Is my PSU good enough for a HD7850 Graphics Card?

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Willothewisp

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Dec 22, 2013
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Hi, I need to upgrade my graphics card and I'm looking for something under £150. I'm thinking of a HD7850. Current PSU is an FSP Group FSP450-60EP with 450 max wattage.

Any advise would be appreciated.

My specs are-
Operating System- Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
CPU- Intel Core i7 870 @ 2.93GHz 37 °C
Lynnfield 45nm Technology
RAM- 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 664MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard- Packard Bell ipower G5800 (CPU 1)
Graphics- Viseo 230Ws (1920x1080@60Hz)
2048MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 330 (Sapphire/PCPartner) 55 °C
Storage-1397GB Western Digital WDC WD15EADS-22P8B0 (SATA) 37 °C
Optical Drives- ATAPI DVD A DH16ABSH
Audio- SB 5.1 VX
 
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Quakemz

Quakemz

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Dec 10, 2013
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Unfortunately not really. If you ask any knowledgeable enthusiast, they will tell you NOT to skimp on the PSU, it powers your whole system, and I've seen cheap ones burn houses down. It's just not worth it. You want a decent one, trust me.
They are not all created equally. A good 500w and a bad 500w can often be VERY different in terms on power. The wattage isn't the only thing to look at. Trust me when I say upgrade it to the Corsair CX500M or something like that.
 
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VincentP

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Oct 18, 2013
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A good quality power supply over 400W would be fine.
You want something rated at least 30A on the +12V rail (or combined +12V rails if there are more than one).
I can't find an online spec sheet to show what the rating on your power supply is.
If you do need a new power supply, always buy an 80 plus rated unit.

Core i7 870 = 95W
AMD Radeon 7850 = 130W
Other components = 50W
Total = 275W
Choose power supply based on 70% of rated power at full load
268 / 0.7 = 393W

Recommendations:
Seasonic S12II 430W - Great quality 80 plus Bronze rated unit
Seasonic G 450W - Great quality 80 plus Gold rated unit, but more expensive
Corsair CX 430 V3 - Good quality budget 80 plus bronze rated unit (not as good, but OK if the Seasonic units are too expensive)

Note that the GTX 650 Ti boost is the equivalent card from Nvidia if you are not tied to AMD.
 
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Willothewisp

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Dec 22, 2013
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All, fantastic information, thanks.

Quakemz, absolutely agree, no point in putting yourself in danger. I guess Packard Bell used only an average PSU to keeps down! its £42.80 in Dabs.

Vincent P, guess my one will be ok in this instance then, but I may well take Quakemz advise and upgrade, especially as I want to future proof my PC for a few years. Point taken on 650ti, but reading reviews & checking specs, the HD7850 appears to be the slightly better one of the two.

I have a photograph of the label to the PSU with the specs on if you can advise how to upload it?
 
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VincentP

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Any power supply provided by HP shouldn't be of the really cheap and nasty variety, but they are often not designed to power high end graphics cards.
The GT 330 is rated at 75W.
The HD 7850 is rated at 130W.
If you can see a specification indicating the +12V rail is rated at 30A, the power supply is fine.
If in doubt, a good quality power supply would be a good purchase.
 
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Quakemz

Quakemz

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Weird, all the people I know who use them have had zero problems with them.
 
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a1blaster

a1blaster

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Sep 14, 2013
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I have dual 12Vrail too with 18A each..im running a 660 ti without issues,,,your psu is enough for 7850 and even 7870 or 760
 
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VincentP

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Oct 18, 2013
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360W / 12V = 30A
This should be enough, but it is very close.
Because the supply has two +12V rails, there is a concern of drawing too much on one of these rails.
Check if the power supply has two 6 pin PCI-E power connectors.
If it does, I think you'll be fine.
If not, don't muck around with adapters.
If you only have a single PCI-E power connector and don't want to upgrade the power supply, choose a card that requires only one connector.
GTX 650 Ti from Nvidia (not the GTX 650 Ti boost) or HD 7770 from AMD both require only a single connector and have lower power usage than the HD 7850 (GTX 650 Ti is a little faster than the HD 7770).

HD 7850 rated at 130W
GTX 650 Ti rated at 110W
HD 7770 rated at 80W
If the power supply has only a single PCI-E power connector and you don't want to upgrade it, I recommend the HD 7770.
 
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a1blaster

a1blaster

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wrong wrong wrong,, I have 450W psu with similar 12V rating as him, dual 18A...im using 4-pin to 6-pin converter since I only have one 6-pin pcie...my 660 ti runs at 1084mhz during load(915 MHz default)...never had problems whatsoever..
and by the way, 7850 only requires ONE 6-pin pcie power cable
 
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VincentP

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Oct 18, 2013
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You're right that the 7850 only has a single 6 pin PCI-E power connector, my mistake.
You can't assume though that because you got away with using a molex to PCI-E power adapter and your power supply hasn't died yet that others should do the same.
The adapter takes power from two molex connectors and for this to work you need to load both rails well below their rated limit.
If you choose the wrong molex connectors or the molex connectors and 12V supply from the PCI-E slot are predominantly on one of the 12V rails, you will overload one of the rails.
Molex connectors are typically expected to power old IDE hard drives and fans.
The power supply manufacturer hasn't necessarily allowed for high current draw from these connectors.
These adapters are generally just bad news.
 
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VincentP

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Oct 18, 2013
4,105
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360W / 12V = 30A
This should be enough, but it is very close.
Because the supply has two +12V rails, there is a concern of drawing too much on one of these rails.
Check if the power supply has two 6 pin PCI-E power connectors.
If it does, I think you'll be fine.
If not, don't muck around with adapters.
If you only have a single PCI-E power connector and don't want to upgrade the power supply, choose a card that requires only one connector.
GTX 650 Ti from Nvidia (not the GTX 650 Ti boost) or HD 7770 from AMD both require only a single connector and have lower power usage than the HD 7850 (GTX 650 Ti is a little faster than the HD 7770).

HD 7850 rated at 130W
GTX 650 Ti rated at 110W
HD 7770 rated at 80W
If the power supply has only a single PCI-E power connector and you don't want to upgrade it, I recommend the HD 7770.

---

My mistake, the HD 7850 only has a single PCI-E power connector.
If your power supply has a PCI-E power connector provided, this should be assigned correctly to the 12V rails and the HD 7850 should work fine.
If no PCI-E power connector is provided, the HD 7750 is the best card that does not require a PCI-E power connector.
 
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Willothewisp

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Dec 22, 2013
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All, many thanks for your input.
The PSU does have a 6 pin connector, the current card isn't using it.
I will see how I go, but at this stage from the info provided I can use the existing PSU, though its reaching its upper limits regarding power.

Thanks again.
 
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