Can my power supply support the rig?

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JanisPoz

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Hi,
I am trying to upgrade my pre-built PC, and my friend gave me his old i5 4570 and a supporting motherboard, I believe it was H81M-PLUS, as well as his 8GB of DDR3 ram.
Now, I want to put all of that into my PC which only has a power supply rated at '250W' and says 'peak 300W'. I am not planning to get a gpu, but just want to use my on-board graphics to run my computer for some basic tasks, like internet browsing, email, youtube, netflix etc. Also, I like to work with photoshop quite a bit.. so that would be a benefit if able.
Will this power supply be enough for the upgrade? Also, would you recommend getting some case fans, given I already have the pre-built PC case fans.. or is there anything else I haven't thought about when doing this upgrade? My case has the power supply locked in place, so I don't think I can remove it to replace a new one. So if I'd need a stronger power supply, I would need to buy an entire case. Any real cheap cases/psus, that would support my upgraded setup, you could recommend?
Here's images of my PSU and inside of my PC, if that's useful in any way
http://
http://
 
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manddy123

manddy123

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The i5 has a TDP of 84W and isn't overclockable... Adding up some watts from the HDD, RAMs and some fans that shouldn't draw much more power, it'd be close to 160W.

If you absolutely not willing to add a GPU in that rig, you're fine. No need to get a brand new PSU.

If you want to be on the safe side, which i'd recommend, you can upgrade to this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Case: Cooler Master - HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($36.89 @ Newegg)
Total: $75.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-09 06:25 EST-0500
 
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DSzymborski

DSzymborski

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Your pre-built's PSU likely has enough output if you have no plans to run a GPU. However, the quality is almost certainly lacking; with a few exceptions (Delta/FSP-made) OEM PSUs tend to be abysmal. That your PSU has a rating and a separate peak rating is a very bad sign as this is almost uniformly a feature of junk PSUs; I've never seen a quality PSU report its output like this.

So really, it's up to you depending how risk-averse you are and what your long-term plans for the PC are. I'd personally never run any PC without a PSU of at least middling quality and if you need a new case to change a PSU, that's what I would do in your position.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $34.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-09 06:19 EST-0500

(You don't need 550W, but with the significant mail-in rebate, this is the least expensive PSU of reasonable quality at the moment)

There are a lot of inexpensive cases, though I'd verify that motherboard first (it's a micro ATX motherboard, but if you have a slightly different model, it may be a full ATX and you won't be able to go with the micro case)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Case: Rosewill - FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($24.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $24.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-09 06:23 EST-0500

Now, none of this is required to run your rig without a GPU, I'm just running down what I would do personally on a tight budget.

Could you provide more details on your pre-built? There's also a chance you don't have a standardized case and, if the PSU can't be removed, there's an increased chance that your OEM uses a proprietary PSU. In which case you wouldn't be able to install your friend's H81 at all with this PSU/case.
 
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JanisPoz

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Would adding a GPU benefit me in any way? Given that I'm not planning to use my PC for gaming at all, except maybe like solitaire or minesweeper. I just need a machine that can run Chrome well and use Photoshop if possible.
 
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DSzymborski

DSzymborski

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If you're not doing professional quality Photoshop work and not gaming, you probably won't get much of a benefit from a GPU.
 
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DSzymborski

DSzymborski

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If you're not doing professional quality Photoshop work and not gaming, you probably won't get much of a benefit from a GPU. If you use the more intensive Photoshop tools like Liquify regularly, there's a benefit to a GPU, if you're doing work.
 
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manddy123

manddy123

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Nope, those are completely handable by the CPU integrated graphics.
Adding a GPU would just increase the costs and bringing no real benefit since you don't want to game, perhaps a little in Photoshop, but i doubt that.
 
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JanisPoz

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Could you provide more details on your pre-built? There's also a chance you don't have a standardized case and, if the PSU can't be removed, there's an increased chance that your OEM uses a proprietary PSU. In which case you wouldn't be able to install your friend's H81 at all with this PSU/case.



Would this help? http://
 
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Rdslw

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some photoshop functions will be boosted and dedicated GPU ram will free some more for photoshop to use. But I cannot give you any numbers.
Rollback
I can:
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Photoshop-CC-2017-NVIDIA-GeForce-GPU-Performance-899/
looks like even 1030 or 1050 is fine.
maybe this is something worth looking into ?
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/video-card/#X=0,35623&c=396,379&sort=price&page=1
 
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DSzymborski

DSzymborski

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Wait, that's a Delta in there (I missed the first picture, only saw the second). A fairly old one from the looks of it, but the Delta OEM PSUs tend to be reasonable. While you still wouldn't want to add a GPU, I'd be more inclined to keep the PSU in there.

Also, you can change out that PSU, you just need a screwdriver to remove it.
 
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JanisPoz

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What do you mean... so should I keep the psu and case?
 
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DSzymborski

DSzymborski

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You could, but with a decent OEM PSU in there, it's less necessary. I'm just saying that if you do decide to upgrade your PC, you do have the option of removing the PSU.
 
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Vic 40

Vic 40

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If this fits in your case should the 250watt psu be enough,not looking at quality.For a cheap case and good psu would i look at something like this,
psu:https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/4Vzv6h,fZyFf7,Q7L7YJ/
The 430/450watt would be fine,but the 520 is just abit cheaper.The CX is more of the latest so nieuwest platform and probably the best choise,but has only one cable wit sata connectors (has 4 connectors on it though). Each would do fine,the 520watt might be less efficient,means uses abit more power.Looking at that wil the CX probably be the best choice as well.

case:https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/tRfp99,Yn7CmG,Nbhj4D/
 
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