Question Any options for 4K Video Card with my current CPU & a modest 250W PSU ?

[Petros_K]

System is an older HP Elitedesk 800 G4 Workstation that came with an AMD Radeon R7 430 video card. CPU is an Intel Core i7 8700.

PSU is only 250W and can't realistically be upgraded because the part needs to be an HP proprietary model that is not available.

There are still low powered video cards available that only need power from the PCIe slot (typically 75 watts max). I unfortunately have a video card that has a 6 pin PCIe power connector so I would not be able to use it in this system. Even though it's a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti it still requires the 6 pin connector and is overclocked. It's rated for 75 watts but won't work without the 6 pin connection so may use more power at times.

I am not trying to use the system for gaming. Do I have any realistic chance of finding a low powered card that when paired with this CPU can stream 4K ? I bought a Samsung 50" Class CU7000D Crystal UHD 4K Smart TV and trying to upgrade PC (needed 16 GB RAM, Windows 10 pro, and and better CPU) but now power supply is an issue.

For example, someone was selling an HP ProDesk 600 G4 with a Core i7-8700 and a AMD RX 550 4GB video card. I asked the seller how many watts is the PSU, and he says 250W. But I also asked do you know if the CPU/video card of this system will allow for streaming 4K?

His reply: "No doubt about it, you can stream 4K on way less than what this has."

Please help.

 

[jojesa]

For streaming and productivity the Intel Arc A380 can handle the task.
It takes the workload from the CPU.

 

[Petros_K]

For streaming and productivity the Intel Arc A380 can handle the task.
It takes the workload from the CPU.

Intel® Arc™ A380 Graphics - Product Specifications | Intel

Intel® Arc™ A380 Graphics quick reference with specifications, features, and technologies.

www.intel.com

Intel specs say Total Board Power is 75W.

However, Newegg has specs for this card saying recommended system PSU is 450W, and I only have 250W.
Plus, it requires an 8 pin pcie power adapter. How am I supposed to use this?

 

[jeffy9987]

GUNNIR has a slot-only powered version called the Index A380 tho it only seems to be sold by Chinese sites

 

[Lucky_SLS]

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/JVWJ7P/sparkle-elf-arc-a380-6-gb-video-card-sa380e-6g

 

[Petros_K]

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/JVWJ7P/sparkle-elf-arc-a380-6-gb-video-card-sa380e-6g

Thanks but the Sparkle card requires an 8-pin connector too.

Use an SATA to 8-pin connector? And even though system power supply recommended says 450W and I only have 250W ???

 

[Lucky_SLS]

It does not. check again.

External Power​

None

Have a look at the images.

 

[Petros_K]

It does not. check again.

External Power​

None

Have a look at the images.

I want to believe you, but specs posted at Newegg indicate otherwise:

Did Newegg get it wrong?

If it does have an 8 pin, just do a SATA - 8 pin connection?

What about recommended system power 450W if I only have 250W?

 

[USAFRet]

What about recommended system power 450W if I only have 250W?

All the magical connectors in the world does not allow a 250W PSU to run a 450W system.

 

[Zerk2012]

Should be able to get a 1630 or 1650 HDMI 2.0 should do 4K @ 60fps
Edit even low end cards are going to put you borderline on having enough power.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

I want to believe you, but specs posted at Newegg indicate otherwise:

Did Newegg get it wrong?

If it does have an 8 pin, just do a SATA - 8 pin connection?

What about recommended system power 450W if I only have 250W?

On the same newegg page, the gpu got 1 customer review. Plz read that XD

 

[jojesa]

Intel® Arc™ A380 Graphics - Product Specifications | Intel

Intel® Arc™ A380 Graphics quick reference with specifications, features, and technologies.

www.intel.com

Intel specs say Total Board Power is 75W.

However, Newegg has specs for this card saying recommended system PSU is 450W, and I only have 250W.
Plus, it requires an 8 pin pcie power adapter. How am I supposed to use this?

The SPARKLE Arc A380 ELF has a 250W PSU requirement and does not have any extra power connectors or requirements.
SPARKLE Arc A380 ELF

You could wait a bit for the Sparkle Arc A310 Genie , which will have even lower power requirements.

 

[Moonstick2]

The SPARKLE Arc A380 ELF has a 250W PSU requirement and does not have any extra power connectors or requirements.
SPARKLE Arc A380 ELF

That link literally says 1 x 8-pin connector.

