Is my 500w power supply enough for this upgrade?

[blitz18]

ill be upgrading my computer to
Inno3d 9800gt, AMD Phenom II X2 555 3.2Ghz and Samsung 1TB 7200rpm SATA. So i have this 500w PSU. is it good enough to handle the upgrade?

 

[shin0bi272]

yes it will be enough. that system only uses about 315w (with some assumptions made by me in calculating) so as long as the psu you have isnt dying already youre fine.

 

[joytech22]

Just reinforcing what Shin0bi272 was saying, your PSU will be fine for that system, it leaves you enough headroom to buy more hard drives or upgrade a little more in the future.

 

[shin0bi272]

you can just call me shin its fine

 

[delluser1]

ill be upgrading my computer to
Inno3d 9800gt, AMD Phenom II X2 555 3.2Ghz and Samsung 1TB 7200rpm SATA. So i have this 500w PSU. is it good enough to handle the upgrade?

Just exactly which 500w psu would that be ?

 

[Guest]

Check out you PSU efficiency.
It seems good.

 

[blitz18]

thanks for the quick reply guys! im actually kinda thinking between AMD Phenom II X2 555 3.2Ghz and AMD Phenom II X4 970 3.5Ghz! is the power supply still enough? and i have an msi K9N6PGM2-V2. will it work?

 

[blitz18]

i mean phenom II x4 925 2.8 ghz

 

[shin0bi272]

with a high end desktop, 30% cap aging, 3 92mm fans, 3usb devices and the x4 970 you'll be looking at a minimum power usage of 380w recommended of 430w. So you are still good but you will need to upgrade if you go any bigger on the video card end... which Im gonna assume you want to do soon.


the x4 925 would put you at 348min 398recommended.

 

[blitz18]

is my msi K9N6PGM2-V2 compatible with those phenoms and 9800 gt?

 

[shin0bi272]

according to the msi website (which is horrible BTW) that board is an AM2/AM2+ board But it is AM3 ready (meaning you will need a bios update ... or to purchase one that has already been updated) to run an am3 cpu. Your video card will work though ... the one pci-e x16 slot you have is 2.0 and so is that card.

 

[blitz18]

tnx 4 the reply dude im gonna go buy those parts later on XD

 

[shin0bi272]

just be aware that you wont be able to boot with an am3 cpu in that board by default unless you check first and it has the right bios revision out of the box to support the am3 cpu. from what I can glean from the website...did I mention how bad MSI's site is? cause its bad... the bios revision you will need is 2.0 or higher.

 

[blitz18]

what do you mean by i cant boot it? so i wont be able to open my computer if i dont upgrade the BIOS before switching CPUs?

 

[shin0bi272]

I dont think it will turn on with an am3 cpu in it prior to flashing the bios. Meaning you will have to put an am2 chip in it, flash the bios, then put the am3 chip in it. Maybe if you can find out what bios it has on it prior to purchase you wont have to worry but good luck finding a website that lists the bios revision.

 

[blitz18]

thanks dude i solved it. i just downloaded msi's live update tool to see what BIOS version i have then i inserted the chip. good thing the BIOS that was on my MOBO on purchase was good enough.


oh one more thing. do i have to keep my BIOS updated or do i just leave it when nothing wrong is happening?

 

[shin0bi272]

some say leave it others say update. Ive done both and can honestly say unless theres a problem or the new update improves performance somehow dont worry about updating it.