Will a low-wattage power supply cause decreased performance?

[blurredvision]

My current rig is as follows:

Athlon XP 2400+
Soyo KT333 Platinum Ed. mobo
1GB PC2100 RAM
GeForce4 Ti4400
sound and LAN built-in to mobo

I currently have a generic 300W PS that I've been using for quite some time, and it's never given me any grief. I experience no problems with my comp whatsoever. I am thinking of getting a 9800Pro within the next month, and am afraid that my PS will limit me. I've heard in the past that a weak PS can decrease your performance, in-game or otherwise. Is this true? If my comp runs fine, should I even worry about upgrading my PS? What wattage should I look for?

TIA

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

that power supply will never handle the 9800pro

 

[Sunner]

If it's a good quality one, it may very well handle the R9800 Pro.

 

[0roo0roo]

weak psu never limits performance. clock speed does not depend or change with psu. it simply dieswithout enough power

 

[WackyDan]

Originally posted by: blurredvision
My current rig is as follows:

Athlon XP 2400+
Soyo KT333 Platinum Ed. mobo
1GB PC2100 RAM
GeForce4 Ti4400
sound and LAN built-in to mobo

I currently have a generic 300W PS that I've been using for quite some time, and it's never given me any grief. I experience no problems with my comp whatsoever. I am thinking of getting a 9800Pro within the next month, and am afraid that my PS will limit me. I've heard in the past that a weak PS can decrease your performance, in-game or otherwise. Is this true? If my comp runs fine, should I even worry about upgrading my PS? What wattage should I look for?

TIA

It may very likely run fine with the 9800pro. Depends on the supply- calling it generic doesn't mean it's not up to the task. However, do leave $$$ in your budget for a new supply just in case, though I'll bet the 300watt does fine. Don't buy whole hog into the wattage war of words like others do here.

 

[Regs]

It won't decease performance but may induce instability. Should be fine though. It might be a little taxing on the PSU. Shortening the life of the PSU, but I don't know too many people who hang onto a computer without upgrading after a time span of a few years.

 

[ForceCalibur]

My Dell 250 W PSU can handle over 400 W Load. (9800 XT, 2 HDS, etc)
Its quality, not the stated wattage on the PSU. If it really is "generic" you may have problems, or it may be fine.

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

read up, new graphics cards are power hungry

he said its generic,i doubt it will ever handle the 9800pro.

 

[Lonyo]

Find out the ratings on the rails (ie: amps), then decide if it will handle it. I have a similar system with a 300w PSU and it handles it fine.
(and post them)

 

[blurredvision]

I say it's a generic PS because it was included with my case I bought from coolerguys.com a couple of years ago. I haven't actually looked at it for a while, so it may be name brand, but doubtful.

It just seems as if I had heard that poor performance in games may be attributed to a weak PS. It seemed doubtful, but I was still wary of it.

Thanks for the info guys.

 

[SilentZero]

Post the DC output of the PSU.

 

[KristopherKubicki]

I poor PSU will make your system unstable, but it wont limit performance. Its not like you will get an extra 30FPS is you replace your 300W with an Enermax 600W unit. It either works or it doesnt.

Kristopher

 

[NokiaDude]

Wattage is nothing, its all about the amount of AMPs your PSU can supply to the power rails. If you can get a low-watt PSU that can supply a good 30AMPs to the 12v and 12-15 amps to the 5v rails you'll be fine.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

I've had an Enlight 300W run Gaming rig 2 (see sig) with a 9800 pro. No problems. However, Gaming rig 1 better complimented it.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: NokiaDude
Wattage is nothing, its all about the amount of AMPs your PSU can supply to the power rails. If you can get a low-watt PSU that can supply a good 30AMPs to the 12v and 12-15 amps to the 5v rails you'll be fine.

A PSU that supplies 30A to the 12V rail is, by necessity, at least a 360W PSU. If it also supplies 12A to the 5V rail, it is a 420W or higher PSU.

However, you're correct in your assessment -- you can find "250W" PSUs that provide 14-15A on the 12V line, and also "400W" and higher PSUs that only provide 10-12A on the 12V line (but provide lots of useless amps on the 3V and 5V rails -- you don't need more than 10-15 on either). The former is generally going to do MUCH better than the latter in most systems.

Here's a pretty good 250W (at least based on the numbers): good, low-wattage PSU

And here's a pretty crappy high-wattage one (40A on the 5V line but 12A on the 12V line?): crappy 400W PSU

 

[JesseKnows]

I beg to differ on the 12V vs. other Voltages issue.

12V is only used by drives these days. The logic on the motherboard is probably a mixture of 3.3 and 5V. Memory is 3.3V. I bet the 9800 is also mostly 3.3V. The lower Voltage helps keep things cooler. Note CPUs are down from 3.5V in the Pentium Classic to 1.4V in the newest P4, as densities grow and semiconductors become more sensitive to heat.

So, if you are running a server or have other reasons to have many drives, you need the 12V supply.

 

[igowerf]

Originally posted by: AWhackWhiteBoy
that power supply will never handle the 9800pro

I'm running a 9800 Pro in my Shuttle that only has a 220W powersupply.

 

[KristopherKubicki]

NokiaDude: Wattage is Amps * Volts. Volts on a PSU do not change - its always 3.3, 5 and 12.

In essence, Amps matter, but the small gotcha* in power supplies is that sometimes there are rail limitations. You could have a power supply that supports 30A on the 12V rail, but the maximum output of the unit (or all 3 major rails) might be 360W. Aslo, pay very* close attention to the "combined" wattage on the 3.3V and 5V rail (they are almost always combined).

Hope that helps.

Kristopher