Just got my 3870 and it works with my 350 Sparkle PSU

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astrotrain1000

astrotrain1000

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Oct 19, 2007
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I just got my 3870 in today and it actually works with my 350w psu. Even though its a low wattage it actually supplies the required amps. I haven't tried overclocking it yet, but I thought I'd post incase some people were wondering what kind of PSU they really need to run one of these. I haven't had enough time with it to really burn it in but I tried CoD4,HL: Lost Coast, and the Lost PLanet dx10 demo and it ran well.

I have:

Athlon X2 4400 (very slightly overclocked to run the ram at 400mhz, no voltage increase)
2 500gb hdd's one from seagate the other from samsung
1 dvd burner
1 sapphire 3870
Biostar TF7025-M2 motherboard

Here's a link to the PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103012
 
LOL, thats great. Start praying now that in six months time when your PSU gives out that it doesn't take your shiny new video card with it. Assuming the 3870 is like the 2900 series, you are 100W and possibly 10amps to short.
 
Not at all 474
I have a 3850 running on my 380 Watt and it's been fine for a long time.
These cards simply don't need much power.
 
Well when the unit blows from overloading, and takes out half your hardware with it, you'll be able to post here and tell us why wont you?
Besides when you overload something, its not as efficient meaning it burns more energy and creates a lot more heat, in turn causing it to have a short life span.
Click to expand...

If there are going to be problems with the amount power available he is going to get a warning first. Windows should throw up a message about not enough power being supplied to the video card as this happened to me with my old 6600GT, if there isn't enough power the video card will simple run at lower speeds. I never heard of a PSU taking out a computer from overloading.
 
agreed.I've had my share of psu problems in the past.And every time a problem happened Windows recognized it and either rebooted or shut down completely. Not saying a meltdown couldn't happen, but it has not been my experience that it does happen.
 
hmmm at 350W the card probably won't be able to perform as well under full load. It probably will stick to idling at 300 mhz core speed.
 


Surely idling at that speed is a great idea? Saving on both power and noise. Also what people seem to be forgetting is that these GPUs are made using a 55nm process, which makes them a lot more efficient (clock for clock) than other GPUs. So even if their clocks are higher it will still use similar amounts of power to an nVidia card. If i remember correctly the 8800GT is on 65nm and the GTX on 80nm, which is a fair amount larger than 55nm.

If you look at the tomshardware review you can see that a whole system including an HD3850 draws only 234W at load! According to the chart you can even use an 8800GTX on a 350 Watt PSU.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/15/amd_radeon_hd_3800/page18.html

I also have no idea where all this nonesense about a bad PSU taking out half a system with it. I've had about 3 PSU failures since i've been building PCs (10-15 years or so) and not one of them has ever damaged any components. All the other people i've talked to have said the same thing, that their PSU failing did not cause any collateral damage.
 
Ditto. As a computer tech, all I can say is cool you saved $50 or $60 dollars. You better keep thet money you saved cause your gonna need it if/when that thing blows out your entire system. I've seen them take out everything including IDE cables.

Its a gamble I wouldnt be willing to take. Just because it works dont mean its smart. The power supply is your systems heart. If your heart dont pump enough blood your brain wont get enough oxygen.

My CPU will run a 3.8 and soar over 70c. Do I run it simply because I can? No! I run it where it can run for a long period of time. 3.4.
 


:??: It looks to me like the sparkle 350w in question has a maximum of 25A available on two 12V rails.

That's pretty respectable for a 350w PSU...
 
I noticed the label matched those from FSP, I was pretty sure they are made by the same people. I know the 3870 is more power efficient then the 2900 series, but I do think they will overload that PSU at some point. Great for him if it works, but I'd replace it before something goes bad.
 
While not pieces of crap, they aren't among the best either. I have no reason to doubt the tier 3 claim, thats about where I would put them. They aren't PCP&C or SeaSonic, but they aren't Apieva or kingwin either.

As I said, my issue with it is the lack of power. If this is the PSU from the last build, its already been put under some strain. Throw in a bunch more powerful things, and I'm not 100% certain that it will hold up.
 
Just because something doesn't immediately explode, that doesn't necessarily make it a good idea.

Doesn't mean it's doomed to fail either. But it's very likely that PSU is getting pushed past it's operational limits, in which case it won't last too long...
 
I actually intend to buy another PSU, as I didn't think it would even run on the 350 watt. I've been thinking about getting the antec earthwatts 500. Is that a good choice? I don't plan to ever use crossfire. How would I go about checking the total wattage of my system so I can see where its really at when I play games?
 
Well considering that PSU(the on you linked to) can channel 300 watts into its 12 volt rails, i do not think it is being overloaded(hell if those specs are accurate, its more power then my system uses with its 8800GTX)....Recheck the PSU, if it is in fact the dual rail model(there was an older single rail 18 amp one for the record i DO have both. not that i ever loaded then over 200 watts).
17-103-012-03.jpg


Either way the 3XXX cards are quite a bit more power friendly then the 2XXX series.

Look in my more info/view config.....the full system loaded to the nuts 100% cpu 100% video ect uses less then 350 watts from the wall...take off Step-Down/AC-DC conversion and i am under 300w load on the psu...

Not saying its a great idea, but the psu will get extremely hot(louder too) and I think you would see signs before the psu blows.

On the comment of PSU's blowing up, Allot of it has to do with poor power conditions that weaken the units to the failing point.
 
I killed one power supply, thanks to overclocking my Pentium 4 a couple of years ago, and I vowed to not completely cheap out again, if only so that I don't have to worry about my computer being down at inopportune times.

I had a "JPAC" 500 Watt PSU, that weighed about half as much as the Antec I replaced it with...

Nowadays, I look for SLI certification as a minimum requirement, even if I have no intent of ever running dual graphics cards...just so that I know I've got the headroom, and if a fan on my PSU dies, it won't overheat and nuke itself.

Seriously, why pay $30 every two months when you can pay $80 in one sum, and not have to replace your PSU again?
 
Those of you that have never seen an overloaded power supply take out hardware, obviously have never worked in a computer store. LOL. Ive seen it happen at least 10 times. 1 of those times the entire pc caught on fire.
Click to expand...

lol, it has happened to alot more than 10 of our customers. I have people bring in their comps and they say "Hey my comp doesnt work, what could it be!" My answer: Probably the fact that your power supply cords are melted to your motherboard...but im no expert lets test it just to be sure. Oh it doesnt turn on you say? Thats strange? lol. Believe us people it may not happen as much, but it can happen and you dont want to be one of those people who says oh it wont happen to me and then it happens...its not a good feeling.

Best,

3Ball
 
I know that is the one I ordered but I'll double check to make sure it has the 2, 12v rails. I still want to get a bigger psu prolly after christmas and I have a little more money. Atleast I feel a little better about using it for the time being.
 
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