Upgrading video card with 400w PSU help!

[saeldaya]

i know this has been talk about so many times i have the gateway lx6810-01

Processor Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q82001 (2.33GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 4MB L2 cache)8
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit) with SP19
Memory 8192MB 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Memory (4 x 2048MB Modules)10
Hard Drive 640GB 7200RPM SATA II hard drive with 16MB Cache4
Motherboard Systemboard with NVIDIA® nForce® 720i Chipset (MCP7A-D)
Power Supply 400W Power Supply

planning to upgrade to hd5770 or gts450 but when i went to bestbuy and frys all that gpu requires a minimum of 450w and when i open my rig i dont know if i have a connector for it.

 

[rockyjohn]

Upgradevideocards.com has a section on reviewing power supplies that you might find helpful.

http://www.upgradevideocards.com/criteria.html

Which power supply do you have and how many amps on the 12v leg? These are as important as the total stated wattage of the power supply. Also how old is it? PSU normally lose a little power as they age.

I don't normally like to recommend going with less than a manufacturer recommends as the minimum, particularly since it is best not to be operating at over 80% of the rated power, but manufactureres sometimes overstate requirements. Here is a review showing the actual system requirements with a GTS 450 (275w under full load) and HD 5770 (243w under full load).

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gts-450-gf106-radeon-hd-5750,2734.html [edit - corrected link on 1/1/2011 - and Happy New Year]

I think you could go with either safely as long as you PSU is a good brand and has strong 12v leg. The HD 5770 is a more powerful card and uses less power - two advantages.

 

[dirtmountain]

^ I agree with rockyjohn. A good quality 400w power supply would be fine with your choice of graphic cards, but it has to be a good quality 400w power supply like a Corsair, OCZ, Silverstone, Seasonic or other quality PSU and not a Raidmax, Coolmax, Diablotech or other garbage PSU. Let us know what power supply it is with stats.

 

[saeldaya]

Upgradevideocards.com has a section on reviewing power supplies that you might find helpful.

http://www.upgradevideocards.com/criteria.html

Which power supply do you have and how many amps on the 12v leg? These are as important as the total stated wattage of the power supply. Also how old is it? PSU normally lose a little power as they age.

I don't normally like to recommend going with less than a manufacturer recommends as the minimum, particularly since it is best not to be operating at over 80% of the rated power, but manufactureres sometimes overstate requirements. Here is a review showing the actual system requirements with a GTS 450 (275w under full load) and HD 5770 (243w under full load).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=14-102-908&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&PageSize=10&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=

I think you could go with either safely as long as you PSU is a good brand and has strong 12v leg. The HD 5770 is a more powerful card and uses less power - two advantages.

thank you for replying rockyjohn, just to be sure im just gonna upgrade my PSU to 550 but i still have 1 question will it bottleneck my gpu with the processor im using or do you think im still good?

 

[ionut19]

Can you post here what PSU do you want to buy before you do it so we can advise you to buy a good one? A crappy PSU can have 2kw but can go up in flames at 500w of usage.

And first post here what model you have or how many AMPS does it say it has on the 12v rail or rails. The details should be written on the side of the PSU.

The CPU will bottleneck your system. Do you have the option to overclock? If you don't and also do not have the money to buy a faster CPU then leave it that way.

 

[rockyjohn]

I agree the CPU will bottleneck the GTS 450 - meaning that it will keep it from otherwise functioning at full power. But the card will still provide good performance. Since I don't know what your old card is or what games you play, I can't say how much of a performance increase.

 

[real world]

The PC's specs say it has a:

"NVIDIA® GeForce® GT120 Graphics with 1GB DDR2 Total Video Memory"

I'd guess that's what he's using now. I found this online regarding his PSU. If money isn't an issue, I'd upgrade the PSU. It would be money well spent. Running it on your current PSU might work, but it might not be stable.


Gateway LX6810-01 400 Watt Power Supply. Gateway LX6810-01 Power Supply Total DC Output Power 400 Watt.

Specifications:

INPUT: 100-127V ~/9 - 220V-240V ~/5A 50Hz-60Hz
OUTPUT: 400 Watt MAX

+5V / 18A
+12V1 / 18.5A
+ 12V2 / 14A
+5VSB / 2A
+3.3 / 20A
-12V / 0.3A

Connectors:

4 - SATA
1 - 24pin Power
1 - 4pin Power
1 - 6pin PCI-e Power Connector
1 - 4pin Molex
1 - 4pin Berg ( Floppy Power Connector )



Here's a good deal on a PSU at Newegg. Apply coupon code DECAN10 for 10% off, as well as the listed coupon code at the page, and it'll run you $58 before the $15 rebate. More than enough juice for your needs, but at that price it's worth buying.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?nm_mc=AFC-TechBargains&cm_mmc=AFC-TechBargains-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA&Item=N82E16817371015

Here's a good deal on a HIS 5770 as well. $99 after $30 rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161338&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL123010&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL123010-_-EMC-123010-Latest-_-DesktopGraphicsVideoCards-_-14161338-L010A

 

[rockyjohn]

Still waiting for more info on your PSU. Note that Real World listed some PSU details, but it still does not say how much total power is available on 12v leg. It might be 32 amps, which would be acceptable, depending on quality of PSU, or it might be less.


But agree with Real World that the PSU he lists would be a great upgrade for your system. It is a lot more PSU than you are likely to need but it is on sale so not really wasting money. The actual price per the link is $55 after rebate. But if you have a good brand PSU then you could pass on this.

 

[jaguarmatt]

If you don't feel confident in your powersupply, I would pick up the Rocketfish 500 watt PSU at bestbuy if you don't want to wait, or buy a Rosewill off of Newegg if you don't mind waiting for shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182199

 

[ionut19]

"I would pick up the Rocketfish 500 watt PSU at bestbuy" Never heard of that.

 

[mrjericho1991]

hey with 400w supply,choices are hd 5670,9800gt,gt 240,hd 5570 ddr5.