Need help

[jiash]

Hi, i want to buy a SAPPHIRE HD 6850 1gb ddr5 with a thermaltake Litepower 430 watt power supply.

Is that power enough for my card?

my pc configuration is
core2due 2.4
RAM 2GB DDR2
500GB HDD

 

[ubercake]

The AMD site says 500W power supply or greater. This review site would seem to indicate you'd be fine if we knew everything about your power supply:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-review/10

The Thermaltake site does not even include a 430W version of the Litepower power supply on their site. The 450W version of that power supply has 17A on each of 2 12V rails. I'm guessing the 430 has around 15 or 16A on the 12V rail (based on the difference in Amps from the 500W to the 450W litepower). Theoretically, you'd only need 11A at load based on the guru3D review, but with that power supply, it's one of those do so at your own risk situations.

Most decent power supplies will give you a watts max over the 12V rails (ie corsair: http://www.corsair.com/power-supplies/non-modular-psus/enthusiast-series-1/vx550w.html) that is usually different than the straight up Volts times Amps calculation. The stickers on all the Thermaltake Litepower supplies (and most Thermaltake supplies for that matter) do not:

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1247&ID=1860#Tab1

So using the card with that power supply is a risk simply because it's not a great supply, it's nowhere to be found on the Thermaltake site, and the entire litepower line has been put in "deactivated" status by a major vendor (newegg). My guess is it will probably run fine, but there is some risk involved.

If it were me, I'd upgrade the power first. You can try it with what you have, but my "official" non-professional recommendation is to pick up a power supply that gives you all the information such as the corsair I linked above or this one which would power your system with that video card just fine:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139017&cm_re=corsair_psu-_-17-139-017-_-Product

You really should look at replacing that supply at some point; whether now or later. Good power is the key to the longevity of your system.

 

[jiash]

Excellent replay thanks for everything.