Graphic card upgrade with PSU limit

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yochenhsieh
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2011 6:18 pm
Location: Taipei, Taiwan

Graphic card upgrade with PSU limit

Post by yochenhsieh » Mon Dec 26, 2011 7:22 pm

Hello,
I have a small case acer X1900 series, which is similar to this model, but with the following specs:
Intel Pentium Duo Core E6500 2.93Ghz (TDP=65w)
ATi Radeon HD5450 DDR3 512MB( later upgraded to HD5570 DDR3 1GB)
4GB DDR3 1066mhz
HDD 512GB
The PSU is 220W. I'm considering buying Sapphire HD6670 GDDR5 1GB Low Profile but not quite sure if my PSU can handle it. The "recommended" system requirement is 400w PSU, though it's known to work with 300W PSU reported by some users.
  • According to HD6670 Review of SPCR, max system power needed (AC) is 206w.
    The review of low profile version at overclockclub shows max power comsumption is 223w(stock) and 238w(overclocked), but they used i7 920 (TDP=130w) to benchmark.
    The Hi Tech Legion reviewed the low profile version with AMD Phenom 720 2.8Ghz Tri-Core(TDP=95w), and max power compsumption is 164w(!), but this might be just estimation of DC ouput.
The PSU comes with this acer X1900 has a very special size that I cannot find a replacement with higher output watts. On the other hand, I just want to push the limit and see how much a 220W pc can handle.

This is my first post here, please forgive me if I should post in another board instead. Thanks for your advice!

Lsv
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2011 9:50 pm

Re: Graphic card upgrade with PSU limit

Post by Lsv » Sat Dec 31, 2011 8:53 am

yochenhsieh wrote:Hello,
I have a small case acer X1900 series, which is similar to this model, but with the following specs:
Intel Pentium Duo Core E6500 2.93Ghz (TDP=65w)
ATi Radeon HD5450 DDR3 512MB( later upgraded to HD5570 DDR3 1GB)
4GB DDR3 1066mhz
HDD 512GB
The PSU is 220W. I'm considering buying Sapphire HD6670 GDDR5 1GB Low Profile but not quite sure if my PSU can handle it. The "recommended" system requirement is 400w PSU, though it's known to work with 300W PSU reported by some users.
  • According to HD6670 Review of SPCR, max system power needed (AC) is 206w.
    The review of low profile version at overclockclub shows max power comsumption is 223w(stock) and 238w(overclocked), but they used i7 920 (TDP=130w) to benchmark.
    The Hi Tech Legion reviewed the low profile version with AMD Phenom 720 2.8Ghz Tri-Core(TDP=95w), and max power compsumption is 164w(!), but this might be just estimation of DC ouput.
The PSU comes with this acer X1900 has a very special size that I cannot find a replacement with higher output watts. On the other hand, I just want to push the limit and see how much a 220W pc can handle.

This is my first post here, please forgive me if I should post in another board instead. Thanks for your advice!
Your system draws about 200watts as is, I wouldn't get a more power heavy GPU unless you upgrade the PSU.

With a 6670 you'll draw about 230watts. I wouldn't push a shitty Acer PSU that far. Ever. It will fail guaranteed.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: Graphic card upgrade with PSU limit

Post by Abula » Sat Dec 31, 2011 9:54 am

I would upgrade the PSU if you want to go with the 6670,

Now new AMD gpus are coming, and they look promising, maybe wait for the new gen,

Radeon HD 7770 Pictures, Plus 3DMark Benchmarks
Nothing is secret in GPU land as it seems, the leaks keep coming. ChipHell has leaked more pictures with some benchmarks to go with them. The test setup consisted of an Ivy Bridge ES CPU – Core i5-3550K at 3.3Ghz and Z77 chipset-based motherboard. The driver used was the AMD Catalyst 8.940 RC2, giving the following 3DMark benchmark results:


3DMark 06:
HD7770 (Stock @ 1Ghz): 18143 3D Marks (SM2.0: 6785/HDR: 8086/CPU: 6390)

3DMark 11 (Performance Preset):
HD7770 (Stock @ 1Ghz): P3421 (3138 Graphics Score)

3DMark 11 (Extreme Preset):
HD7770 (Stock @ 1Ghz): X1077 (965 Graphics Score)

It was already known that the product has four memory chips on the upper side, but this shows that there are four extra chips on the underside.

In other words, the adapter possesses 2 GB of GDDR5 VRAM, clocked at 1.125 GHz, instead of just 1 GB. the memory interface is of 128 bits and the GPU clock speed hovers at 1 GHz (the first GPU to break the 1 GHz barrier without factory or home overclocking). Other specifications include 896 stream processors (SPs), support for DirectX 11.1 and compliance with the PCI Express 3.0 specification.

Finally, the thermal design power is rated at between 90W and 100W (a single 6-pin PCI Express connector supplies the energy). We expect pricing to be 150 USD / 119 EUR.
We will probably see other cards in the months to come, and probably Asus, Gigabyte, Powercolor and Sapphire might continue their passive heatsinks designs.

CA_Steve
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Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Graphic card upgrade with PSU limit

Post by CA_Steve » Sat Dec 31, 2011 10:50 am

Welcome to SPCR!

As others have said, your 220W PSU is marginal for a gpu upgrade...who knows if it's rated for 220W on the 12V rail, for example... If the PC tends to be in a warm room in the summer, that degrades the PSU rating, too.

You could run some stress tests (like done in the SPCR review) and see if it's stable with your current system - let it run for 30-60 minutes. The 6670 will draw ~ 10-15W more while gaming than the 5570. If your current system can handle running Prime95 + Furmark, then it can probably handle normal 3D loads with the 6670.

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