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Will a seasonic 430w power a 4850?

H

happyguy155

Member
Here are specs on my power supply:
+3.3V@30A, +5V@30A, +12V1@14A, +12V2@15A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@2A

A 4850 requires a 450w power supply and 1 6 pin power connector ,but the S12 isn't a cheapo unit. Also, I only have 1 optical drive, 1 HD, and about 6 fans. I think I should be ok?
 
The SEASONIC S12 SS-430HB is a quality but very old model. It was made in 2005. Nowadays a typical PC pulls more power from the +12 V outputs because the microprocessor and the graphic card, which are the two most power hunger components from the PC, are connected to the + 12 V outputs (apart of the hard drives, optical drives, some fans, etc which are connected to it too). And that's why the 12V outputs are the most important ones. Nowadays the 3,3V and 5V outputs are responsible for the mobo, memory, expansion cards,...
A PSU which can deliver more power from its +5 V (30A) and +3.3 V (30A) outputs than from its +12 V outputs (14A and 15A) is because the design of that PSU is outdated. Some years ago the power distribution was different and the PSUs was made in order to work properly with that hardware.
Moreover, it doesn't have a 6-pin PCIe connector, so you will be forced to use a Molex-to-PCIe adapter, which is, in my opinion, NOT recommended.
Therefore, I recommend you to buy a new PSU.
 
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i was unaware that the PSU was that old and outdated, if its got no PCIe connector i would agree to get a new unit.
 
Which model exactly is it? Seasonic has made a bunch and updated them a number of times. We use the newest S12II 430 watt (model SS-430GB) Seasonics every day here at work and they all have TWO PCIe power connectors (6-pin and a 6+2 pin).
 
Google says 4850 TDP is about 115w. (15A * 12V)*.8=144W so you have plenty of head room. (.8 to account for capacitor aging)
 
I have a hd4850 w/ x4 620@3,25, it pulls about 200-250W on full load (measured by killawatt on the outlet). so you can figure it out from there. I'm using a 80+ PSU.
 
The premium PSU brands were already implementing the guidance of ATX12V by 2004, so it shouldn't be a problem but it depends on the rest of your system loading. The graphics card is not the only component required to make a PC.

The fact that this unit has "lower" 12V+ has little to do with its age or compliance with ATX12V and more to do with its total output being less than 450W. Its a 430W design, its not supposed to support 12V+ capacity of an 800W unit.
 
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Yes, it will definitely be enough if the rest of the system is not exotique.
You can clearly forget the claim that "a 4850 requires a 450w power supply".
 
tcsenter said:
The premium PSU brands were already implementing the guidance of ATX12V by 2004, so it shouldn't be a problem but it depends on the rest of your system loading. The graphics card is not the only component required to make a PC.

The fact that this unit has "lower" 12V+ has little to do with its age or compliance with ATX12V and more to do with its total output being less than 450W. Its a 430W design, its not supposed to support 12V+ capacity of an 800W unit.
Click to expand...


I don't agree with you. As I have written before, his PSU was based on one of the first ATX specifications, which was created when computer power consumption was concentrated on the +5V line. Nowadays, power consumption is concentrated on the +12 V outputs, as the CPU (ATX12V and EPS12V) and graphic cards.
Please, show me one PSU which has more amperage in the +5V output than in the +12V combinated output (not generic unit and made after 2007).
 
Henry Chinaski said:
I don't agree with you. As I have written before, his PSU was based on one of the first ATX specifications, which was created when computer power consumption was concentrated on the +5V line. Nowadays, power consumption is concentrated on the +12 V outputs, as the CPU (ATX12V and EPS12V) and graphic cards.
Please, show me one PSU which has more amperage in the +5V output than in the +12V combinated output (not generic unit and made after 2007).
Click to expand...
Nah, I'd say he's right. The "low" +12V amperage has more to do with it being a 430w unit than anything else. The power supply is definitely ATX12V 2.x, though. Anything 2.0 or greater should be designed to handle a lot of current on the +12V rails.

