Can my 550w PSU run a 2gb GDDR5 graphics card?

amcdo09 · 28-04-2014 07:37AM #1

I'm thinking of getting a PowerColor RADEON R9 270 OC graphics card - Radeon R9 270 - 2 GB and I'm wondering if my G550-MB MaxBron Series - 550 Watt - Power supply unit will run it easily?

maki · 28-04-2014 07:52AM

amcdo09 wrote: »

I'm thinking of getting a PowerColor RADEON R9 270 OC graphics card - Radeon R9 270 - 2 GB and I'm wondering if my G550-MB MaxBron Series - 550 Watt - Power supply unit will run it easily?

It really depends on what other components you have in your system (cpu, number of hard drives, etc.), but in general you should be fine. I'm running a 6950 which pulls more power than a 270, from a 550W psu with no problems.

amcdo09 · 28-04-2014 08:19AM

maki wrote: »

It really depends on what other components you have in your system (cpu, number of hard drives, etc.), but in general you should be fine. I'm running a 6950 which pulls more power than a 270, from a 550W psu with no problems.

Well I've got;
-8gb ddr3 ram 1600
-AMD 6core processor 3.5ghz
-ASUS M5A97 EVO R2.0, AM3+, ATX motherboard
-2 hard drives 1 500gb and 1 640gb
-512mb GPU (which I'm replacing)
-heat sync that came with processor
-zalman z9 plus case
-power supply lepa 550w

ZENER · 28-04-2014 09:30AM

There's more to a PC PSU than just it's wattage capabilities. There are at least 3 high current rails in the standard PSU - +3.3V, +5 and +12V. Different components require current from these rails in varying proportions. HDDs use both 5 and 12 volts with some SATA drives also using 3.3V rails.

So it's not just a case of adding up all the wattages, coming to a figure and buying a PSU with that figure. You need to consider the devices requirements from each of the rails it connects to. Most GPUs require at least 1 extra power source from the PSU with requirements up to 150W ! More for some really high end cards. 150 Watts from the +12V rail is 12.5 Amps. Each HDD will also connect to the 12V rail as will DVD/BD Drives and fans. A typical HDD will take between .5 and 1 Amp, A case fan may take up to an Amp each so the total tots up quickly !! And that's not counting the +5V rail - USB devices, HDDs, Mobo requirements etc.

As a rule I allow about 20 - 30% overhead when building a system, less stress on the PSU and a cleaner supply to your components.

Have a look here to calculate your PSU requirements. IT doesn't take into account the above but should give you an idea of what you need.

Ken

yawhat! · 28-04-2014 06:51PM

More than fine. A 400w would even be grand!

ZENER · 28-04-2014 09:30PM

yawhat! wrote: »

More than fine. A 400w would even be grand!

Award for most useful post ever . . . not. :rolleyes:

The AMD Website suggests a minimum of 550W but doesn't take into account additional peripherals, Amount of RAM, Type of CPU, No. of HDDs etc.

Ken

yawhat! · 28-04-2014 09:55PM

You might want to do a bit of research before criticizing something you know nothing about, one of the regular posters in the pc building and upgrading forum.

His power supply is 80+ Bronze. Its a good power supply.

AMD only say 550W because of the amount of junk powersupplies that are not 80+ verified that come with cases such as this which are brutal.

His build would even work fine with a 350w which is 80+ verified.

Did up his build on the power supply yoke ya posted and his build is barely drawing 300 watts at 90% load.

ZENER · 28-04-2014 10:13PM

yawhat! wrote: »

You might want to do a bit of research before criticizing something you know nothing about, one of the regular posters in the pc building and upgrading forum.

And you may want to think before criticising a qualified electrician - volts, amps, ohms and watts are my living, C&G certified Electronics engineer, A+ Certified, Network + Certified and MCTS. Oh and 30 years experience in electronics servicing, PC & Laptop repair, TV & Video Repair, Numerous qualifications in varying technical abilities.

Ken

yawhat! · 28-04-2014 10:16PM

Post your question in the pc building and upgrading and let people laugh at you there then if you think your right.

A 500w powersupply is all you need for any single card system which is 80+ verfied and a 600w for an R9 290 system.

I suppose I'm wrong with the 100's of PCs I put together for people on this site.

