[Fungle]

Hi Guys,

I'm planning on upgrading my PC's graphics card and I'm a little confused about the power side of it.

I currently have this PSU:

AC Input 200-260V ~ 3A 50/60Hz
DC Output +3.3V +5V +12V1 +12V2 -12V +5Vsb
Max Load 24A 20A 18A 18A 0.3A 2.5A
Max Combined Wattage 120W 300W 3.6W 12.5W
Total Power 400W


ATX 24 pin & 20 pin compatible x1
EPS/ATX12V 4pin x1
PCI-E 6 pin x2
SATA x6
4 Pin Molex Peripheral x4
Floppy x2

Which currently costs £32 and is called Novatech PowerStation Gaming 400W Silent ATX2 Modular Power Supply

I was looking at graphics cards, And the Nvidia 550Ti has a minimum PSU power of 400W. However I'm hesitant to commit to buying the card on the minimum power requirements, I know there are different quality of PSU's and for the life of me I don't know where to spot one.

Do you guys reckon that the PSU would support a 550Ti?

Note: I cannot replace the PSU for various reasons right now so posting "Get a new PSU" won't really be helpful.

PSU Here: http://www.novatech....nov-psg400.html

[blindstone]

Best suggestion is visit the cooler master PSU Calc here: CM PSU Calc

Insert your system specs as closely as possible it should output the estimated power usage on your PSU with that graphics card.

If you are close to your usage wattage I would suggest using the advanced version of the calc to adjust for power load an cap aging. That can be found here: Advanced PSU Calc

Let me know if you run into trouble

PS: If your not sure of an option on the advanced page just leave it default, as long as you get the amount of drives, video card, CPU, ram properly in it you should be fine. 90% peak load should be a good estimate and for cap ageing 10% if its a couple years old just to be safe

This post has been edited by blindstone: 02 April 2012 - 02:53 PM

[The Architect 2.0]

ya...remember that the CPU and motherboard take up power as well. simply basing your usage on the GPU is not such a good idea.