Help with power supply

[jamessyy]

Hi. I recently bought myself a graphics card Gigabyte GTX 550 ti (900 mhz, min 400w). However i have a generic power supply unit (500w) which does not have a pci-e power cable and i am currently using a adapter. But when i play higher end 3d games such as Call of duty 6, the whole computer freezes and i have no choice but to restart the whole system as ctrl+alt+dtl does not work nor does anything else. On a low budget and wanting a quality PSU, i decided to chose Corsair's VS450w PSU at $61.
I am not sure if this will be enough wattage for my computer as following:
- Asus P5G41t-m le (motherboard)
- Intel core 2 duo E8400 3.0ghz
- Gigabyte GTX 550 ti (900mhz)
- Asus CD/DVD drive
- 2 x 2gb ram (4GB total)

I need help on weather the corsair 450w power supply is enough for my system, if not, can you please suggest one to me however i am on a low budget. ( I am also thinking about Silverstones essential strider 500w for $62)

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!

 

[socialfox]

Hi there James,

Since you are on a budget and want a quality power supply then try and get this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371045&Tpk=VP-450

The VP-450 is of very good quality. I believe on NVIDIA's website the GTX 550ti asks for a 400 watt minimum which is in overestimation since you can run it on lower power supplies, either way the GTX 550ti requires 24 amps on a combined 12v rail and the VP-450 provides 36 amps on two 12v rails (18Amps per rail). That being said your good to go with the VP-450.

 

[jamessyy]

So 450w should be enough? Im getting answers from other sites saying how i should get at least 550w but i am on a budget and was not able to comply. This one looks great BTW

 

[socialfox]

Interesting, well your processor should consume around 65 watts at load, then your video card will consume 116 watts at full load. With the two power drawing components out of the way that leaves quite a lot of room for other peripherals and stuff.
*Note I say around 65 watts for the processor but that is the TDP, TDP and power consumption are different, you will usually use less than 65 watts I believe. Still kind of grasping the fact of TDP and Power Consumption as its a new thing for me :lol:

 

[jamessyy]

Yea thats what i was thinking, i was wondering why i needed so much more power when in fact i don't. Well the reasoning for other people was that "i don't want my PSU to overheat so i need a bigger one" which didnt really make that much sense to me.

 

[jamessyy]

Well thanks for the answer buddy. but unfortunately newegg doesn't ship to Australia.

 

[socialfox]

Meh, you have no reason to worry about overheating, unless the temperature case is something like 70 degrees don't worry. Anyways is this power supply going to be top mounted or on the bottom drawing cool air from the floor? I believe Top Mount power supplies take the warm case air and exhaust it through the back. Bottom mount facing down to the ground draws air from outside (below the case) and exhausts it the same way.

Either way I believe the capacitors in this power supply to be rated @ 105 degrees which is the standard for quality power supplies.

Anyways according to this review they were able to draw around 550 watts @ full load which is pretty impressive.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Antec-VP450-Power-Supply-Review/1487/9

Edit: Since you live in Australia, do you know any websites that you use for computer parts? I can look of there, I checked the VP-450 in the australian part of ebay and boy, the computer parts are all overpriced....

They're selling the VP-450 for around $65-70 AU, thats roughly about $70 in CDN, or USD if you want.

 

[jamessyy]

Its going to be top mounted and thank you very much for looking up all this stuff up for me meanwhile it is true everything is overpriced here in Australia i managed to find one for 52 bucks

http://www.mwave.com.au/product/sku-aa49385-antec_vp_series_vp450p_450w_power_supply

 

[socialfox]

Alright that looks fairly well priced considering stuff in your country is overpriced...

Anyways do you have any other questions or is that all? I've got an hour to kill.... :lol:

 

[jamessyy]

Nah its fine. Thanks for your time

 

[jamessyy]

Best answer selected by jamessyy.

 

[socialfox]

No problemo, glad I was able to help