HD 6850 Power Requirements

[chinoroy]

hi guys. what is the power requirements for the HD 6850? i just wanna know if my current power supply can handle it. im on a budget so i dont wanna buy a new PSU.

my PSU is AcBel CE2 500 Max Power with one 6+2-pin power connector.

Output Current Capacity:

+3.3V - 21A
+5V - 15A
+12V1 - 17A
+12V2 - 19A
-12V - 0.3A
+5Vsb - 2.0A

the +3.3V & +5V has 120W
the +12V1 & +12V2 has 300W
the -12V has 3.6W
and the +5Vsb has 10W

 

[jryan388]

The +12v rails are the ones that matter. That looks like it should have plenty of power for a 6850. I don't know the exact power requirement, but I can't imagine it's more than 150w or so.

 

[chinoroy]

hey man.. thanks for the reply. so can i run it? note that im getting the OC version of it (MSI HD 6850 OC). and my processor is overclocked as well..

 

[chinoroy]

how bout the Inno3d GTX 460 OC? can my psu handle it? its $16 cheaper than the MSI HD 6850 OC..

 

[ko888]

Your PSU specs look like they're for the AcBel Polytech CE2 Power 450 model HB9023 or HB9024.

Its combined +12 Volt current rating of 25 Amps peak or 23 Amps continuous should be able to handle a single Radeon HD 6850 graphics card system. A Radeon HD 6850 has a maximum board power of 127 Watts which means that the graphics card itself may draw up to 10.6 Amps from the +12 Volt rail.

The Inno3D Geforce GTX 460 OC requires two 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors giving an indication that it requires more power than the Radeon HD 6850.

Because of the split +12 Volt rails on your power supply, and the fact that it has only one 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connector, is an indication that the rail that the 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connector is wired to isn't enough to power the Inno3D Geforce GTX 460 OC.

One of the +12 Volt rails, most likely +12V1, is used for powering the CPU only.

The +12V2 rail is used to power everything else in the system that requires +12 Volt power like the graphics card, hard disk drives, CD/DVD drives, cooling fans, expansion cards, etc.

 

[chinoroy]

Your PSU specs look like they're for the AcBel Polytech CE2 Power 450 model HB9023 or HB9024.

Its combined +12 Volt current rating of 25 Amps peak or 23 Amps continuous should be able to handle a single Radeon HD 6850 graphics card system. A Radeon HD 6850 has a maximum board power of 127 Watts which means that the graphics card itself may draw up to 10.6 Amps from the +12 Volt rail.

The Inno3D Geforce GTX 460 OC requires two 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors giving an indication that it requires more power than the Radeon HD 6850.

Because of the split +12 Volt rails on your power supply, and the fact that it has only one 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connector, is an indication that the rail that the 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connector is wired to isn't enough to power the Inno3D Geforce GTX 460 OC.

One of the +12 Volt rails, most likely +12V1, is used for powering the CPU only.

The +12V2 rail is used to power everything else in the system that requires +12 Volt power like the graphics card, hard disk drives, CD/DVD drives, cooling fans, expansion cards, etc.

hi. so am i safe to run the MSI HD 6850 OC? too bad the Inno3D GTX 460 OC is cheaper. but thats ok.

last question though, cant i just use a 4-pin to 6-pin power connector for the other one and underclock the GTX 460 OC to its reference specs if power is going to be an issue?

thanks ko888

 

[ko888]

hi. so am i safe to run the MSI HD 6850 OC? too bad the Inno3D GTX 460 OC is cheaper. but thats ok.

last question though, cant i just use a 4-pin to 6-pin power connector for the other one and underclock the GTX 460 OC to its reference specs if power is going to be an issue?

thanks ko888

Yes you're safe with the MSI Radeon HD 6850 OC card.

If you're willing to risk possible damage to the Inno3D Geforce GTX 460 OC card and your PSU go ahead and try it.

I have no idea what the rest of the components in your system are so I have no idea what their power consumption is. You may be able to boot into Windows with the Inno3D Geforce GTX 460 OC but as soon as you fire up a game it may cause the power supply to shut down if the over current protection circuit is triggered (i.e. if the graphics card and other components draw more than 19 Amps from the +12V2 rail).

I figure the Inno3D Geforce GTX 460 OC shouldn't draw more than 10 Amps from the +12 Volt rail unless you decide to run FurMark which will cause the card to draw up to 13 Amps.

If you don't have several hard disk drives and more than one CD/DVD drive I think you may just be able to run the Inno3D Geforce GTX 460 OC using the power supplies 6-pin PCI-E power connector and one Molex to 6-pin PCI-E power adapter.

