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Do I need a different PSU?

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  • Power Supplies
  • Green
  • Components
  • Product
Last response: in Components
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November 28, 2011 4:04:13 AM

I purchased the Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W because it is on sale for $30 and I thought 380W would be enough.

Then I looked for the video card I want to get and settled on the SAPPHIRE 100287VGAL Radeon HD 5670 and an Intel Pentium G850 Sandy Bridge because they're perfect for my price range.

However, the video card says that a 400W power supply is recommended and I only bought a 380W. Will I need a more powerful power supply, or will I be okay because the CPU only needs 65W? I can't overclock anything and will have two fans at the most.

Even though I've done a lot of research in building my first computer, I'm still a novice and the last thing I want to do is destroy my computer. Thanks for any help you can provide.

More about : psu

a c 86 ) Power supply
November 28, 2011 4:32:20 AM

That card will have trouble eating 50(with peak of about 60) watts on its own.

You are fine.

To put it in perspective

I5 750(undervolted a bit)
5770
1 hard drive
2 sticks of ram
2 x 120mm fans
300 watt psu

180 watts in the most demanding tasks from the wall. Same system idles at 40-45

Just cause2 and prime95


This is not to downplay the importants of a good psu, but the Antec EA380D should be fine for your system.
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a c 1218 ) Power supply
November 28, 2011 7:13:16 AM

For a system running with a single Radeon HD 5670 graphics card a power supply with a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 18 Amps or greater is recommended.

Your Antec EarthWatts EA-380D Green with its combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 28 Amps is more than sufficient to power your system with a Radeon HD 5670 graphics card.

It's not the power supply's wattage rating that determines whether or not it is capable of properly powering the system. The most important power supply specification is its combined +12 Volt continuous current rating because the CPU and graphics card(s) get all of their power from the +12 Volt rail(s) and they are the two devices that consume the majority of the power in a computer system.
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November 28, 2011 11:57:49 PM

Thank you very much everyone for your quick and thorough replies. It makes me feel a lot better knowing that I picked a good enough power supply for my new computer.

Sapphire should have put clearer requirements for its 5670 graphics card than just saying they want 400W or more when they really want 18A or more on the 12 line. Maybe that's too confusing for some but at least it would prevent people from buying new power supplies when they don't have to.

Thanks again!
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November 28, 2011 11:58:36 PM

Best answer selected by Zhenne.
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