HD 4650 with 250W PSU (14A 12V) with Quad Core prossessor?

[ja1234]

Hi guys, I'm interested in purchasing an HD 4650 graphics card. I have my sights on this card as from what I've read it can run fine on a 250W PSU (14a 12v), and it comes "low profile", which is essential because I have a slim PC (Packard Bell imedia X520. I also have a Core 2 Quad prossessor and 3GB RAM. I'm interested in using it to play games on decent settings. So, do you think my PC will run? If not, could you suggest alternatives please? Thanks.

 

[werxen]

I don't think it will work. I would suggest a minimum of 450 watt PSU.

 

[ja1234]

So I should go ahead and get the card?

 

[ja1234]

And as much as I would love to get a bigger PSU, I don't think I can as I believe my current PSU is unique, and so cannot be upgraded.

 

[mactabilis shaan]

what model is the computer?
maximum power needed by the 4650 is 48w ( be it agp pr pci-ex )
also 250w should work, but getting a bigger will only give you more room.

 

[ja1234]

Okay thanks

 

[ja1234]

Packard Bell imedia X4520

 

[ja1234]

I'd love to get a 9600 or 9800GT but I'm pretty sure my 250W won't suffice. And aslong as I can help it I'd rather not put my mATX mobo in an ATX case simplybecause I'm lazy.

 

[ja1234]

And don't have a lot of experience when it comes to modding anything more than a graphics card.

 

[mactabilis shaan]

And don't have a lot of experience when it comes to modding anything more than a graphics card.

thats cool. also for 9600 or 9800, u'd need 400w, i remember i blew up my 9800gt with a 305w psu. played crysis straight for 6 hours, & resulted in the failure.

get yourself an avatar.

 

[ja1234]

lol guess I'll go for the 4650 after all then, thanks for the quick responses guys

 

[deadlockedworld]

Hi ja1234,

Yes, a 4650 would be good choice given your limitations. It should work fine on your power supply. However it isnt really a true gaming card and will likely only let you play newer games on medium-medium high resolutions.

I cant seem to find a photo of your computers guts--but it doesnt seem to look all that narrow from the outside. Are you certain your power supply is nonstandard? It could be micro atx and still replaceable... also if you were interested its really not at all difficult to switch cases-- its only like 6 screws that hold the motherboard in place.


-----------------------
...and okini55... what did I tell you about starting all your posts with "I think"
--I wasn't joking.

 

[bliq]

Hi guys, I'm interested in purchasing an HD 4650 graphics card. I have my sights on this card as from what I've read it can run fine on a 250W PSU (14a 12v), and it comes "low profile", which is essential because I have a slim PC (Packard Bell imedia X520. I also have a Core 2 Quad prossessor and 3GB RAM. I'm interested in using it to play games on decent settings. So, do you think my PC will run? If not, could you suggest alternatives please? Thanks.

well, the PCI-E 1.0 standard provided 75W to the slot and PCI-E 2.0 I believe provides 150W. so if the card has no external power connector, then that's the max it can draw. Now the 4650 is one of the more powerful cards without an external connector so it'll probably draw close to those maximums.

So, one thing you need to ascertain is that your motherboard is PCI-E 2.0 compliant. After that, you need to determine if the rest of the machine can get by with just 100W. With a quad core, that's unlikely but I suppose it depends on which quad core you have. I believe there are 65W quad cores, and with that, you might be OK, but it's really pushing the PSU to the limit- every component will need to be efficient. I'd say you need at least 300 to 350W PSU, assuming your quad core is a standard 95-125W part. If you have some crazy 140W CPU, then you need at least 400W.

 

[ja1234]

If I can replace the PSU I'd love to as it would obviously give me a far wider choice. How can I tell whether my PSU is replaceable? The PSU is a Hipro HP-D250AA0.

 

[ja1234]

And My mobo is PCI-E 2.0 compliant, I know that much As for the CPU all I know is that it's Intel, has a clock speed of 2.5GHz, front bus speed of 1333MHz and a 4GB cache. Maximum power dissipation - 95W.

