Should I Upgrade My Power Supply?

zomboromano · Jan 28, 2018

Bottom line: I have a 220 W power supply. I took a risk and upgraded my processor to an AMD Athlon 2 processor I had laying around. I also installed a Geforce 1030 which said it required a 300W power supply.

I unplugged my cd drive to take a little power out.

My main use for this computer is playing Elder Scrolls Online with my wife on medium settings.

I played one night for an hour, with a web browser up outside the game, medium settings and my computer had no issues.

Do I need to upgrade the power supply or based on my good results am I going to be okay? I REALLY want to keep my motherboard and my tower. But it's a slimline pc and all replacement power supplies on eBay that claim 350w have gotten terrible reviews because they are AM and very noisy.

So either I keep things the way they are and hope they keep working. Or I upgrade to a noisy AM power supply that may not produce the power it claims.

If it is working fine do I even need a power supply upgrade? I've already pushed it to the limit. Any advice please? (Outside of get a new computer or case)

superninja12 · Jan 28, 2018

it consumes 110w under heavy load, I assume 70w for your cpu and were near a 100%

So yeah its a damn good investment in getting a new psu, could you provide us a picture of the unit?

zomboromano · Jan 28, 2018

It honestly won't ever use more power than I already used. So does using even 95% power damage it or can it at any time? I played my game just fine with no issues.

https://www.picclickimg.com/d/w1600/pict/281142147772_/Original-Genuine-Power-Supply-for-HP-Pavilion-s5123w.jpg

In the picture you will see what my power supply looks like in size. Googling my model number should help you see what my pc looks like.

Only saw like 2 or 3 after market options that claimed over 250 watts, and many people had issues with them, so I'm thinking, if I'm working with my upgrades, and I unplugged my cd drive, why worry? But don't want to risk long term damage if using most of my power hurts my computer

superninja12 · Jan 28, 2018

You cant take things for granted if u get them free, its not uncommon.

see this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6snWfd1v7M

get this, these are solid. : https://www.amazon.com/SEASONIC-ACCESSORY-SS-300TFX-SUPPLY-TFX12V/dp/B004JUVNVC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1517186096&sr=8-2&keywords=seasonic+tfx

edit: or this one : http://www2.seasonic.com/product/tfx-350/

double edit: that brand is known for fire starters(not the same model) http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=154

zomboromano · Jan 28, 2018

Thanks for the recommendation... Your video makes me think an upgrade is a bad idea. I think HPs Oem might handle at the correct rating while a AM option might give out. I just worry that an after market option won't handle what it claims but don't know a lot about the company you sent

zomboromano · Jan 28, 2018

Looks like I could get a warranty with the PS you suggested and doesn't seem to be a bad brand though

superninja12 · Jan 28, 2018

How is this video after watching upgrading a bad suggestion???

seasonic a bad brand? They ARE the best when it comes to powersupplies. like seriously they're so good evga and corsair ask seasonic to make poweruspplies for them so they can re paint the units and put their name on it.

zomboromano · Jan 28, 2018

Thanks so much for the suggestion. Hopefully it fits and works good in my computer! Your the best, one of the only people that helped me find a good solution for what I was looking for

cryoburner · Jan 28, 2018

It is worth pointing out a GT 1030 itself should only draw around 30 watts from the PSU under load. It's not a very power-hungry card at all. I'm not sure about the processor though, since you didn't mention exactly which model the CPU is. Depending on the exact model, it might be anywhere from around 25 to 95 watts. A 220 watt PSU is quite low, but chances are fairly good that you're still within its capabilities, particularly if the CPU is a more mid-range one with a 65 watt TDP or less.

superninja12 · Jan 28, 2018

cryoburner :

https://nl.hardware.info/reviews/7515/20/nvidia-geforce-gt-1030-review-groene-instapper-testresultaten-stroomverbruik

idle 55w

metro 109w

zomboromano · Jan 28, 2018

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/pny-nvidia-geforce-gt-1030-2gb-gddr5-pci-express-3-0-x4-graphics-card-gray/5901353.p?skuId=5901353

This is the specific model I purchased.

superninja12 · Jan 28, 2018

zomboromano :

ooh my bad the wattage i said earlier is the whole system, but than still. its never a bad investment to get a better psu.

zomboromano · Jan 28, 2018

Last thing, and maybe you will have a generally idea of the power I'm using without my cd/dvd drive plugged in,

My processor I upgraded to is a AMD Athlon II X2 245 Processor that is 2.90 GHZ

cryoburner · Jan 28, 2018

superninja12 :

Are you agreeing with me?* That's their measured power use for the entire system, not just the graphics card. Their entire system was drawing 56 watts at idle, and 109 watts under load, which should be well within the capabilities of a 220 watt PSU. Note that the graph's label is "Power Consumption (System)". Here's the English version of that page...
https://us.hardware.info/reviews/7619/20/nvidia-geforce-gt-1030-review-green-entry-level-card-test-results-power-consumption

You can also see that Nvidia lists the graphics card power as being 30 watts at their site, and Tom's Hardware's review also found their card to only use around 32 watts while gaming...
https://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-1030/specifications
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gt-1030-2gb,5110-9.html

zomboromano :

I was referring to the model of the Athlon 2 processor, since there are a number of different ones it could be.

*Edit: I see you noticed that. : P

zomboromano · Jan 28, 2018

So based on the processor and the video card how close am I running it? Am I in any danger of wearing components down early or damaging anything? Or am I in a pretty reasonable spot? And would upgrading to 8 GB of ram from 4 affect anything else? Outside of that I'm content to keep this thing the exact same. I'm only using it to play a game with my wife a few times a week on medium settings

cryoburner · Jan 29, 2018

Oh, I didn't see your post where you mentioned the CPU. That CPU has a 65 watt TDP, so I wouldn't expect the CPU and GPU together to draw much more than 100 watts under load. However, there are other components drawing power as well, like the motherboard, RAM, HDD and optical drive, and it's a bit harder to say precisely how much power some of those components are using. As a rough estimate, I would say that all of the system's components together probably wouldn't be drawing much more than 175 watts from the PSU while gaming.

Of course, I can't say for sure whether your PSU can actually sustain it's max rated capacity for extended periods, and I doubt there are reviews available for it, so it's technically possible that one could run into stability issues at less than 220 watts. Usually though, if a PSU is having trouble providing enough power, the system will tend to shut down or reboot on its own. If you encounter that happening while gaming, upgrading the PSU might be a good idea.

As far as your optical drive goes, when it's just sitting there, not reading a disc, it shouldn't be drawing more than a few watts from the PSU. When it's actively reading a CD or DVD, it might use over 10 watts since it needs to spin the disc using a motor, and will use even more when burning a disc. I doubt the amount of power used when the drive is idling would cause a problem while gaming though, and unless you're playing an old game that requires a disc to be in the drive to play, the load power use shouldn't be a concern. Likewise, if you're using the optical drive to install software or watch a movie, most likely your CPU and GPU won't both be at full load at the same time. So, leaving it plugged in probably won't cause any issues.

superninja12 · Jan 29, 2018

zomboromano :

No one can tell for certain if that no info available powersupply, you're taking a risk.

Should I Upgrade My Power Supply?

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