GTX 285 and PSU

[Nashsafc]

I have a 650 watt psu. Which is not certified, or from a third party. I am currently running a GTS 250 on it without any problems. That consumes 150 watts. The GTX 285 which i am thinking of upgrading to consumes 205 watts. Do you rekon i would be safe with my current power supply. it has enough connectors to plug to the graphics card. If i have to upgrade the psu my budget would be £40.

 

[shubham1401]

Read some reviews of any good gfx card by ppl on newegg.

Many complaints "The card worked gr8 for 5 months then suddenly it stopped working"

Thats what happen when you use cheapo PSUs.

You should buy a good PSU for that card.
Like a Corsair 550VX will handle that card well.



BTW why are you buying that card.It is not a good choice when 5850 is for 250$.

 

[hunter315]

The GTX285 has always been overpriced, the GTX275 or 4890 perform slightly poorly for significantly less, and now with a 5850 or 5870 performing similarly for about the same price with lower power consumption the GTX285 seems even less appealing.

 

[Nashsafc]

i know i've thought about that i was just wandering. My chipset is nforce though. And also i had a feeling about that. But good qaulity PSUs seem to be overpriced. most of them i've been looking at are over £70. If i go wit a 5850, then i can stay with my 650watt psu apperently. What do you rekon. Seeing how my GTS 250 running on 150 watts is working fine?

 

[Nashsafc]

say if i were to get a 800 watt psu from win power though. Despite it being cheaper than say brands like Corsair would i get away with it?

 

[obsidian86]

any good quality 550 watt psu will run a single graphics card,but then again a 5850 uses much less power then a gtx 285

 

[Nashsafc]

ATI doesn't go too badly with nforce drivers? My motherboard is a 730a 8300 (matx), so it has a single pci express slot. Just means that i won't be able to overclock it using the NVIDIA control panel, and i won't be able to use Hybrid SLI ofcourse which counts for nothing anyway. Is there anything else i need to take account of. Is having two gpus on one card considered cross fire x would that not work on an nforce motherboard? Just wondering.

 

[hunter315]

A quality PSU is not overpriced, its the crappy ones that are over rated, the wattage on the label doesnt mean squat, see if you can find a picture of the power distribution sticker. If you could link to the one you are looking at that would be helpful. A good PSU is a good investment and will last you several years without needing to be upgraded, a bad PSU may only last you a month and force you to upgrade your whole system. I recently stumbled across an 800 watt XION PSU that is only rated for 600 watts on the 12 volt rails, the corsair 650 while technically rated 150 watts lower, will provide more usable power.

 

[Nashsafc]

i know exactly what you mean and agree with you. Even using my current 650 watt psu, my GTS 250 will ware it out your saying? I'm looking for something about £40 do you rekon you could help me please? There seems to be such a massive gap between good quality PSU's and cheap PSU's. The good quality ones are all above £60 which is out of my budget, and they are at low watages too. Can i not at all get away with a 800 watt cheaper but reasonable PSU? If it is say 70 per cent efficient would that not be alright and shouldn't it not really break down. or are they all doomed to fail? No matter what even if there is not much demand of power from the power supply? It seems to be dual rail i think as well.

 

[reconviperone1]

i know exactly what you mean and agree with you. Even using my current 650 watt psu, my GTS 250 will ware it out your saying? I'm looking for something about £40 do you rekon you could help me please? There seems to be such a massive gap between good quality PSU's and cheap PSU's. The good quality ones are all above £60 which is out of my budget, and they are at low watages too. Can i not at all get away with a 800 watt cheaper but reasonable PSU? If it is say 70 per cent efficient would that not be alright and shouldn't it not really break down. or are they all doomed to fail? No matter what even if there is not much demand of power from the power supply? It seems to be dual rail i think as well.

There is no way around it young sir,a good psu is a must, and yes you will have to pay a little extra, but isn't dropping a 100 bucks for a psu better than dropping 800 to replace a whole system because some 40 dollar 800 watt psu fried your system, hold off on the gtx285 for now and get a quality psu, the corsair(750 watt) i use is awesome and they are only 109 dollars right now, you are throwing the dice everytime you push the power button with a cheap psu.

 

[Nashsafc]

i might as well buy another graphics card for that price lol. Wayy overpriced. Doesn;t the computer just cut off. And next time you go to turn on psu the pc just doesn't turn on? Rather than the computer components blow up. If i am using a psu that has it's true wattage rating above the requirments for all the computer components. Also my cpu is not that energy consuming - 95 watts i don't know what you think about that.

 

[shubham1401]

Then keep the one you have.

But do compare the ratings of a good 550W PSU and your PSU.
ensure that they are close to each other.

 

[Nashsafc]

but what would the risks be. Would it just be a bust psu. Rather than all of the components in the computer?

 

[shubham1401]

No one can say...
It can even last long...

Some incidents from past...
I had a "Microtek 350w" generic PSU with P4 1.7GHZ which lasted 6 years until I sold that PC.
Interesting thing is that I was also powering a 17" CRT on it because of lack of connectors on wall socket(I was very lucky)...


But with my previous rig P4 2.66 ghz AND Geforce 6200 I used another generic (Intex 450w) and this time I ended up with fried Mobo after 1 year of use (Though it was replaced by the shopkeeper)...

 

[Nashsafc]

I want to find something in the £45 limit. I don't want to have to find that i've paid as much for the psu as i have for the graphics card or cpu singly lol. I wonder if win power can be trusted, says it comes with a 1 year guarantee, is 800 watts, has a pci connector and 8 molex power connectors. I'm only demanding 151 watts from it.

 

[rangers]

keep ur PSU save a lot of cash and go for the 5850 its faster and cheaper than the 285

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3650

 

[Nashsafc]

i know i've already checked out the 5850's performance sometime ago, it's crazy. OMG and it's actually smaller as well, and looks nicer. Seems like a dream card to have. Maybe only NVIDIA partisans/ fundamentalists will only buy NVIDIA now. Do you rekon the majority game rig builders will go for ati or has it always been like that; ati have sold more cards?!?! or not really?

 

[shubham1401]

Never heard of winpower.
The problem is that the generic brands use low quality parts prone to failure...

 

[Nashsafc]

hey good news. I will be buying a second hand 600 watt thermaltake power supply for 47 pounds. Does that sound about ok. Been used for 9 months by owne. here link
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320437737316&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

 

[shubham1401]

It will be good enough...Go for it...

 

[BruceOTB]

keep ur PSU save a lot of cash and go for the 5850 its faster and cheaper than the 285

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3650

I agree. these friggin psu issues are so OVERRATED. I've used a 4850 on a generic 500watt psu with 18 amps on the 12volt rail, it's been working for a year now and i already passed it on to my dad.