Every other Arc 380 I've found online (with actual photos/reviews) has an 8 pin connector.

I'm not convinced about that Sparkle card at all. The images are all CAD renders. It would take more than a single anonymous review on Newegg to convince me.

I'd recommend something like an RX6400. That definitely only draws power from the PCIe slot. They still list 350W minimum requirement for covering reasons. Whether a 250W HP PSU is okay with it, I wouldn't like to say, but it's as good as you'll get I think.

Edit: RX6400 vs R7 430 according to Techpowerup. The TDP is only 3W more than your current card, and they list 250W as the minimum PSU.

 

[Petros_K]

On the same newegg page, the gpu got 1 customer review. Plz read that XD

Okay I see that. Wow confusing. I sent an email at the Sparkle website to clarify if there is an 8 pin connector or not and why did Newegg post specs that include it. I also asked why would a video card rated at 75W come with recommended PSU of 450W?

Info for the SPARKLE Arc A380 ELF is posted here https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/sparkle-arc-a380-elf.b11313

Note here they say suggested PSU is 250W, not 450W. And look just below that and you see again spec says 1 x 8-pin power connector required.

Incredible. All kinds of contradictory info on this.

​

 

[Avro Arrow]

I suppose that it depends on your idea of a "4K card". Sure, you could have a card that can display 4K, but a card that can game at 4K with a 250W PSU? Oh hell no! I'm cracking up just typing it.

I have two high-end cards. One is a 4K gaming card (RX 7900 XTX) and the other is a 1440p card that can game at 4K (RX 6800 XT). The TDP of the RX 6800 XT is 300W and the TDP of the RX 7900 XTX is 355W.

You could probably find a low-end potato gaming card like a GTX 1650 that might work but even that is 75W and might overload your PSU with everything else in your system.

At the end of the day, anything that you spend on that old brand-in-a-box PC is a complete waste of money. Remember that these days, a "modest" PSU is 400W. A 250W PSU is referred to as "unwise".

 

[jojesa]

That link literally says 1 x 8-pin connector.

Every other Arc 380 I've found online (with actual photos/reviews) has an 8 pin connector.

They made a mistake, the Arc 380 ELF does not have any power connectors.
See a video here

 

[Petros_K]

I suppose that it depends on your idea of a "4K card". Sure, you could have a card that can display 4K, but a card that can game at 4K with a 250W PSU? Oh hell no! I'm cracking up just typing it.

First post I wrote "I am not trying to use the system for gaming."

I have a Samsung 4K TV and want to be able to stream 4K from the internet. No gaming. Just watching vids and movies.

 

[Petros_K]

They made a mistake, the Arc 380 ELF does not have any power connectors.
See a video here

Yes I see. The "runt of the litter" as he calls it in the video is definately the Sparkle A380 Elf. Vid also makes clear "requires no supplimentary power." Nice work. Now we know, unless there are also overclocked cards being sold ?

But what about this recommended system PSU?

Techpowerup says system PSU can be 250W: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/sparkle-arc-a380-elf.b11313

Sparkle website recommends 450W (scroll all the way down): https://www.sparkle.com.tw/en/ARC/Elf

 

[Petros_K]

You could probably find a low-end potato gaming card like a GTX 1650 that might work but even that is 75W and might overload your PSU with everything else in your system.

At the end of the day, anything that you spend on that old brand-in-a-box PC is a complete waste of money. Remember that these days, a "modest" PSU is 400W. A 250W PSU is referred to as "unwise".

The manual for the PC, an HP Elitedesk 800 G4 Workstation (available here: https://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c06034418.pdf )

indicates that when this system came with a GeForce GTX 1060 3GB GPU, it did not require more than a 250W PSU.

Techpowerup website indicates this card has a 300W suggested system PSU. Yet, when it came in HP Elitedesk machines it did not require more than a 250W PSU (some of their optional graphics cards required PSU to be 500W). How did they safely run this card with only 250W PSU?

And what about the discrepancy between what Techpowerup suggests for system PSU vs the manufacturer for the Sparkle A380 Elf? Techpowerup suggests 250W but website for Sparkle says 450W. We know there isn't a 6 or 8 pin power connector on it, yet the PSU needs to be so high? I'm still waiting for an email back from the company.

 

[jojesa]

A lower powered card like SPARKLE Arc A380 ELF won't draw that much power.

