PSU and GPU upgrade?

[mitofi]

I am eying the Radeon 4890. My current rig has a 500w PSU (Antec). How do I check to see if the PSU is enough to handle the GPU (assuming other components are not power hungry)?

Thanks.

 

[Twoboxer]

You check the manufacturers spec by googling "4890 power requirement", and find:

http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonhd4800/requirements-4890.html

which says:

"500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended (600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode) "

You get the specs for the psu by googling "Antec 500W" and find:

http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=Njk=

(Assuming you are using an Antec Basiq)

Then you look up the PSU's specs on newegg, because its easier:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371004

And you find that you will need to add a molex-to-6pin adapter for your 500W Antec to hook up and power the 4890.

Which you can find on Newegg for about $3 plus $75 shipping /jk

 

[stevensl2]

You don't even need to Look up the specs right now, your 4890 will run for sure, and it won't be pushing anything!. No problems at all.

 

[Jaysin]

A reliable PSU from Antec will definitely run that card so if you are ready to buy you should be able to do so with no worries. You may need that molex adapter Twoboxer mentioned but often cards come with these adapters in the box.

 

[mitofi]

I already have the Antec in my existing rig - I will need to examine the connectors again. I THOUGHT I had a 2nd 6pin - but perhaps not. (I currently have one hooked up to my existing GPU GeForce 8800GT oc.) I'll check that before making any orders, so maybe I won't get charged shipping at all for the converter . . .

Thanks for all of the info! I may not have to build a whole new rig after all - I might be able to get away with MOBO-CPU-RAM (and maybe new HSF).

 

[Onus]

Don't know why he assumed a Basiq; if anything it's probably an Earthwatts, and you're good to go.

 

[Twoboxer]

Don't know why he assumed a Basiq; if anything it's probably an Earthwatts, and you're good to go.

Simply because the odds favor him having a Basiq. He made two posts not mentioning Earthwatts. My guess is he would have mentioned it had he known it was a good idea to pay 20% more for "the same" psu from Antec.

Besides, the assumption made no difference - either will work. There is now at least one good review of the Basiq 500W.

 

[mitofi]

Well - fyi - it is an EarthWatts - but I don't know about the difference between it and Basiq?

 

[Twoboxer]

Hehe - well, the Earthwatts series is more robust, and has an excellent reputation. The Basiq is a "Basic" line, not so robust, less expensive per Watt.

When a Basiq is part of a configuration having a problem, the psu is more quickly suspected of being the cause than if its an Earthwatts.

None of this is really relevant to your problem . . . I could either ask you which and delay your answer for a day, or choose one model to give specs for. So I grabbed the Basiq for reasons I gave above.