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385w PSU - what is my limit on GPU?

Beren

Beren

Beren

Soldato
Joined
30 Jul 2004
Posts
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Location
Auckland
Would love a bit of advice on what the highest power draw graphics card I can install into this machine is...
I have an old HP machine at the moment, which thankfully I am going to be able to consign to history early next year.
Currently I have the misfortune to be running a:
Core 2 due a 6750 @ 2.8 ghz
4 gig DDR2
Single hard drive and single optical drive
An HP 385W PSU with spare 6 pin supply for a gpu

I will be building a machine which will be outputting to a 1080p TV and 23" monitor, sometimes in dual mode playing DVD/bluray while browsing or running a sole display while gaming at 1080p.

Right now it would be great to be able to start doing that - although I am aware I will obviously be throttling the card with the rest of the system at the moment.

Any advice as to what the best card I can currently look at would be great - or whether it would just be better to shell out for a new PSU now and be done with it?
 
if ur sticking with that psu its a guess at best, unless u can find benchmarks on that psu^^

if you replace u need check its worth it, space in the case etc
 
By the sounds, you have a generic pos psu. Highly doubt it will hold 385w constantly.

Imho, highest gpu would be something low power. Maybe. 7770 at a push.
 
You probably can't do browsing plus dvd/bluray or gaming, the system is simply not powerful enough if you ask me. Dvd/bluray will stutter whilst browsing. Same if you game and play dvd/bluray.

If you want to be able to output to tv just buy a cheap card with dvi + hdmi out. Then later upgrade to a proper system, if you buy now the card will be bottlenecked and next year for the same price you get a faster card :)
 
150W GPU is probably a reasonable limit. The issue isn't so much the maximum power the supply can provide but the limits on each of the rails, so I would limit it to a GPU with a single 6 pin power connector, such as a HD6850.
 
Stonedofmoo said:
This is an excellent guide: http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I run everything in my sig below on a 400w 80+ Gold PSU and with everything maxed out with Prime95 max power draw and furmark on Xtreme mode, the whole PC only draws 230w. Computers don't draw nearly as much power as people think...
Click to expand...
But that's a 80+ Gold PSU you are talking about, while we are talking about the likiness of OP's PSU might be some generic crap that can't even output 200W out of what it claims stable.

And if it is a 385W PSU that comes with a HP machine (that most likely aim as light usage rather than gaming), despite 1 PCI-E 6 pin cable is available from the PSU, I still wouldn't take my chance on using anything more than a bus-powered card. OP's best bet is probably a 7750...which consume only around 44W max. Also not much reason to get faster than card than that anyway, as that dual-core CPU would bottleneck.
 
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Thanks for all the advice, I wasn't expecting to be able to game and browse at the same time - though I was hoping that watching movies on the big screen while browsing would be possible.
I think something like a 7770 would be very ample for gaming in 1080p for everything I am going to want in the near future so may think about that... or just wait an extra month and get the psu that is going to be in the new build and then put in whatever I think we ought to have next :)

-edit- btw I am not really worried about bottle necking the card... I will be putting a decent PC together in the next 6 months anyway so it would be a temporary fix... and yeah it is a generic piece of HP dog turd... no idea at all how to test it though!
 
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Stonedofmoo said:
This is an excellent guide: http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I run everything in my sig below on a 400w 80+ Gold PSU and with everything maxed out with Prime95 max power draw and furmark on Xtreme mode, the whole PC only draws 230w. Computers don't draw nearly as much power as people think...
Click to expand...

That totally depends on what hardware you have got, your hardware is also a lot newer than the OP's hardware. For example my system right now idles at 235W, which was around the 300W mark before when I had SLI GTX480's.

Also, a PSU is about its most efficient when it's about half loaded :)
 
Beren said:
Thanks for all the advice, I wasn't expecting to be able to game and browse at the same time - though I was hoping that watching movies on the big screen while browsing would be possible.
I think something like a 7770 would be very ample for gaming in 1080p for everything I am going to want in the near future so may think about that... or just wait an extra month and get the psu that is going to be in the new build and then put in whatever I think we ought to have next :)

-edit- btw I am not really worried about bottle necking the card... I will be putting a decent PC together in the next 6 months anyway so it would be a temporary fix... and yeah it is a generic piece of HP dog turd... no idea at all how to test it though!
Click to expand...
If you are certain that you will be upgrading the rest of the system in the future, then I would suggest getting a capable decent brand and model PSU and a 7850 for now, and then upgrade the rest later.

But also consider if you are not upgrading for another 6 months, you might be better off just leave your current system as it is for now, and then get everything in one go when you are ready (it is likely that 8850/8870 would hit the shelf within the next 6 months). The cheapest way to tide you over for now would be getting the good PSU first, then get something like a 2nd hand 8800GT/9800GT for around £20 or a 5770 for £40, then when you are ready to upgrade your PC, you would be selling it off and with little to no loss...so basically "renting" the card for cheap or nothing for 6 months.
 
Hmmm not a bad plan actually, I guess I am best off being a bit more patient, will keep my eye open for an ok graphics card in the meantime - unfortunately being in Kiwi land we are a bit more limitied here - I doubt I qualify for free shipping from OCUK either!
 
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