Good enough PSU?

[15avaughn]

Hello everyone, so I have a Galaxy GT 640 I would like to put in my Dell Inspiron 570 with an AMD Athlon IIX2, but I'm not sure if the PSU is good enough. The stock PSU it came with is a HIPRO HP-P3017F3 that only has 300w and 18A on the 12V rail. However from what I've heard Dell PSUs are underrated but I still don't want to risk it without more information. If I need to upgrade my PSU, would this be a good choice?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

 

[t53186]

Requirements for video card

Minimum of a 350 Watt power supply. (Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 20 Amps.)

So any power supply that exceeds this specification will work.

 

[15avaughn]

So I should get a new PSU?

 

[ilysaml]

So I should get a new PSU?

No you shouldn't, the GT 640 consumes maximum of 37w at full load, the Dell PSU can provide suffice power for such a card, actually it can power more hungry cards without a problem.

 

[15avaughn]

No you shouldn't, the GT 640 consumes maximum of 37w at full load, the Dell PSU can provide suffice power for such a card, actually it can power more hungry cards without a problem.

So what about the +12V rail requirement? I only have 18A on it while the requirements say I need 20A.

 

[ilysaml]

Who did specify 20A? Listen, in order not to go in specifc details and explanations, the maximum wattage drawn by your card are 37w at full load as reported by techpowerup.com

nVidia recommending a 350W system wattage, they do claim that because they know that cheap garbage PSUs are not rated for the labeled wattage.

I had 9600 GT on my Dell Optiplex 740 connected with a molex to 6 pin adapter and I never had an issue.

PCIE lane are absorbing 75W provided by the PSU, the card doesn't require any external power so their's no even a "rail" required for your card. It will just absorb the power provided by the PSU to the PCIE slot.

Don't worry, just plug it in and enjoy your games.

 

[15avaughn]

Best answer selected by 15avaughn.