280 watt psu provide enough power?

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Okay, so I have a Dell Optiplex 745 desktop. I've looked at the psu and determined it to be a 280watt max and am thinking of upgrading. Before I get into detail here are my specs.

CPU: core 2 duo e4300 1.8ghz
GPU: Radeon 5450
PSU: 280 watt
1 dvd drive

I what to slap a q6600 in the sucker along with a gtx 750 ti. I've done some calculating myself and came up with 217-250 watt usage at load if I were to upgrade.
95-105w:q6600
60w: gtx750ti
12w:4 sticks of ddr2
5w: hard drive
29w: motherboard
20w: dvd drive
10w: everything else

I tried some psu calculators such as extreme and they mostly say 250 watts max, but I know extreme adds an extra 34 watts.
I just want to know if this setup would work with the psu.
 
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It is not quite clear exactly what is being measured in the first power figure page. On the second power result pages, the graphs explicitly state "VGA Card Only" and on those graphs, the 750Ti's peak is only 68W.

Since the 750Ti has no PCIE power connector (at least in its reference design form), it would be pretty difficult for it to draw over 100W through the PCIE slot from the motherboard which only has two 12V pins on its 24pins ATX connectors to provide 12V power to everything apart from the CPU..
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Titan
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Loading a PSU to close to 100% is usually not good for its lifespan. You want the typical load to be closer to 50% of what the PSU can handle to allow some margin for aging, instantaneous peaks, temporary extra loads, etc. Keeping the PSU in the 40-60% load also keeps it near its peak efficiency.

So, if you value long-term stability, you should consider getting a good quality 450-550W PSU.
 
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drums101

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Power supplies are something you never really want to just meet the bare minimum with. It is the only component that can take pretty much everything else with it if it goes out in a fiery mess. Also with power supplies that 280watt max rating might be its absolute maximum like its spike max vs. its continuous max output. With that being said are these components something you have laying around extra? or are you paying money to get these upgrades? If it were me and I had these components laying around I would try the 280watt psu first and see if it can handle the load. If it fries everything (which I have personally never had happen) then it was just extra old components anyways. If you are paying money for them then I would consider getting a decent psu to go with. But tbh I wouldnt even sink money into that system to begin with. You would be paying money for hardware that came out in 2007-2008 thats light years ago in technology. I would save my money and put it towards a new build down the road. You will not be happy with the gaming performance of that setup.
 
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What if I were to get a Gtx 750 ti and put it in the system and wait to build a new system. Then I could just take and use the gtx 750 later for my next build. You think the gpu would work for the psu then without the q6600?
 
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drums101

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You have to look at it this way when the manufacturer of this pc originally built it they wanted to squeeze every dollar of profit they could out of it so they cut corners where ever they could. This means they probably found the lowest possible wattage power supply they could to power the system to keep costs as low as possible. this is probably why they came up with a weird number of 280watts. So this means they left very little meat on the bone. If you look at this review of the 750 TI

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-750-ti-review,3750-20.html

While gaming the card averaged around 60 watts and spiked at 140watts. That 140 watts is exactly half the rated output of the original power supply. There is no way the system builder would leave that kind of head room for upgrades. Also as mentioned by another poster as psu's age their ability to output their maximum for long periods of time decreases greatly. (Electric circuit components do degrade with time)

Here is what I would do. If you MUST upgrade now. I would put some good money down on at least a 550watt psu and then a gpu. Then when you upgrade down the road you can carry over both components. But IMHO I wouldnt even sink any money into this dinosaur. You will disappointed with the performance of a 750 TI even if it was in a top of the line system let alone the one you are rocking.
 
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Titan
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You would be grossly CPU-bottlenecked in most software and games but other than that, it should work fine since the 750Ti only uses a little more power than the HD5450 you already have.
 
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drums101

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The 5450 has a tdp of 19watts while according to nvidia the 750 TI has a tdp of 60 watts. Thats over three times the power consumption. TDP really doesnt translate to the actual power consumption of the board but it gives you an idea
 
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Sorry, but that has to be impossible. You see the pci-e slot produces a max of 75 watts. The only way it would spike that much watts is if it had a extra power connector which some models do.
this is what im looking at-http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Dual-Link-Graphics-02G-P4-3751-KR/dp/B00IDG3PRI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1403052438&sr=8-2&keywords=gtx+750+ti

By the way I'm not gonna be playing at 4k or anything like that. I can also can stand not cranking up the settings to max.
 
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Titan
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It is not quite clear exactly what is being measured in the first power figure page. On the second power result pages, the graphs explicitly state "VGA Card Only" and on those graphs, the 750Ti's peak is only 68W.

Since the 750Ti has no PCIE power connector (at least in its reference design form), it would be pretty difficult for it to draw over 100W through the PCIE slot from the motherboard which only has two 12V pins on its 24pins ATX connectors to provide 12V power to everything apart from the CPU..
 
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Okay I see now. Didn't Know there was a second page. I think I'll get it and see if it works. If it doesn't Ill just wait to put it in my next build.

 
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