6950 with 550watts?

Supermuncher85

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Summary: $235 XFX 6950 to replace a gts250 in a x4 630 with 550 watt psu. Good for it or leave it?

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: this week
BUDGET RANGE: USD $250
CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Current GFX: Msi 250gts 512mb
OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS:
Athlon II x4 630
GIGABYTE GA-MA74GM-S2

Is the PSU sufficient? It is only running 1 local hard drive and the athlon x4(95 watts), So I would hope that 550 watts is enough. I have no idea what to look for in my PSU specs or how to check the volts per rail to make sure it will work.

Card I'm thinking of buying:
XFX HD 6950 800M 1 GB DDR5 PCI-E Video Card HD695XZNFC
Price $235 with free shipping after mail in rebate
link
 
Solution
i suggest that you don't furmark test your card. I have my 6950 unlocked and overclocked as well as my cpu and I reach ~500W when stress testing my gpu. When I'm gaming I never go above 400W so 550 should be just enough especially since you you specified that it is 80+ certified.

I use Kill-A-Watt to measure my wattage.

Carc369

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Jun 29, 2010
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i suggest that you don't furmark test your card. I have my 6950 unlocked and overclocked as well as my cpu and I reach ~500W when stress testing my gpu. When I'm gaming I never go above 400W so 550 should be just enough especially since you you specified that it is 80+ certified.

I use Kill-A-Watt to measure my wattage.
 
Solution
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/amd-radeon-hd-6000/hd-6950/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6950-overview.aspx#3

With a quality PSU, should be OK if you don't flash to a 6970 and / or OC.

However, the Antec BQ series is their low end builder line. I'd suggest running OCCT and keeping a sharp eye on voltages during the GPU test.

http://www.ocbase.com/perestroika_en/index.php?Download

Stop the test if you see voltage variations going near the ATX limit of +/- 5% on either the 3.3, 5 or 12 volt lines.

Under no circumstances should you run the OCCT PSU test, I think there's a reasonable chance the PSU would not survive.