Power Supply Shortage

[leet1337]

Hey everyone!

I recently bought an Optiplex 980 w/ i5 650 3.2ghz CPU, 255 W PSU and 232GB SATA drive. I paid $140 for the case and 22 inch monitor.

My intentions for buying the PC was mainly for gaming, games such as DOTA2, CSGO, Black Ops 2, SWTOR.

I bought an AMD Radeon 5670 1GB a few years back, I took it out the card out of my older Optiplex 745 case and installed it in the new case.I'm scared the weak PSU will fry my components, I've tried numerous aftermarket PSU's but they won't fit.

I'd like to know whether my setup will be able to manage, I'm planning on using this PC for about 1 more year, before I leave for Varsity.

I just played SWTOR, after exiting I got horizontal lines across my monitor and a weird bugging sound, I panicked and with haste held the power button to shut down my computer.

I'd like the consensus of those who know quite a lot about computers and reassure me that I will be fine with the current setup!

Thank you in advance.

 

[clutchc]

Which of these is yours?

If it's either of the two on the left in the pic, they take a special size PSU. The one on the right should take a std. ATX PSU. Most SFF PSUs will not have the wattage to run a discrete card of any size. The 61W HD 5670 should run on any 300W PSU.

 

[leet1337]

If it's either of the two on the left in the pic, they take a special size PSU. The one on the right should take a std. ATX PSU. Most SFF PSUs will not have the wattage to run a discrete card of any size. The 61W HD 5670 should run on any 300W PSU.[/quotemsg]

The one in the middle. Regarding the cooling, should I be worried about overheating?

 

[clutchc]

This is the spec sheets on those 3 PCs. They are (left to right) Small Form Factor, Desktop, and Mini Tower. Page 22 indicates that for the desktop you have a 255W PSU with 2 x 18A (+12v) rails with 87% efficiency at 100% load. That is marginal for even the lowly HD 5670 (which is a 61W card maxed out).
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCcQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fas.harvard.edu%2F~phys191r%2FBench_Notes%2Foptiplex-980-tech-guide.pdf&ei=pDuWVKm4J4j4yQTx44DwCw&usg=AFQjCNEDaHeQJET8J0SFWZqPOzk42AnqYA&sig2=ihq7WzcFWjb4fA3xGFuYog&bvm=bv.82001339,d.aWw

You might be overloading the PSU. That could explain the symptoms you spoke of. I wouldn't be too concerned with over heating if the case is clean and has at least one fan to circulate fresh air. But the card may be more than the PSU can handle. It will either cause errors, shut down, reboot, or die if that is the case.

 

[leet1337]

This is the spec sheets on those 3 PCs. They are (left to right) Small Form Factor, Desktop, and Mini Tower. Page 22 indicates that for the desktop you have a 255W PSU with 2 x 18A (+12v) rails with 87% efficiency at 100% load. That is marginal for even the lowly HD 5670 (which is a 61W card maxed out).
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCcQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fas.harvard.edu%2F~phys191r%2FBench_Notes%2Foptiplex-980-tech-guide.pdf&ei=pDuWVKm4J4j4yQTx44DwCw&usg=AFQjCNEDaHeQJET8J0SFWZqPOzk42AnqYA&sig2=ihq7WzcFWjb4fA3xGFuYog&bvm=bv.82001339,d.aWw

You might be overloading the PSU. That could explain the symptoms you spoke of. I wouldn't be too concerned with over heating if the case is clean and has at least one fan to circulate fresh air. But the card may be more than the PSU can handle. It will either cause errors, shut down, reboot, or die if that is the case.

Thanks for the detailed answer!