GFX Updgrade query (PSU Requirements)

Dravokivich

Hi All,

Hoping to get some advice regarding the power requirements usually referenced for GFX cards and if ye may suggest something I could use.

GFX card on my da's pc burnt out recenlty so just looking to get a replacement. Although the folks he had look over the pc mentioned if he was to get a replacement he'll need to be sure the card doesn't need a PSU that's higher than 300watts.

Not many cards I've looked over seemed to state what they'd need overall as regards to the rating on the PSU.

I've seen some mention that their power consumed would range between 50 - 75 watts, but the ones for 50watt saying they'd need a 350watt PSU and the ones for 75watt needing a 300watt PSU.

Which is a bit confusing when trying to look up a few things to compare. Don't want to end up just picking one, because it looked like it may be best suited to his spec, as opposed to best suited towards his use.

The PC is mainly used for video editing, so memory availability is going to be the main part of it.

Was looking at an Nvidia GT630 (here) with a tempting 4gig DDR3 ram.

Any one got any ideas of something comparable or maybe better for around the 85 euro range?

PSU is OEM, so might be tricky getting a replacement for it to expand on the option of cards avail.

Serephucus

Can you take a shot of the PC with the side panel off? If you can get the side of the PSU (with all the rails and voltage info) we'll be able to figure out what it is / what GPUs it can support, and advise you from there.

Dravokivich

Thanks Serephucus,

From recollection of the last time I looked into the case, everything was pretty tightly packed up and obscured. So might not be easy for the folks to get that. Will check it out when I can and post it up.

Looking up the specsheet on the pc itself, doesn't mention anything other than 300w. If it's any use, the motherboard is listed as "Asus IPIBL-LA (Berkeley)"

Overall it doesn't seem to make mention of the way power requirements are spread out.

Serephucus

It's probably a fairly horrible 300W unit, but you'd be safe with any card that doesn't require external power. Off the top of my head, I think that limits you to a GT 640.

Recurve360

I got an AMD 6670 that doesnt require extra power either. And there only about 50 quid

Dravokivich

Recurve360 wrote: »

I got an AMD 6670 that doesnt require extra power either. And there only about 50 quid

Thanks Recurve,

Although looked up the requirements and it states:

400 Watt or greater power supply recommended

Gumbi

Dravokivich wrote: »

Thanks Recurve,

Although looked up the requirements and it states:

Without knowing about this specific case, I can tell you those requirements are to cover their asses for crappy PSUs. A powerful single card system + overclocked i5 won't draw more than 400 watts these days, let alone weaker cards.

BloodBath

Nvidia has lower power consumption generally in this gen of video cards. More software seems to support cuda as well.

Lu Tze

Dravokivich wrote: »

Thanks Recurve,

Although looked up the requirements and it states:

I think any card that powered only through the pci express slot are limited to a max draw of 75watt. So you should be grand with any that dont require a 6 or 8 pin psu connection