 

[chinoroy]

Yes you're safe with the MSI Radeon HD 6850 OC card.

If you're willing to risk possible damage to the Inno3D Geforce GTX 460 OC card and your PSU go ahead and try it.

I have no idea what the rest of the components in your system are so I have no idea what their power consumption is. You may be able to boot into Windows with the Inno3D Geforce GTX 460 OC but as soon as you fire up a game it may cause the power supply to shut down if the over current protection circuit is triggered (i.e. if the graphics card and other components draw more than 19 Amps from the +12V2 rail).

I figure the Inno3D Geforce GTX 460 OC shouldn't draw more than 10 Amps from the +12 Volt rail unless you decide to run FurMark which will cause the card to draw up to 13 Amps.

If you don't have several hard disk drives and more than one CD/DVD drive I think you may just be able to run the Inno3D Geforce GTX 460 OC using the power supplies 6-pin PCI-E power connector and one Molex to 6-pin PCI-E power adapter.

im only running a single hard drive, single dvd multi recorder, one casing fan and a cpu cooler..

my 2 molex's is occupied by the casing fan and the led light of my case.

should i get the HD 6850 and is it going to be the best bang for the buck?

ive also read some reviews and they say that the GTX 460 has better tessellation in DX11.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

i can tell you acbel are pretty poor psu's, here's a couple example reviews http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/AcBel-Polytech-iPower-660-Power-Supply-Review/552/9
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/stress-test,1073-8.html
These reviews may not be your exact psu model, but I would replace your current psu if i were you and get a reliable brand. I would definitely stay away from OC cards, particularly the 460, they are more power hungry than the 6850.

 

[chinoroy]

i can tell you acbel are pretty poor psu's, here's a couple example reviews http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/AcBel-Polytech-iPower-660-Power-Supply-Review/552/9
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/stress-test,1073-8.html
These reviews may not be your exact psu model, but I would replace your current psu if i were you and get a reliable brand. I would definitely stay away from OC cards, particularly the 460, they are more power hungry than the 6850.

does this mean that i cant go for the HD 6850 OC and just end up getting the GTX 550 Ti? 🙁

 

[jaguarskx]

I would actually not recommend going with the HD 6850 OC. "OC" means overclocked and that means it will use more power than a non OC'ed HD 6850. Couple that will a low quality power supply as well. My recommendation is a standard clocked HD 6850. In the end it's your money so if you want to overstress a low quality PSU, then that's your decision.

The GTX 460 uses a little more power than the HD 6850, and it is overall a slower card. You can see benchmarks of the two cards in the following review. The HD 6850 wins more often than it loses compared to the GTX 460.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_6850_PCS_Plus/1.html

As for the GTX 460 having better Tessellation... it losses to the HD 6850 in AvP and Dirt 2 which are both DX11 games.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

does this mean that i cant go for the HD 6850 OC and just end up getting the GTX 550 Ti? 🙁

what i mean is you should replace the psu anyway, and even the 550ti uses more power than the 6850.

 

[chinoroy]

I would actually not recommend going with the HD 6850 OC. "OC" means overclocked and that means it will use more power than a non OC'ed HD 6850. Couple that will a low quality power supply as well. My recommendation is a standard clocked HD 6850. In the end it's your money so if you want to overstress a low quality PSU, then that's your decision.

The GTX 460 uses a little more power than the HD 6850, and it is overall a slower card. You can see benchmarks of the two cards in the following review. The HD 6850 wins more often than it loses compared to the GTX 460.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_6850_PCS_Plus/1.html

As for the GTX 460 having better Tessellation... it losses to the HD 6850 in AvP and Dirt 2 which are both DX11 games.


http://tpucdn.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_6850_PCS_Plus/images/avp_1920_1200.gif


http://tpucdn.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_6850_PCS_Plus/images/dirt2_1920_1200.gif

yeah but the OC version is the only available here in my country. i couldnt find any non-OC version.

 

[chinoroy]

what i mean is you should replace the psu anyway, and even the 550ti uses more power than the 6850.

the GTX 550 Ti requires 116W and recommends 400W of PSU according to their website.

also i dont wanna change my PSU for now. its not even 1yr old.

 

[ko888]

The MSI R6850-PM2D1GD5/OC consumes only 6 Watts more than the AMD Reference Clocked Radeon HD 6850 card under maximum GPU load.

 

[chinoroy]

Best answer selected by chinoroy.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey