Would a 350w power supply be enough for a card requiring 300w min?

2006-10-07 13:36:15

#1

r2zoo: Knowledge is power, guard it well; +126|6596|Michigan, USA

Well, Ive finally decided on a card, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6814122008

On the computer I'm going to install it on the power supply is a 350w power supply from Antec. The card requires a minimum of 300w. Now Ive heard not having enough power can cause some problems. Would this setup be able to run without incident?. Ive used some on line power supply calculators, and the average result in in the low 200s for wattage(even with a better card then this).

Any replies would be great, as I plan on buying this card this weekend, I know its not the best but i have less then $100 to spend, and my Nvidia 5200FX 128MB AGP card just ain't cutting it(and my new PC only has PCI-E)

2006-10-07 13:38:02

#2

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6649

No way. You will want a 500w minimum.

EDIT: Get a 7600 though, the 7300 isn't really a gaming card.

Last edited by ghettoperson (2006-10-07 13:38:27)

2006-10-07 13:39:22

#3

r2zoo: Knowledge is power, guard it well; +126|6596|Michigan, USA

I honestly just want to get a card, a new power supply isnt in my budget, niether are the 7600s

2006-10-07 13:48:34

#4

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6649

What card do you have currently?

EDIT: Save up a few more bucks, and get this. It would be far better for gaming than the other card.

EDIT: Actually don't, I just realised that it's AGP.

Last edited by ghettoperson (2006-10-07 13:52:05)

2006-10-07 13:50:03

#5

MECtallica: Member; +73|6504|jalalabad

well if your power supply is too low, the card, AND or computer wont even start up. its one or the other.

2006-10-07 13:55:19

#6

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6649

This or this, preferably the first one. But that said, if you can't start up because of it, it won't do you much good.

Second one says you'll need a 450w PSU.

2006-10-07 13:55:34

#7

-=raska=-: Canada's French Frog; +123|6625|Quebec city, Canada

350 is enough... of course it depends if you got 10 hd but in most of the cases it will be enough.

On some site they test how much power do comps take and its always lower than 350W

The reason why 300 is recommanded and why 400, 500, etc. psu are sold to people is :
for sli or
to make just you get enough voltage on the +12V, enough amperage on all the lines, etc

with an antec 350 im pretty certain you wont have any problem

I got a 7800 gs on a 370, 2 hds and no problem at all

so 350 with a 7300 should work too

2006-10-07 14:10:42

#8

Neoburn_1035: Medic!!!!!!!; +27|6829|OP, KS

My whole clan has this PS and it works flawlessly.

Rosewill RP550S-2MK 550W

2006-10-07 18:13:30

#9

r2zoo: Knowledge is power, guard it well; +126|6596|Michigan, USA

ghettoperson wrote:
This or this, preferably the first one. But that said, if you can't start up because of it, it won't do you much good.

Second one says you'll need a 450w PSU.

Can someone tell me what Battlefield 2 would look like on the first card? and also its power requirment? My knowledge on graphic cards tells me that the 7300 should be better, but i dont trust myself.

2006-10-07 18:30:45

#10

Twist: Too old to be doing this sh*t; +103|6523|Little blue planet, milky way

r2zoo wrote:
ghettoperson wrote:
This or this, preferably the first one. But that said, if you can't start up because of it, it won't do you much good.

Second one says you'll need a 450w PSU.
Can someone tell me what Battlefield 2 would look like on the first card? and also its power requirment? My knowledge on graphic cards tells me that the 7300 should be better, but i dont trust myself.

The 6600 looks just dandy... I can run everything on high, and with MONSTER high resolution and AA and STILL get a decent FPS.
I had to get a new PSU when I got mine though. I had trouble getting the 12v rail enough amps (wattage was just fine with a 400w PSU, but to get enough amps, I had to change to a 420w with more amps on the 12v rail). But I have a lot of other shit in the PC, and the Mobo is a BTX so a little more power is needed on the 12v rail, where most PSU will provide like 10-12 amps, I needed almost 15.
Normally, the card will run about 200-250w depending on usage, and if your board doesn't need exessive power and you just have one HDD, one DVD and no other big powerdrains, your 350w should be enough. You normally wont peak, but it's nice if the PC wont reboot if you do ! So just in case, calculate about 15w for a HDD, 25 for a DVD, up to 100 for mobo (usually more like 50), 15 for FDD, at least 20 for each PCI card you have attached, and another 30-50 if you use USB mouse/keyb/scanner. If you have a really power hungry CPU, you may want to add a few extra watts, and if you have a multitude of fans, add in at least 5w for each fan beyond the first one. And then subtract about 5-15% of the available wattage for each year of age on your PSU. Now if you end up with at least 200w to spare, then the card should run just fine.

If you want to be certain, simply attach a multimeter to the PC while running, and measure your wattage usage.

2006-10-07 18:42:14

#11

r2zoo: Knowledge is power, guard it well; +126|6596|Michigan, USA

Ok, thats simple, only problem is where would i attach the probes? Ive only done multimeter testing on small scale electronics, don't want to short something out, thanks for all the info!