A friend has the ASRock Arc A380 with the 8-pin power and it does not reach above 64W while gaming. I do not know what's the point of the auxiliary power on some of them.
So for streaming and video editing it use less than 40W.

You could calculate the power requirement of your PC by adding the components power usage.

Components Load power draw
CPU (i7 8700) 65 W
GPU 75W
Motherboard 30W
SATA DVD 15W
HDD 9W
RAM 6W
SSD 3W
Fan 120mm 3W

How much is that?
By the way, I'm calculating maximum power draw.
I do not think, gaming or streaming will bring that system close to maximum power usage.

 

[Petros_K]

A lower powered card like SPARKLE Arc A380 ELF won't draw that much power.

A friend has the ASRock Arc A380 with the 8-pin power and it does not reach above 64W while gaming. I do not know what's the point of the auxiliary power on some of them.
So for streaming and video editing it use less than 40W.

You could calculate the power requirement of your PC by adding the components power usage.

Components Load power draw
CPU (i7 8700) 65 W
GPU 75W
Motherboard 30W
SATA DVD 15W
HDD 9W
RAM 6W
SSD 3W
Fan 120mm 3W

How much is that?
By the way, I'm calculating maximum power draw.
I do not think, gaming or streaming will bring that system close to maximum power usage.

Thank you so much for this.

So total power if everything ran at the same time (which doesn't really occur) would be just over 200W.

A 250W PSU typically can safely do 70 - 80% of its rated power supply. So, that would be 175 - 200W.

I know that looks like I'd be just getting by, but it's assuming all the components are running all at the same time on max power, and I really would never need to do that. So safe to assume the recommended 450W PSU is a bit overkill?

 

[jojesa]

Thank you so much for this.

So total power if everything ran at the same time (which doesn't really occur) would be just over 200W.

A 250W PSU typically can safely do 70 - 80% of its rated power supply. So, that would be 175 - 200W.

I know that looks like I'd be just getting by, but it's assuming all the components are running all at the same time on max power, and I really would never need to do that. So safe to assume the recommended 450W PSU is a bit overkill?

A good quality 250W PSU should be sufficient

 

[USAFRet]

The further question is....how old is this PSU?

250W on Day 1 may not be 250W 10 years later.

 

[Avro Arrow]

The manual for the PC, an HP Elitedesk 800 G4 Workstation (available here: https://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c06034418.pdf )

indicates that when this system came with a GeForce GTX 1060 3GB GPU, it did not require more than a 250W PSU.

Techpowerup website indicates this card has a 300W suggested system PSU. Yet, when it came in HP Elitedesk machines it did not require more than a 250W PSU (some of their optional graphics cards required PSU to be 500W). How did they safely run this card with only 250W PSU?

Sometimes manufacturers have "OEM-only" cards that are somewhat de-tuned (the RX 7900 GRE is a good case-in-point). Kind of like how undervolting usually saves a lot more power than it loses in performance. Since most people who buy those "brand-in-a-box" desktops aren't what I would call "computer savvy", they usually have no idea and often don't care as long as the PC works at some level.

And what about the discrepancy between what Techpowerup suggests for system PSU vs the manufacturer for the Sparkle A380 Elf? Techpowerup suggests 250W but website for Sparkle says 450W. We know there isn't a 6 or 8 pin power connector on it, yet the PSU needs to be so high? I'm still waiting for an email back from the company.

Well, the thing is that manufacturers will often exaggerate how much wattage is needed because they don't know what else is in your system and they don't know what kind of PSU that you have. For all they know, you have some off-brand Chinese PSU that includes the +5V and +3.3V rails in their total output. In order to avoid liability, they'll often state a much higher wattage than is actually needed. TPU assumes that you have a good PSU and bases their numbers on several reviewers' tests. Since they have nothing to do with the manufacturer of the cards or PSUs, they have no liability to worry about.

 

[Avro Arrow]

First post I wrote "I am not trying to use the system for gaming."

I have a Samsung 4K TV and want to be able to stream 4K from the internet. No gaming. Just watching vids and movies.

I apologise then, I somehow missed that (I'm at work and give tech advice in my down time so sometimes I miss the odd detail).

For you, I would recommend the GeForce GT 730. It's dirt-cheap, has a max resolution of 3840x2160 but only has a TDP of 49W. I think that for you, it would be ideal.