 

[ja1234]

Googling the Hipro HP-D250AA0 doesnt give back much info. Is there any chance that you could take a picture of the PSU and its 20-pin/24-pin cable please?

Does that mean I will have to remove the PSU? Because I'd rather not

 

[megamanx00]

Personally I wouldn't try running a 4650 with a 250W PSU. Even though the system with a 4650 may use a little less than 250W, there is no guarantee that your weak PSU can sustain that output for any length of time and thus you risk burning it out or worse.

As for upgrading your PSU honestly it just depends on how much room is your your case. I can't really find any info on your X520, so I guess that would take some research on your part. If it's a mini-ITX (the PSU is a long rectangle like a cracker box) you don't have too many options. If it's MicroATX (like ATX PSUs but smaller), then you have more options, though they cost more than similar ATX PSUs.

 

[ja1234]

Personally I wouldn't try running a 4650 with a 250W PSU. Even though the system with a 4650 may use a little less than 250W, there is no guarantee that your weak PSU can sustain that output for any length of time and thus you risk burning it out or worse.

As for upgrading your PSU honestly it just depends on how much room is your your case. I can't really find any info on your X520, so I guess that would take some research on your part. If it's a mini-ITX (the PSU is a long rectangle like a cracker box) you don't have too many options. If it's MicroATX (like ATX PSUs but smaller), then you have more options, though they cost more than similar ATX PSUs.

Okay, my PSU is square and does look like a conventional PSU just smaller.

 

[ja1234]

Are CiT any good? Because there's a 500W mATX PSU on Amazon for £37.00 which seems like a pretty good deal.

 

[megamanx00]

Not really. FSP makes some decent mATX PSUs. Anyway, if you want to know more about which PSUs are good, and which are crap, you should take a look at this

http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx

 

[ja1234]

Your British, makes it easier for me to help you if you want the best quotes

As far as PSUs go look out for the following brands: OCZ, Thermal Take, Cooler Master, Quiet PC, Antec, BFG etc.

Indeed I am checked all of the big brands and most did not make a mATX PSU (As far as I could see anyway). Those that did went up to about 300-350W, which is more than my current PSU but not by much. The best i've seen so far (exc. the CiT ones) is the Diablotek PHD380M 380W mATX PSU. Though I'm a bit concerned as the brand is on the Not Recommended list on megamanx00's link. :S

 

[megamanx00]

^ not sure he want's to replace his case too.

Anyway, since there aren't many mATX PSUs out there the choice will be a little difficult. If you find something better than that CiT go for it. If there aren't any name brand PSUs, then make sure you compare the amps on the rails of your available choices and google them to see if they have any oddities or unusually high failure rates.

 

[megamanx00]

Diablotek PSUs generally aren't too good. You would be better off with the higher wattage CiT PSU.

 

[ja1234]

Casecom KB-7760 Black ATX Midi Tower Case £8.16

Antec Basiq Power 500W PSU £46.44

Total: Total £54.60 (free super saver delivery)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114929
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/108280
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/108280

Seems like a good deal, but like I said previously - I'm not much of a modder I don't think I'd quite know where to begin when it comes to building the comp by scratch.

 

[deadlockedworld]

Ja1234,

I know this thread has been all over the place, but if you are considering replacing your power supply you would be better served just doing both the PSU and case together.

1. full size power supplies are better quality and cheaper. I looked up micro atx, and none of the really good brands seem to make them... (at least not on newegg)

2. Even if you up your power supply you would still be limited to low-profile cards in that case. While low profile cards are common in the lower end models you wont have the option of getting anything very powerful.. You can get case and power supply combos pretty cheap...

Before we go there however I should have asked some basic questions that will help us advise you better:

A. What kind of gaming performance do you actually want? at what resolution?
B. How much would you be willing to spend total?

Your answers to these two questions should determine whether you want to just get a 4560, or do a complete overhaul of your case.