2006-10-07 18:51:23

#12

Twist: Too old to be doing this sh*t; +103|6523|Little blue planet, milky way

The easy way would be to attach the probes to the 12v rail on the PSU (red/black if I remember correctly), but getting a decent result from this will depend on your PSU (some cheaper models will just send a constant wattage through the PC and not care if the power isn't being used). I have a nice little wattage thing I can attach directly to the power outlet and the simply plug in my computer to the measurer. REally nice and accurate results. It's a weeee bit more expensive than the small scale multimeter you're talking about, but not by a lot, and it's really cool to use when you want to save a couple of hundred bucks a year on your electrical bill, so it's a good Return On Investment to purchase one.

2006-10-07 19:08:19

#13

EricTViking: Yes, I am Queeg; +48|6552|UK

r2zoo wrote:
Well, Ive finally decided on a card, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6814122008

On the computer I'm going to install it on the power supply is a 350w power supply from Antec. The card requires a minimum of 300w. Now Ive heard not having enough power can cause some problems. Would this setup be able to run without incident?. Ive used some on line power supply calculators, and the average result in in the low 200s for wattage(even with a better card then this).

Any replies would be great, as I plan on buying this card this weekend, I know its not the best but i have less then $100 to spend, and my Nvidia 5200FX 128MB AGP card just ain't cutting it(and my new PC only has PCI-E)

Here's a good calculator http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp - you may have already used it, but if you haven't give it a try.

If you already have a 350w Antec PSU it will be fine.

It is a myth that you need a huge PSU to run a modern system, what you need is a good quality PSU. Antec are good quality so you won't have any trouble.

My rig is built into a shuttle XPS ( Cube ) case with a 350W PSU. I'm running an AMD 4200x2 CPU, 2Gb RAM, 2 HDDs and a Radeon X1900XT with no problems at all.

2006-10-07 19:10:32

#14

siciliano732: Member; +202|6649|New York

i know your on a budget but its better off not gettin a card till you have the money for a power supply too....i have a 7600gt and have a 650W powersupply

2006-10-07 19:15:16

#15

EricTViking: Yes, I am Queeg; +48|6552|UK

siciliano732 wrote:
i know your on a budget but its better off not gettin a card till you have the money for a power supply too....i have a 7600gt and have a 650W powersupply

650w is enough to power a Dual Xeon server with 16Gb RAM and 6 SCSI Hard Drives! You could have used a good quality 350w PSU instead.

The only time you really need a PSU that big is if you are running crossfire or SLi.

2006-10-07 19:18:54

#16

']['error: Banned; +630|6644|The Netherlands

omfg hax... you neeed an 1243295W PSU man

2006-10-07 19:23:29

#17

EricTViking: Yes, I am Queeg; +48|6552|UK

']['error wrote:
omfg hax... you neeed an 1243295W PSU man

No he's just trying to run a better Gfx card in his PC, not your ego ;-p

2006-10-07 19:28:38

#18

nonexistentusmc: Member; +26|6445|Queens, NYC

350W should be enough. I have 350W and I'm running 2 optical drives, 2 HDDs, and a 256MB GDDR3 X800 in there. Originally came with only 1 HDD and an X300.

2006-10-07 19:38:07

#19

Cold Fussion: 72% alcohol; +63|6667|Sydney, Australia

I run my 7800gt fine with a 19 inch moniter on a 300 watt psu.

Last edited by Cold Fussion (2006-10-07 19:38:17)

2006-10-07 19:45:19

#20

High Spirit: Member; +5|6571|Canada, Eh?

I laugh at everyone that buys these high wattage power supplies to run a basic system with say a 7600 and think they require a 500watt PS...

I have a 400watt Sparkle that powers the following:

Asus P5LD2
Pentium D 3.2
2GB Ram
Gigabyte X800 256mb PCI-E
ATI TV-Wonder
SB Audigy 2
2 - DVD Burners
4 - Serial ATA Hard Drives
2 - 80mm fan (1 w/ lights)
2 - 120mm fans (1 w/ lights)
1 - 60mm fan added to video card
All 8 USB Ports in use (Some bus powered devices)

2006-10-07 20:00:45

#21

-101-InvaderZim: Member; +42|6843|Waikato, Aotearoa

hmmz that 7300 card should run ok on med (maybe some high) settings, 2xAA 1024x768.
Its a MASSIVE upgrade from the 5200. And Ghettoperson is right - get a bigger PSU and a 7600GT

2006-10-07 20:58:52

#22

Cybargs: Moderated; +2,285|6716

Simple mathematics

350-300= 50! you still got 50 watts of power left.

https://cache.www.gametracker.com/server_info/203.46.105.23:21300/b_350_20_692108_381007_FFFFFF_000000.png

2006-10-07 21:35:58

#23

lxcpikiman: imbad @ bf2; +70|6595|Toronto-Canada

i got a 7600 series working perfectly on a ps of 350w

2006-10-08 10:21:30

#24

sgt_rambo35: Banned; +5|6465

yes, its adequate

2006-10-08 16:07:37

#25

r2zoo: Knowledge is power, guard it well; +126|6596|Michigan, USA

Thanks for all of your guys help, im still learning the ins and outs of building PCs and upgrading them. I dont know what card im going to get now, every time I think I have one for certain, someone tells me its crap compared to a diffrent card. My knowledge of Graphics Cards is basically this: 7 series>6 series>5 series. Only having around $100 for a budget doesnt help either

BF2S Forums Would a 350w power supply be enough for a card requiring 300w min?

ghettoperson wrote:

r2zoo wrote:

ghettoperson wrote:

r2zoo wrote:

siciliano732 wrote:

']['error wrote:

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