Maybe have a look at some other sites as well to see how far off you are with power consumption. Did you not put the PC the OP into the power calculator you posted. How much did that draw exactly?

I work in I.T with a very good salary too! Why brag about it. Just admit your wrong!

ZENER · 28-04-2014 10:25PM

Actually it drew about 430 Watts. Add about 30% overhead and you're hitting 600 watts +.

Anyway my original post was to highlight that PSU Watts doesn't equate to actual requirements. Different components draw current from different rails - +3.3V, +5V and +12V. Take a typical 550W PSU, can you take the whole 550W from the 12V rail ? Or the 5V rail ? No you cannot. The 550Watt is spread across all the rails including the +5VSB, -5V and -12V rails.

Ken

maki · 28-04-2014 10:34PM

ZENER wrote: »

Actually it drew about 430 Watts. Add about 30% overhead and you're hitting 600 watts +.

So you're telling me I've just been imagining my 6950 (which is more power hungry than the OP's) running on a 550W psu?

yawhat! · 28-04-2014 10:40PM

ZENER wrote: »

Actually it drew about 430 Watts. Add about 30% overhead and you're hitting 600 watts +.

Anyway my original post was to highlight that PSU Watts doesn't equate to actual requirements. Different components draw current from different rails - +3.3V, +5V and +12V. Take a typical 550W PSU, can you take the whole 550W from the 12V rail ? Or the 5V rail ? No you cannot. The 550Watt is spread across all the rails including the +5VSB, -5V and -12V rails.

Ken

Where are you getting 430 watts from? The most I could get it up to even with overclocking the crap out of the processor was 350 watts and thats at 90% load!

maki wrote: »

So you're telling me I've just been imagining my 6950 (which is more power hungry than the OP's) running on a 550W psu?

It should have blown up by now. What happened

Even a 780TI which is like a grand or something only uses 426 watts alltogether. A 500w maybe 550w would be perfectly fine for that as well. I don't know where your man is getting his numbers!

ZENER · 28-04-2014 10:49PM

maki wrote: »

So you're telling me I've just been imagining my 6950 (which is more power hungry than the OP's) running on a 550W psu?

You really don't have a clue about power do you ? Run all your components at maximum power and see what they consume. Writing a word document or browsing the 'net won't push a PSU.

Run COD or the latest 3D game at max resolution along with all your other peripherals and stick an oscilloscope on the power rails and see what you're doing to your system. Those nasty spikes that result from pushing your PSU will dry out those caps resulting in premature failure.

Anyway it seems you've dragged your mates from your forum to support you so as they say you can't teach the ignorant. Have fun.

Ken

yawhat! · 28-04-2014 10:53PM

Hmm maybe you should browse a few forums or learn a thing or two about computing.

Funny how no one ever complained about myself or one of the regular pc building experts called Bloodbath on this site about power usage or there PCs crashing.

Funny how your numbers don't add up on the power usage calculator. PC above only uses 320 watts 350 when processor is overclocked.

You allready posted that R9 270 require 550w power supply and that doesn't take into account processor, ram and hard drives etc. LOL

Funny you didn't know that they only post that high because of the junk power supplies out there.

Funny that eh?

ZENER · 28-04-2014 11:12PM

What's worrying is that you believe that 80+ seems to mean a better PSU !! Actually that's more worrying than funny.

That figure merely denotes the efficiency of the PSU - the input power versus the output power - it says nothing about the reliability of the PSU or its ability to provide adequate current to the attached components.

What's funny is your inability to comment on the various rails that the PSU provides or the capabilities of those rails to supply what's attached to them. Do you actually know anything about power, current, voltage or ripple ?

What's also funny is that you feel the need to slag off another poster with your only qualification being that you haven't destroyed anyones purchases yet !! Anyone can link to components on a website or quote brand names. That doesn't qualify you as an "expert".

What's even funnier is that you can't comment on the current consumption, efficiency, noise figures and the effect all this has on a highly utilised system. The site I linked to showed 430 watts for the OPs system, a typical figure reached from typical components without knowing the real components, or requirements of the users complete PC. Figures to be used as a guide.

Unless you've got something other than rhetoric in reply then don't bother.

Out.

Ken

yawhat! · 28-04-2014 11:17PM

Whatever you think yourself Zener How about you look at videos and articles on EXPERTS in the field with regards computing, maybe start doing a bit of research and you might actually learn something.

