PSU usage question

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acenglish

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Jan 2, 2014
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Hello all, new poster here. Had a quick question on my PSU. Is there anyway I can check how much "spare" power I have when it comes to this thing? My plan is to upgrade my GPU and Ive narrowed it down to 3 cards that claim to use between 115-140w. Most likely getting the 115w one anyways, but just to be safe, I wanted to see what Im looking at.

Attached is an image of my PSU sticker with its info. and below that are my PC specs currently. Any other info. you need just let me know. Im pretty confused by all this, but the last thing I wanna do is spend 150$ on a GPU and then blow stuff up or something haha.

Thanks for the help in advance!

http://imgur.com/ho1lJYe <--Power Supply

PC SPECS:

Operating System:
Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) Service Pack 1 (build 7601)


System Model:
Acer Predator G3610


Processor:
3.40 gigahertz Intel Core i7-2600
256 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
8192 kilobyte tertiary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (4 total)
Hyper-threaded (8 total)


Main Circuit Board:
Board: Acer Predator G3610
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz


Memory Modules:
8174 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
Slot 'DIMM1' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM2' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM3' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM4' has 2048 MB


Display:
NVIDIA GeForce GT 530 [Display adapter]


Drives:
1980.96 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
1852.50 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
 
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The reason I wouldn't use the 270x with a molex adapter is that because the PSU is a dual rail design each 12v line can only supply about half of it's output. Usually this is split so that most things are on one and the GPU on the other. Though a little more complex the result would be if either line is overloaded the PSU will probably fail even though it isn't at its full capacity. Depending on its' design, using the adapter may cause the load to be lopsided to one of the power supplies outputs.

I have the exact same problem in my home theater box with a 6870 sitting on a shelf because the HTPC has a 380w supply with only a single 6-Pin for video. It's such a pain because the upgrade from the 5770 that's in there now to the 6870 is...
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Traciatim

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The only good way to measure actual system usage is with something like a Kill-a-Watt or Watts Up Pro watt meter style device. Everything else is generally just estimating based on benchmarks and charts online.

I do know though that I am running a 3570k with a GTX670 in it and it's only pulling a peak of about 310 watts from the wall. Which means that as long as you aren't going too crazy on the video card then you are probably well within your specs to put something mid range in there.
 
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McWelshie

McWelshie

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Jul 13, 2013
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all of the above answers are correct basically lower end cards should be fine...however i would recommened getting a new psu to be safe, like the new corsair builder series they are great and are 80+ bronze certified. im just saying this because that looks like an old psu and they tend to fail with age
 
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Traciatim

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He's got an i7-2600, and I think that's the side of an 80Plus sticker on his PSU just to the left side of the image. If the PSU came with the machine it can't be more than a couple years old anyway.

Pretty much any video card with a single 6-pin connector should be fine on that supply. Something like a 7850 I'm sure would run on it. As long as it actually does have a 6-pin PCI-E connector I suppose . . .


 
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McWelshie

McWelshie

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i apologies i dident notice the sticker. yeah he should be fine with mid cards then even. the HD series is a good start. i used to have the HD 7770 which i personally found to be a great card for its price
 
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acenglish

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Jan 2, 2014
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Thanks for all the quick responses. The cards I was looking into were the Radeon R7 260X, Radeon R9 270, and the Radeon HD 7850 and lastly the NVidia GTX 650 TI boost. Basically whichever i find the cheapest after some searching around is probably what ill end up with unless a better card ends up being slightly more.
 
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acenglish

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Jan 2, 2014
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Another thing to add. Ive only got about 12ish months of solid use outta this PC. Bought it in 2012 and used it all year and was gone all of 2013 so it sat in storage so the PSU hasnt been going nonstop or anything.
 
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Traciatim

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The reason I wouldn't use the 270x with a molex adapter is that because the PSU is a dual rail design each 12v line can only supply about half of it's output. Usually this is split so that most things are on one and the GPU on the other. Though a little more complex the result would be if either line is overloaded the PSU will probably fail even though it isn't at its full capacity. Depending on its' design, using the adapter may cause the load to be lopsided to one of the power supplies outputs.

I have the exact same problem in my home theater box with a 6870 sitting on a shelf because the HTPC has a 380w supply with only a single 6-Pin for video. It's such a pain because the upgrade from the 5770 that's in there now to the 6870 is huge, but I'm not sure if I want to buy a new PSU for that machine . . . so there the good card sits doing nothing but collecting dust.

Long story short, unless you are replacing the PSU I would probably stick with single PCI-E power connector cards just to be safe. It's likely that the 270x would run just fine in that configuration, but I certainly wouldn't want to bet my money on it :)
 
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