HD 4850 on 430w PSU

Hi folks,

I am planning to upgrade my 8600GT to HD 4850. I'm concerned whether my Cooler Master RS-430-PCAR can handle it.

I don't have much components on my machine:
Core2 e6550
Micro ATX motherboard
2 1gb ddr2-800 memory
1 sata 250gb Hard drive
1 dvd-rw drive
3 case fans

Here's my power supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Show [...] wer+Supply
29amps on 12v? I'm not very informed about power supply specs.

if should be just enough provided that ur cpu is not over clocked and ur psu is not too old......

Unfortunately that Cooler master PSU is junk. Save yourself the grief and get a new one.

This one will do nicely. Newegg.com - Antec earthwatts EA500 500W

It's Seasonic built and single rail.

PSU's get more unstable the higher they're pushed, especially the cheaper ones. One of the reasons people go overkill and put a 800+W PSU in their case is to get good clean power when the PSU is only using 50% of its capacity.

Even the "minimum" listed by ATI isn't really the minimum. With a single 4850 the whole system might draw 250W of power at peak (generally, depends on what you have in the case obviously). It's just that trying to draw 250W of power out of say a 300W supply is going to make it real unstable.

That's a long way of saying give it a shot if you want. Best thing to do is to get a new PSU, but I think the 4850 would run on that one (with maybe the occasional lock up or bluescreen if you're unlucky).

go on bubbles

Lol, I've always wondered how that happen. It's not like there's explosives in it or anything...

Nice! So how does it implode? Did it get smaller or something?

Nonlethal, heh? Do anyone ever get hurt? What if they put their hand on the psu as it happen...

It should be ok for now in terms theoretical capacity however I would seriously consider getting a better power supply as soon as the budget permits. That unit is of marginal quality and an old design, not very efficient and not designed for today's systems. Modern power supplies are designed with a greater emphasis on the 12V portion, and corresponding lesser emphasis on the 3.3 and 5v rails. Further, Cooler Master is not a recommended brand for power supplies.

Still go for the 500w one instead. Their 12v rail ampage may be the same 2x17amps, but one is 360w max load on 12v rails, the other is 408w.

On another note,

360/430=84
That's 84% of total wattage going to 12v rails.

Look at what I use, for comparasion:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817101029

696/850=82
That's 82% of total wattage going to 12v rails.

12v rail is the useful one, which powers cpu, gpu, and harddrives. The bigger portion of total psu power going to 12v rails, the better. I guess brand name does buy you something.

Brand does buy you quality. Get that Antec PSU.

OK, your PSU is capable of ~ 350 W at 100% load. I can't find a reputable review of that PSU, so let's say a safe load would be 80% of that, or 280 W. Anand's review put the system load at load as ~230 W, but used a test that was heavy on GPU and light on the rest of the system. So your PSU would be cutting it a bit fine.

I concur with Zorg's comments on russian roulette, but would differ in my recommendation. I'd be looking in the 550 W to 650 W range to allow some room for (maybe) a sound card or more drives, etc.

Jonnyguru.com is a well respected PSU review site, and I'm sure that you know what pricing engine works best for you.

My 2p....

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4067
I think only the EA380 will still be Seasonic.

Thanks for the link. This thread was started on 4/10, I must be asleep at the switch.

Interesting, we will have to see if we can find an in depth review of the D unit.

I can't, in good conscience, recommend the EA series until I see a good review. The Delta might be fine, but I need to see first.

Your system will not run properly. I would be more concerned about the PSU dying and frying your system. They are really bad PSUs. Skip the recommendation of the Antec until we can see a good review. Apparently they changed OEMs, as you can see above.

Try these instead.

CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W

CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W

no but it was b/c the 12v amperage wasn't enough, I needed at least 27ish Amps, for what i was working on. But will end up just using my seasonic 380 watter, is working well anyways, which sure are pretty effeicient PSU's no doubt.

On my next build though, side note. I think I might be torn between 2 PSU's the PC P&C 750 watter, or the Seasonic 700 watt, any thoughts zorg?

BTW if you think the 750 PC P&C is great, then what do you think of the PC P&C 860 turbo-cool? I really like the idea of a 7 year warranty instead of the 5 year...plus mtbf 200,000 hours, man....I'm not sure if the 860 watter was being tested at 50c as well though, any thoughts?

I will be using it in a P182 case that has been tastefully modified w/ a smoked window so the internals will be visible, so cable management although somewhat taken care of in the p182, is also on the psu. So I can figure out what to do w/ all extra cables but want great psu for the money as well, if not a great psu that will last me thru a few more builds.

Also I do understand that it may be a little overkill, I am going to build an overclocking beast of a machine, and as long as it's 80-plus certified whats the harm in going a little overboard?

It's not mine. Probably another guy trying to sell off his PSU for a better one.

That's a good single rail PSU.

would you say that it's in a great leaguer though, b/c it appears that way, but I'd like to get soem more insight on that, I was also wondering about these industrial grade PSU's that I'd hear about that achieve like 93% efficiency, not sure if they are 80 plus certified or not, but when will consumer PSU's move into this field, i'm sure it would be ridiculously expensive but I'd love to see how close to perfect efficiency they could get. Not to mention would the PSU industry ever consider a 90 plus certification?

I am a student of law, but have the heart of an engineer

As always Zorg, your input is always greatly appreciated

I read the review and I would say it is certainly a first class PSU. Maybe a little noisy at full load, but that's a lot of load. Thanks for the compliment. See kpo6969's link on the CWT 90% efficiency PSU. Nice find, I missed that.