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Will i need a new PSU for a GPU upgrade?

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Had this cheapo power supply for 6 years now and its actually been great running with a 7600gt, But now im looking to upgrade and am unsure if this will be powerful enough to support a 9600gt, 8800/9800gtx or any other recommended gpu's that are cheap used.

Power supply specs 500w max
+3.3v 22a
+5v 36a
+12v 18a
5+3.3 230watt
5+12+3.3 422watt

System
ASUS M4A87TD/USB3
Phenom x4 960T unlocked to x6 1605T
8gb 1600mhz ram

Have a kil-a-wat hooked to computer, pulling ~140w normal usage, 210w under gaming. Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.

More about : psu gpu upgrade

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Power supply Expert

It will power a 8000/9000 series just fine. You could even go to an AMD 5000 series on 500W too. I think most 6000 series AMDs require 450W, but they aren't going to be cheap yet.
Power supply Master

theeassassin said:
Had this cheapo power supply for 6 years now and its actually been great running with a 7600gt, But now im looking to upgrade and am unsure if this will be powerful enough to support a 9600gt, 8800/9800gtx or any other recommended gpu's that are cheap used.

Power supply specs 500w max
+3.3v 22a
+5v 36a
+12v 18a
5+3.3 230watt
5+12+3.3 422watt

System
ASUS M4A87TD/USB3
Phenom x4 960T unlocked to x6 1605T
8gb 1600mhz ram

Have a kil-a-wat hooked to computer, pulling ~140w normal usage, 210w under gaming. Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.


Those are the specs of an outdated psu design.
Watts aren't the most important aspect of a psu, 12v amps are, and with only a single 12v rail @ 18a that's roughly the equivalent of a modern 300 watt psu.
It might run a 9600 GT ( does it even have a 6 pin pcie power connector ? ) though at 6 years old I doubt it would do it for very long.
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Power supplies degrade over time and out put less power, as old as it is I wouldn't trust it to power much. Like delluser1 pointed out, the 12v rail is very important, it's what power the majority of a modern computer. Most new power supplies have 2 or more 12V rails, and even a 350W unit will have 25a or more between the 2.

You can definitely get a better GPU than you have now, just not anything power hungry that would require a good 400W+ modern PSU.
Power supply Expert

I have an EVGA 9800GT 512MB HDMI version that came out of my computer a couple upgrades ago. It lists the requirements 350W with 18A on the +12V. I tried looking up my HIS 5770s, but they just give a wattage requirement. Grrr...

delluser1 said:
Those are the specs of an outdated psu design.
Watts aren't the most important aspect of a psu, 12v amps are, and with only a single 12v rail @ 18a that's roughly the equivalent of a modern 300 watt psu.
It might run a 9600 GT ( does it even have a 6 pin pcie power connector ? ) though at 6 years old I doubt it would do it for very long.

Thanks for all the replies, No it does not have a 6 pin pcie connector. Would an adapter from molex work?

Thinking about going with a 9800gt, what you guys think?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=14-133-...
It recommends 400W with 12v-26a rating, one reviewer said that he is running it on a 12v-18a like mine but with only a 430w, he claims to have done a lot of research and that this is best card w/o psu upgrade. No 6 pin connector.

Dont know if it makes much of a difference but my PSU is actually just over 4yr old, checked order history, my bad

theeassassin said:
Thinking about going with a 9800gt, what you guys think?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=14-133-...
It recommends 400W with 12v-26a rating, one reviewer said that he is running it on a 12v-18a like mine but with only a 430w, he claims to have done a lot of research and that this is best card w/o psu upgrade. No 6 pin connector.

Dont know if it makes much of a difference but my PSU is actually just over 4yr old, checked order history, my bad


I have i5-2500 + ATI 5850 and the biggest draw I saw (together with my UPS~7W) was 280W in Skyrim. I don't know the Phenom's draw under load, but the 9800 I'm sure draws less than 5850. Of course I have 1 SSD instead of any HDD.
Power supply Expert

The odds of your power supply blowing up and taking the motherboard,video card ,hard drive ,and everything else with it is too high.
It might work for a while, or it could blow the first time you power up.
That is why we suggest NOT using it.
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