Core 2 Duo system with 6600 takes about 200 watts under heavy load, with nVidia 8800GTX in it. Even the Pentium D designs only need about 240 watts under full load.... so I'd say the current 400W PSU will be able to do that and more.

Even though there are quite a few people who are proponents of well 200watt or 300watt or for that matter 400watt power supplies are all amynody needs.

They forget a few things namely the most important is how many amps on the 12 volt rail??

Now it would be nice if manufacturers would be able to make those 300 and 400 watt PSU will the proper amps needed to run some of these newer riggs but that just is not going to happen.

Thus anytime somebody says why you need that 600 watt PSU...you have an answer.....well my 300watt PSU can`t pull enough amps on the 12vold rail or rails...lolol

Peace!!