Can a 420W PSU hack this?

[3zer]

Well at the moment i have a Thermaltake TR2-420W, i am looking to upgrade my system to the following specs:

e6300
MSI P965
1GB corsair RAM
Nvidia 7600GT or ATI X1950PRO

Just wondering weather i will "need" to upgrade my PSU, by need i mean if i did not upgrade my PSU it would damage or stop my system working to its full potential.

I am not looking to overclock at the moment however if i was going to i would assume I would defently need to replace the PSU?

Thanks in Advance.

 

[mrmez]

Hrmmm... not 100% sure but id say not really.
I know my 1950XT drinks juice, so im sure the pro is a little thirsty too.
Then again 6300 is prob quite good with power.

U can always give it a go if u dont OC.
Also depends on what u run in your sys. Ive got 5x drives, OC BIG time, water sys, misc cards, neons, etc. So i had no choice 2 upgrade.
Too many ppl have been haunted by the strangest problems only 2 find out the psu was shyte.

I got a 650w for ~140AUD, so maybe its a good idea.

 

[3zer]

Well I have:

1 x CD-ROM drive
1 x IDE Hard drive
3 x 8cm neon fans
1 x 12cm Fans
2 x 12cm Neon fans

A shit loada fans i know, lol.

 

[weskurtz81]

At max, you would be around 300W, assuming that you don't an insane amount of hard drives and other things attached spinning all the time. That PSU should be able to handle that setup with no issues. I had an overclocked 165 @ 3ghz, 2 7800gtx's OCed, 5 hard drives, 2 optical drives, and the other normal stuff, the max power draw from the wall I ever saw was around 330 watts. That was with dual prime 95, and gaming/video stress test(either one yielded about the same results). And, it's safe to assume that the actual system consumption DC was about 260W(roughly). So, that PSU should be adequate.

wes

Edit: forgot one thing, what is your 12v rail amperage?

 

[evongugg]

Use this PSU calculator, add in a hard drive and DVD-RW:

http://extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp

Take your wattage results divide them by 12v and compare them to the rails on your PSU. Make sure they don't exceed the maximum power for 12v.

See this PSU 101:
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/PSU-101-ftopict198276.html

Top Tier PSU
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

 

[3zer]

well with the CPU, high end motherboard, video card and hard drive it came to just over 21A. So my PSU aint gonna give any space for the other components, so i am goign to be looking for a 26+A PSU.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Im not too sure about this one..Im running a 420 watter also,tho my brand is a enermax.It has 29 amps combined on the 12 volt rails,18amps each rail.Im running 1 sata,1 sbaud2zs sound,1900xt 512mb and athlon at 89 watts.your psu isnt as high on the 12 volt rails:Output +3.3V@28A, +5V@28A, +12V1@10A, +12V2@15A, -12V@0.3A, +5VSB@2A not sure you have enuff oomph

 

[weskurtz81]

Well,

It's up to you guys, the power numbers on the calculators tend to be on the extreme high side, but, alot of people feel like they are better safe than sorry. I just like to buy what I need, not more. Depends on your taste.

wes

 

[weskurtz81]

You own a 25amp psu. A 26 amp psu is only 12 more volts on the 12v rail(s). Just a thought. Refer to my last post.

wes

Edit: keep in mind, not everything runs on 12v either.
Edit #2: see this thread:
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=1404635#1404635

 

[3zer]

Hmm well with the coments i have had i think i should may as well go for an upgrade PSu as then i will be able to overclock too, just wondering if you could post some links to PSU's around £50-60 preferably from Uk retailers.

 

[evongugg]

Look here:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

 

[evongugg]

To recapitulate:
How to calculate PSU power needed:

Use this PSU calculator, add in a hard drive, optical drive, CPU and Video, use high-end motherboard :

http://extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp

Take your wattage results divide them by 12v, add 2-4 amps for safety and compare them to the rails on your PSU. Make sure they don't exceed the maximum power for 12v.

See this PSU 101:
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/PSU-101-ftopict198276.html

Top Tier PSU
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

 

[bliq]

I just built a system like this:

A64 3800+/ECS mobo
X850XT
1GB RAM
HDD
DVD-RW
12cm and 8cm fans


and it runs just fine on a ThermalTake 430W. The X850 has a 2 slot fan. I'd guess it uses as much juice as the 1950 or 7600GT even though it's a generation or two older since it's not as efficient. And an E6300 is probably more efficient than an A64. And I think I only have 18A on the 12V rail. no crashes, no overheating, no problems.

 

[milnyckyj]

I'm currently using a similar setup with a coolermaster 400W psu. Asus p5b, e6400, 2gb ram, 7600gt, 2 sata hdd, dvdrw.

You can definitely run your system on 430W, but you have to ask yourself if you want to spend an extra 30 bucks now to make upgrades down the road easier...If you're thinking of upgrading to a dx10 card down the road or anything else similarly power hungry, I would get a better psu now.

That being said you should be wary of the very inexpensive high capacity psus if you think you'll need more power.

 

[Julian33]

I have the following system:

Athlon 64 X2 4200+
X1950 Pro
1GB DDR RAM
Gigabyte mATX S939 Mobo
3xHDs, 1 DVD-RW + 1 Floppy Drive
2x120mm fans

This is all perfectly stable on my 380W PSU at full load. It is a Seasonic PSU though which is a great brand.