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Consequences of using a ATI 4850 with a 420W powersupply?

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Consequences of using a ATI 4850 with a 420W powersupply?

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So, I bought a new video card, I thought I had 500 W power supply (I have a OCZ 420W ADJ) and I'll probably have to take it back because from what I hear this will probably damage my computer in the long run if I continue with the setup. FYI I have 2x DVD drives, 3x HDs, 1x Wireless G Card and a 4200+ x2 OC'd. So just wanted to know what consequences I am facing if I keep the card in my system.

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if you put the card in and you pc does not have enough power to start all equipment you pc will not boot, thats all

Reply to twennywonn21

You should be fine even with that many drives. Your powerstream 420W has 30 amps of 12V power, way more than many 500W power supplies. If the system is stable, I wouldn't stress about it.

Reply to pauldh

Alright, the system boots fine and I've played about 3 (TF2, Left 4 Dead and Stalker) games just fine (except Crysis which has weird problems outputting in 1080p and had artifacts in the sky). Is there any stress test software I can run?

Reply to MykC

Prime 95 will run both cores 100% and stress the CPU and mem. Keep an eye on your temps though as they will skyrocket compared to just gaming.

For the GPU, you could download the crysis benchmark utility from guru3d and loop crysis benchmarks (at a resolution hat works). Or just keep trying your games. Make sure your graphics drivers are current.

Reply to pauldh

Ok, I'll try the Crysis benchmark loop but Crysis is already acting funny (need to figure it out, crysis acted funny on my x1950 Pro as well). I've finished running Prime 95 for 10 minutes just fine and I kept an eye on the temps with Everest. And I did update the graphics drivers to the latest and greatest. Thank for the info I'll let you know how it goes.

I finished putting the GPU through 3dmark 06 basic twice with the GPU @ 700 Mhz (+75) and the Mem @ 1200 Mhz (+200). I didn't see any issue ie artifacts. The score was 9131 3DMarks, SM 2.0 Score 3983, SM 3.0 Score 5094 and CPU Score 1734. At stock the figures were 8729 3DMarks, SM 2.0 Score 3749, SM 3.0 Score 4722 and CPU Score 1750.

And the Crysis loop (which didn't show any graphical errors, but only did 1080i and not 1080 when set to 1920x1080):
Run #1- DX10 800x600 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Low ~~ Last Average FPS: 45.82
Run #2- DX10 1280x720 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Low ~~ Last Average FPS: 41.76
Run #3- DX10 1920x1080 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Low ~~ Last Average FPS: 40.48
Run #4- DX10 800x600 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Medium ~~ Last Average FPS: 28.35
Run #5- DX10 1280x720 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Medium ~~ Last Average FPS: 25.23
Run #6- DX10 1920x1080 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Medium ~~ Last Average FPS: 24.03
Run #7- DX10 800x600 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Last Average FPS: 22.62
Run #8- DX10 1280x720 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Last Average FPS: 19.17
Run #9- DX10 1920x1080 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Last Average FPS: 18.48
Run #10- DX10 800x600 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: VeryHigh ~~ Last Average FPS: 18.07
Run #11- DX10 1280x720 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: VeryHigh ~~ Last Average FPS: 15.80
Run #12- DX10 1920x1080 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: VeryHigh ~~ Last Average FPS: 14.38

I'm guessing these are figure I can expect. The full system is:

939 AMD 64x2 4200+ 2.2 --> 2.6Ghz
2x 1GB PC 3200 @ 390 Mhz.
Onboard Sound

Message edited by MykC on 11-25-2008 at 04:43:24 AM

Reply to MykC

I'm seeing a cpu bottel neck how bout you guys ?

Reply to cyber_jockey

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