Here's a current 430w Seasonic with about the same ratings on the +12V rails and 10A less on +5V and +3.3V.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...12%20ii%20430w
 
frostedflakes said:
Nah, I'd say he's right. The "low" +12V amperage has more to do with it being a 430w unit than anything else. The power supply is definitely ATX12V 2.x, though.
Click to expand...
Its a classic ATX12V Rev. 2.0 unit, that adheres to the design guidance for 400W configurations almost exactly:

atx12v20.PNG


s12-430.PNG


Notice that +3.3V and +5.0V are limited to 150W combined.
 
frostedflakes said:
Nah, I'd say he's right. The "low" +12V amperage has more to do with it being a 430w unit than anything else. The power supply is definitely ATX12V 2.x, though. Anything 2.0 or greater should be designed to handle a lot of current on the +12V rails.

Here's a current 430w Seasonic with about the same ratings on the +12V rails and 10A less on +5V and +3.3V.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...12%20ii%20430w
Click to expand...

No, It hasn't.
The first one has 30A in the +5V rail and 14A+15A in the +12V combined output. 30A > 14+15
Yours has 20A in the +5V and 17A+17A in the +12V combined output. As expected, you have more amperage in the +12V combined output. 20A << 17+17
 
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tcsenter said:
Its a classic ATX12V Rev. 2.0 unit, that adheres to the design guidance for 400W configurations almost exactly:

atx12v20.PNG


s12-430.PNG


Notice that +3.3V and +5.0V are limited to 150W combined.
Click to expand...

I'm talking about the fact that in the old models (ONLY) you have more amperage in the +5V outputs (30A) than in the +12V outputs (14+15)A, and this is because they were made when computer power consumption was concentrated on the +5V line. (Are we agree?)
Nowadays, power consumption is concentrated on the +12 V (are we agree?) outputs so you won't find that power distribution in a relatively new PSU. Nowadays the amperage in the +5V output is lower than in the +12V output because you don't need so many amps in the +5V rail because the microprocessor and the graphic card, which are the two most power hunger components from the PC, are connected to the + 12 V output.
Of course that the lower wattage PSUs have low amperage everywhere (+12V included), but I'm not talking about that.
 
happyguy155 said:
strange, even that box looks identical to mine. There is a pcie connector in my 7800gt right now, though. Does this change your opinion of the 4850?
Click to expand...

Yes, I supose that your PSU can handle a 4850 graphic card. It's not a very power hungry graphic card.
Anyway, it depends on the cpu you have installed. If you have a quadcore cpu from AMD (125W), in my opinion, it would be a better recommendation to buy a new PSU. Of course, don't do any overclocking.
 
Yes, we know that before ATX12V 2.0 the power distribution was different. What you don't seem to understand is that the original S12 430w is an ATX12V 2.0 power supply (i.e. it was designed for systems with modern +12V power distribution) and delivers far more power on the +12V rails than it does on +3.3V or +5V -- 348w combined for +12V vs only 150w for both +3.3V and +5V. tcsenter showed you that the PSU basically complies almost 100&#37; with ATX12V 2.0 spec. I don't know what more we could do to explain this. :/
 
frostedflakes said:
Yes, we know that before ATX12V 2.0 the power distribution was different. What you don't seem to understand is that the original S12 430w is an ATX12V 2.0 power supply (i.e. it was designed for systems with modern +12V power distribution) and delivers far more power on the +12V rails than it does on +3.3V or +5V -- 348w combined for +12V vs only 150w for both +3.3V and +5V. tcsenter showed you that the PSU basically complies almost 100&#37; with ATX12V 2.0 spec. I don't know what more we could do to explain this. :/
Click to expand...

Therefore, Seasonic is just LIYING. They say that its PSU can deliver 30A in the +5V rail (360W), but at the final it can only deliver 150W (12,5A) (+5V and +3,3V rails combinated)...

Editing: I did the maths wrong. 30*5=150. Ok.
I know that the main positive outputs (+5 V and +3.3 V) share some components and therefore even though each output has an individual maximum output, this maximum can only be reached when no power is being pulled from the other outputs. The +5 V and +3.3 V outputs together have a combined maximum power lower than the simply addition of the maximum capacity from +5 V and +3.3 V outputs.
 
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