Its quite funny how little you know!

moc moc a moc · 28-04-2014 11:45PM

If it's a decent quality PSU, you'll most likely be fine. I'm running a GTX 660 on a 550W supply (with a closed-loop water cooler and multiple hard drives).

ZENER wrote: »

A+ Certified, Network + Certified and MCTS

WTF have any of these got to do with electrics?

I'm an MCSE and a CCNP, does this mean I outrank you in this discussion?

yawhat! · 28-04-2014 11:58PM

moc moc a moc wrote: »

If it's a decent quality PSU, you'll most likely be fine. I'm running a GTX 660 on a 550W supply (with a closed-loop water cooler and multiple hard drives).

WTF have any of these got to do with electrics?

I'm an MCSE and a CCNP, does this mean I outrank you in this discussion?

haha, agreed totally. I have an CCNA and a MCSA. Your better than me

I'm not cool enough either to put my name at the end of every comment like ken either.

maki · 29-04-2014 06:34AM

ZENER wrote: »

You really don't have a clue about power do you ? Run all your components at maximum power and see what they consume. Writing a word document or browsing the 'net won't push a PSU.

Run COD or the latest 3D game at max resolution along with all your other peripherals and stick an oscilloscope on the power rails and see what you're doing to your system. Those nasty spikes that result from pushing your PSU will dry out those caps resulting in premature failure.

I hardly bought a 6950 just to browse the net did I? I've been running this along with a 2500k overclocked to 4.2GHz for over 2 years with no problems. And bear in mind this includes plenty of stress testing with Prime95 and Intel burn test, and pretty much daily games of BF4.

This psu is 4 years old, and for 2 years prior to my current setup ran an even power hungrier Q6600 @ 3.0GHz and a 4870, which was pushed just as much.

So I'm sorry, but in this case the facts outweigh your mighty knowledge.

ZENER · 29-04-2014 09:23AM

Whatever happened to attack the post not the poster ? Personal insults, selective quoting, and an obvious inability to comprehend simple English and not a single piece of constructive or informative information from any of the people who claim to know about the topic at hand ? Very credible indeed.

Ye both completely missed the entire point of my original post ! A point I stuck to without descending to the level of a child or retrospectively editing my posts to make comments look better. It was not my intention to trespass on ye're territory but merely to pass on some information.

I'll pass up the invitation to join the PC build forum where I'm sure ye will be just as welcoming and open to real information and debate without insults.

So I'm sorry

Apology accepted.

Ken

BadCharlie · 29-04-2014 10:03AM

To wage in what I think.

I would work out your power requirements via some web sites amcdo09. I’m not going to do it myself but other poster linked some all ready. Giving the spec of your existing computer & the video card you plan on using. The PSU should only be used up to about 80% of its max watt. This will give it a long and healthy life, it also means if you needed you could upgrade some parts in the future knowing you could push the PSU a little more but you would be stressing it more so then before.

Just another note I think I saw someone post it could run on a 400watt PSU grand. In my experience and looking at your computer spec I would not do it myself. I think a 400watt PSU will be pushed too hard. I know each computer I have built "no expert only about 30 of them". I do a test at the socket to see how much the computer is drawing at full CPU & GPU load & both at the same time. The results showed me that i would rather have an overpowered PSU then one underpowered.

bonzodog2 · 29-04-2014 10:08AM

ZENER wrote: »

some SATA drives also using 3.3V rails.

Can you give an example? Just curious.

amcdo09 · 29-04-2014 10:35AM

I used a website called partpicker and I inputted all my components including a monstrous 280x 3GB gddr5 (just out of curiosity) and the total wattage calculated was 469w. Hopefully this site isn't completely inaccurate. Oh thanks a lot for the posts guys!

ZENER · 29-04-2014 11:07AM

bonzodog2 wrote: »

Can you give an example? Just curious.

1.8" Micro SATA drives. Earlier SATA drives used it too before makers began including the 3.3 conversion on the logic board due to not all earlier systems having a 3.3V rail or SATA power connectors.

DELL provided SATA connectors with the full spec 3 power rails - +3.3V, +5V and +12V in their desktop PCs, not sure if they still do.

Ken

Can my 550w PSU run a 2gb GDDR5 graphics card?

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