Quick question! HD 4670 + Power supply

[octoberasian]

Ok, NewEgg.com says it needs a 400W PSU, but can a 250W PSU from an HP A6403w power it?

I just told my friend who lives in Texas to buy it to upgrade from the 7100 in his system. The thing though, he isn't well-versed in PCs. So, I opted he didn't go get something like a new video card and power supply to keep things simple.

If not, then I have to find another card for him.

He only plays Diablo 2 and one other 3D game, Final Fantasy XI, an MMO.

I'm trying to figure out if there is another card that will be equivalent performance and not require a new PSU.

 

[a123456]

It should be fine even if customer support won't be happy since they "recommend" 26A and a 400W PSU, probably because they figure you have 10 hard drives and run an i7 965. There's a review of the E2160, not overclocked, with a 7800GT using a little more than 100W under load (http://www.neoseeker.com/Artic..._e2160_review/13.html). I don't know how reliable that review is but the E2160 has a TDP of 65W anyway. I assume the HP can't be overclocked.

The 4670 (about 50W) uses about 10W less power than the 7800GT (about 60W). If the whole system is drawing 100-120W, then it can't use more than ~10A on the 12V tops. That PSU only gets ~14A on the 12V but on first glance I don't see much in there that's going to stress the PSU.

 

[octoberasian]

I just want to keep things simple for my friend since I don't live near him to replace the PSU for him.

And, one game he plays, FFXI, is very finicky towards Nvidia cards in Vista. I wanted at least a 4000 series ATI that didn't require a PSU upgrade and would still be decent enough to play the game.

Thank you for the reply however.

 

[ther00kie16]

it'll be fine. Anand's article on the 4670 was extremely informative. core 2 quad (9450) + 4670 loaded with crysis only drew 139W at the wall for the entire system, which would only be like 10A on the 12V rail.

 

[octoberasian]

Oh nice review! Thank you for the link.

That's good, I don't have to worry much then.

 

[a123456]

Yeah, I missed the Anand article somehow. 139W is low enough to be usable here and his CPU uses much less power than the Q9450 so things should be fine in the low 100s range. 4670 doesn't have a PCI-E connector either so installation is pretty simple.