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Best graphics on a pretty packed system w/ 450w PSU?

Mike45450

Mike45450

Mike45450

Associate
Joined
30 Aug 2007
Posts
111
I have a Corsair 450W VX PSU, and am thinking about giving myself a little boost in games with a new graphics card to replace my 512mb 4850, but not sure what I could get away with given that there is quite a lot of stuff in my system already.

-Q6600
-2x2GB RAM
-3 SATA HDDs
-1 DVD drive
-3x120mm, 1x140mm
-Fan controller
-PCI e-SATA

Everything is running at stock, but even so, with so much in there I'm just a bit worried that I'd be pushing my PSU to the limit, and potentially make it unstable.

But still, what would be the best graphics card upgrade I could make for this system?
 
Plenty to choose from, the VX 450 is a fair mid range supply.

It will be fine with a 560TI or HD6870.

The Q6600 doesn't take that much power unless you have a heafty 3.4Ghz + OC with lots of extra voltage. Keep it to 3.0Ghz.

I had a 3Ghz Q6600 and a GTX280 running on an Antec Earthwatts 380 for a month while my HX was being repaired for the second time. The Antec was only 330W @ 12V. Did make me a little nervous....

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With 33 Amps on the 12v rail you should have a maximum of 396 Watts to draw. Mind that this has to be split across the system and graphics subsystem you should still have a lot of current to play with.

I run a quad clocked at 3.6Ghz and have a single 6950. At full graphics load the system is only drawing 285 Watts at the wall. At idle it draws 150 Watts. I therefore expect the 6950 only uses at most 150 Watts and the rest of the system uses another 150 Watts.

You should be able to run any single chip card you want with your PSU.
 
I think there is only one 6 pin PCI-E power connector though so you may have to get handy with some adaptors if you get ambitious with the card....


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