G'day guys.
I just want to say before I begin, thanks to those who posted back to me on my other request. It's really nice to come to a forum community and not be treated like crap just because you don't have very many posts. So cheers on that one!
I just have a small question.

I'm running a power supply of 300w, plus
250gb sata hdd,
2.8ghz pentium d 820 (frequency in BIOS changed from 200mhz to 215 to overclock the cpu to 3ghz.)
1gb of 533mhz ddr2

and an xpertvision x700 se....
I'm considering upgrading to a HIS radeon x1600 iceq pro, and I was wondering if I would run into any power issues? I think I'm pretty safe but I want to make sure it will be 100% stable.
Thanks to anyone who takes time to answer.

First I would like to say I would be shock and disappointed if you were treated with anything ut kindness and respect. If you are handled rough please PM a moderator or Admin right away.

Now the PS issue. I believe I would look for a larger PS. You already have a full load for a 300w PS. You don't want to run at 100% all the time. I wuld recommend a 450w. Alittle over power will also reduce low power problems also. It will run cooler and more stable, especially if you are going to increase the load.

Ok thanks for that. By the way, I'm in australia. Our power comes as 240V. Does that change anything? Sorry I should have mentioned that before.

The line voltage doesn't matter, the PSU steps it down to the different rail values.

btw...Australia's official voltage is 230V @ 50Hz, but it appears that there are anomalies of 240V.

True, but you would run into a big problem trying to run a U.S. power supply. They are 60Mhz , not 50Mhz. You would end up smoking the power supply.

Actually that's not correct, the switch on the PSU is just for that purpose. It is set to switch between the 110V @ 60Hz, and230V @ 50Hz.

You will most definitely need more power. Here is a great website that will help you in choosing a PSU. There is even a "PSU Calculator" to help you in deciding how much power you are going to need along with tons of articles and PSU reviews. It is a very reliable website so check it out and see if it helps you choose your next PSU. Good luck.

Hey thanks everyone for your help. It's been really useful. I checked one of those power calculators, and I added up my system:

X1600 (40w)
CPU (49w)
Ram (7w)
motherboard and accessories (40w)
optical and hard drive (55w)

If you give or take, this equals a max of around 200 watts...
So why do people think that I definately need a new power supply?
I'm not having a go, I was just curious, because I really don't want to have to buy a new psu if I don't have to, and looking at these results it would seem I don't have to..

Oh and by the way, I forgot to mention this before. Would the performance of my card just lower with insufficient wattage....or would the sys not work at all?

Although I wont be as quick to recommend a new power supply, it is still very possible that you'll need one. There are two reasons for this.

1. The power supply might not give you the power where you need it. It used to be that computers depended on 5V, but since processors jumped to 12V and graphics cards started to use a lot of 12V power, having lots of amps on the 5V rail doesn't really help you.

2. I might not really be a 300W power supply. The Truth about PSU power ratings.



A bad or weak power supply won't affect performance but stability. The four basic possibilities.

1. Everything works great.

2. Crashes and overheating due to voltage fluctuations. (Will affect overclocking.)

3. Won't work at all.

4. The computer looses its magic smoke (ie, fries some components).

You must not be entering the entire values of your system if you come up with 200W. No modern system could run on that. Try this PSU Calculator. It is very detailed and I think you will find that you need more than 200W once you are finished with the calculations.

Once you do that, look for PS's that have 80% efficiency, especially on the 12v rails. If you want a modular PSU, the Enermax makes 3 that are nice. Although I own one, I didn't like the way they sleeved the cables, so I had them all re-sleeved. Read the previous website I gave you, Johny Guru for reviews. He is obsessed with PSU's and gives them all very thorough testing for his reviews.


Edit: I just used the PSU Calculator and I got a recommendation for 540W. You can see my rig in my sig to give you an idea of what you may need.

Hey there, thanks for that link to the psu calculator. That one was a bit more precise. I added ALL my system specs into the calculator, PLUS the new graphics card, and with everything running at 100%, I got a value around 290. I guess I'm pretty happy about that. I'm getting the X1600 in a few days, so I will wait and see if it all goes alright, and if not, I guess I'll have to look at another PSU.
Also, just wondering.... is there no limit to how many watts your power supply can have for a specific motherboard? I just don't want to screw anything up. Thanks again for everyones time.

Hello:


if you read around in the PSU calc info you should see where they will tell you to add 30% to the needed power of your system. Which translates to this >>> 290 watts x 30% = 377 watt PSU

the reason for the 30% (read johnny guru= excellent) is 90% or more PSU's have a BS rating for their units;

they test and rate their units in a 25C operating environment >>> no internal operating temp of any computer especially a gaming one will be any where near 25C in actuality 45C to 55C will be more the norm

well as the heat goes up the PSU's ability to produce wattage/amperage decreases >>> a well known no BS compnay like Sparkle will state every 2 degrees C will lose 5 watts of power. 25 degrees diff in actual runnign temp divided by 2= 12.5 x 5 = 62.5 watts of power lost due to the increase in heat

after doing some research you will also find that PSU ratings are PEAK power produced >>>> not sustained clean power capabilities and they are tested for only 100 hours at Peak Power which really makes figuring out what you need for a PSU difficult

bottom line >>> look for a 500 or 550 watt PSU I believe Tagan is a very high quality unit that is avaialble in Austriala.

Also like a poster stated above ; very adeptly at that ; the easy way to determine good units from the junk is look for efficiency ratings 70% is average mid grade stuff >>>> 80% efficiency ratings and aboe are the high qulaity units >>> also look for the inclusion of PFC (power factor correction) these come in Active and Passive active being the better choice

also most all PSU's are set-up with a switch for overseas power 240V

good luck and enjoy

Thanks for that. The more people tell me I need a more powerful input, the more i'm considering it
The only thing that holds me back, is that my computer came with a Radeon x550, and everything in the case was fine then. There isn't much difference in power consumption between the x550 and the x1600... so I guess i'm a little held back by that. Nonetheless, I've still done some ringing around to find out prices

but have you factored capacitor aging into your evaluation

also more video card means you play more gmaes longer to enjoy your new investment; which translates to more heat and longer >>. which also translates to more heat = less voltage

ooopppps

Hey everybody,
I just wanted to say thanks for all the help. I was able to go out and buy an approprite power supply for my machine, with 400w....and plently of amps on each rail. I'm sure it will do just fine, so thanks again everyone.

Glad everything worked out for you.