PSU Concern

[Extant]

Hey,

I've gone through the forum and checked the other threads which are related but I still am not sure.

I currently have:
-Thermaltake 430 (TR2-430NP)
-2 160 GB SATA Drives
-1 DVD-RW Drive
-Intel Pentium D 3.2 Ghz
-ATI Radeon HD 2400
-2 1 GB Kingston DDR2 RAM sticks
-Gigabyte 945GMC-S2C
-And 4 Case Fans

I wanted to switch my Intel Pentium D with an Intel E6600 or an E6700 (haven't decided yet) and I would like to switch my video card for a BFG 9600 GT OC2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143126)

I am pretty sure that just changing the processor wont hurt my system but if I put in this video card will my system become unstable? I am do not over clock but I like gaming. If you believe this video card with not work with my system do you have any other suggestions? My budget is around US$100-200 but I would like to stay around US$150.

Games I play:
-CS:S
-NFS: Pro Street
-Race Driver: Grid
-Assassins Creed
-Silent Hunter IV

Thanks

*Please note that I am only going to use this machine for about a year, then I plan on building another.

 

[raybay]

You are pushing it a bit with the ThermalTake 430. Still, it is quality of build that matters, not wattage. Thermaltake 430 Power Supplies have almost no failures at our shops.

 

[Extant]

You are pushing it a bit with the ThermalTake 430. Still, it is quality of build that matters, not wattage. Thermaltake 430 Power Supplies have almost no failures at our shops.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Pushing it, how bad would that be for my system? This system, I hope to last me about a year or two longer.

I just ran the http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp and with the system I have in mind it recommended a 283W PSU, which I guess would work with my PSU. And my current system is 291W.

Is this reliable?

I was just concerned because on Newegg.com it mentioned under the requirements:
425W PCI Express-compliant system power supply with a combined 12V current rating of 28A or more*
*Minimum system power requirement based on a PC configured with an Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 processor

And looking at the label on my PSU it says:
Thermaltake TR2-430W (TR2-430NP) 430 Watts
Model: XP550NP
+3.5V : 28A
+5V : 30A
+12V : 18A
-5V : 0.5A
-12V : 0.8A
+5VSB : 2A

 

[raybay]

Most of that stuff is merely marketing. As a result, it is not reliable. You can two power supplies with identical specifications, but due to engineeing and the quality of components, one will never fail, while the other will have a high rates of failure depending on how they are used.
In our shop, we find it amazing to see the varieties of output... some very steady with instantaneous response to demands for power. Others, as shown on the scope and in actual use, peak and dip over and over again without any reliability in responding to the power demands of the computer.
A cheap power supply is simply a cheap power supply with compnents that easily fail, or that begin to fail dramatically after one year. But marketing and advertising make it difficult to determine which is which.
Each power supply sold in the US has its own UL code, so it is fairly easy to tell which power supply performs, and which ones lag. But try to figger that out for yourself.
A failing or unreliable power supply may not make itself apparent in everyday use, but those fluctuations in power are harmful to motherboards, video graphics cards, and hard drives... more harmful than any other component.
Learn to shop by brand and model, or by product review from the best sources, such as www.anandtech.com, www.tomshardware.com or others that you have learned to trust.

 

[SNGX1275]

You will be fine. It is very common that people exaggerate what their system will actually use.

I would bet my lunch that if you actually monitored your power consumption it would be even lower than what the PSU calculator told you.

If you ever buy a new PSU though, do not go cheap, cheap PSUs are about the worst thing you can do to your system.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

18A on the +12V rail is not enough IMO, since you'd have the CPU and video card pulling power from the same rail, which will more than likely overload it. You can go with it, but it is guaranteed to fail. From what I can see, the PSU is not ATX 2.0 spec either, which explains why the +5V amperage is so much higher than that on the +12V rail. The only review I found here also shows that it outputs only around 350W as opposed to its 430W rating.

All in all, I would recommend a new PSU.

 

[Justin]

He has an HD2400, not a very power-hungry card. That PSU should be more than enough.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

He wants to upgrade to a 9600GT, hence my recommendation.

 

[Justin]

Ah, yes. I can understand that. I'd be a little concerned.

 

[SNGX1275]

130W max for the Pentium D (possibly 95W?) but if he switches to the E6600 or the E6700 he drops that down to 65W

He has a total of 216W to work with, well in reality probably about 184W (maybe 15% inefficiency), so take away what the processor uses and you have 119W. I think you can run a 9600GT on that, but I've yet to see any data involving only what the card consumes. I've only seen load and idle power consumption of entire systems.

So, I still think he can do it if he also changes the CPU. But if he runs a Pentium D and the 9600GT then I'd say he couldn't.

 

[Rick]

Isn't the 9600GT basically a new revision of the 8600GT, which is something around 70 watts? I can't imagine the 9600 requiring much more wattage.

 

[Rick]

The *total* max system power consumed in this review is 170w. That includes a system with a 9600GT and an E6850 and 4GB of RAM.

 

[Tarkus]

It depends on how much you overclock it.