Ati radeon hd 6850 and my PSU

duallcore

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Hello,I just bought an ati radeon hd 6850 card and I'm afraid my PSU i currently have is not powerfull enough.
My PSU is a 500w no name. I just played some games with it,works fine but I'm afraid it will die. I also have a 12v fan. Here is a picture of the PSU and its specifications.http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/6/20120108180734.jpg/
 

duallcore

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Thank you for the reply,yes I will buy a new PSU but untill then I would want to know if its safe to run this card and play some games whitout frying it or anything else. Thank you kindly for the help.
 

duallcore

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About the risk,what's the worse case scenario?The GPU isn't supposed to run any games if my PSU wasn't enough right? I mean, It wouldn't even start if it wouldn't have enough electricty going through it!
 

cliffro

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If its not putting out enough juice, you'll get random restarts while playing if your lucky, if your not, it'll pop and might take out other components as well.
 

cliffro

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Trust me, I've bought enough el cheapo PSUs in the past, and my friend insisted on using the cheap ones that came with cases when he was building computers(non-gaming) for some of our friends. Though I've never lost components, my friend did after using one of those PSU my other friend insisted on using in the computer.

It took out a motherboard, messed up the onboard audio on another that worked perfectly up until it was plugged into that PSU.
 

duallcore

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Oh that sounds really bad. Okay cliffro,thank you for the reply! I already played some metro 2033 and battlefield 3 for about 2-3 hours now.Those random restarts you have told me about haven't occurred yet so I think its packing enough juice! The gpu on idle is about 50 celsius and in-game is 70-73 celsius.Isn't that pretty high? If so,what can I do to lower the temperatures? I haven't overclocked the card,everything is stock. Thank you!
 


WHAT? Please don't tell people to buy a no name PSU below 80% efficiency...

@OP I'd recommend purchasing a PSU from a quality company like Corsair, Be Quiet, Enermax, Antec, ETC... of atleast 500W.
 

opckieran

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I built a sorta basic gaming PC for my friend with a 6850 and an i5 2400 using just a 400W PSU and it runs perfectly fine. I just want to point out that the no-name 500W PSU that you sent pictures of has an absolutely ANEMIC 12 volt rail, 18 Amps on the 12 volt rail is about HALF of what a good, modern 500W PSU should have. No-name/cheapo PSUs also have an unfortunate tendency to FAIL in a BIG WAY as was mentioned above, so I suggest swapping out that PSU and putting something decent in that system as soon as possible. An Antec NEO ECO 400W should do the trick. But again, it depends on what else is in your system. You may actually NEED a 500W PSU.
 

duallcore

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Thank you for the great answer,from what I can see,I only get bad feedback for this PSU. I will change it as soon as I can. Is this good? http://www.inter-tech.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=112%3Asl-500&catid=49%3Aatx-netzteile&Itemid=153&lang=en. If not, what can you guys recomend me for about 50-60 $ ? I'm almost out of money and I can't wait till next month.
Also,if it helps my system specs:
CPU:Intel core 2 duo e 7600 @3.06Ghz
Motherboard:Asus P5G41T-M LX
Memory:3gb ddr3
 

opckieran

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Stay away from that one too. They don't even list the amperage on it!
Look at the connectors on that thing
1 x 20+4 Pin
1 x P4
3 x SATA
2 x Molex
1 x Floppy

Not only does it not have a PCI-e 6 pin for your 6850, that thing is wired more in line with something that could only squeeze out 150-200 Watts out of the 12 Volt rail tops in my best estimation. Now I'm afraid that I too live in the US, so my knowledge of European brands is going to be more limited, but look for a brand called be-quiet!. They make some good ones.

http://www.be-quiet.net/be-quiet.net/index.php?StoryID=19&ProductID=8
 

yummerzzz

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Huh?
He never said that, what he meant was : "Buy a new PSU. That is a no name PSU, the efficiency is around %60-%70".

Also XFX Core Editions are usually cheaper and/or better than PSU's of a similar price.

Pretty much and 400-450 Watt PSu can power a HD 6850.
I.e Corsair CX430, Corsair CX400, Antec Earthwatts 380W, XFX Core Edition 450W to name a few.

 


What he said and what he meant perhaps aren't the same, but what he said was "Buy a new PSU that is an no name psu"

No name PSU's tend to be bad quality... :heink:
 

yummerzzz

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I could say what he said was " But a new PSU that is an no name psu" reffering to OP's PSU.

It's (kind of) obvious what he meant as if you read on afterwards his grammar wasn't exactly great ("an no name psu", no commas or full stops).