35 replies to this topic

[Casen]

I'm a bit skeptical if the PSU will handle it, going from an 8500 GT to a 9500 GT(Which will be coming in the mail in 5 days or less) on a 350w PSU. I've heard from a friend who's a computer tech it should work from personal experience, but if something goes horribly wrong, you'll know why I'm not posting any more...or at least with as much zeal, my old comp is slow as all hell.

And I'm not sure if Delta Electronics PSUs have a fail-safe where they just don't turn on when too much power is being taken from them.

According to a watt calculator site the wattage jump from the graphics card replacement should only be 9-10w...but I'm the paranoid type.

So just a heads up if I suddenly disappear.

Edited by Kacen, 18 September 2009 - 09:43 PM.

[Invadious]

IMO you should wait a couple of weeks, the ATi 5000 series are coming out and I'm sure something like a 56XX or 53XX will come out and whoop the 9500GT on the same wattage. And if you are not sure, just buy a PSU, you won't regret it.

[Casen]

IMO you should wait a couple of weeks, the ATi 5000 series are coming out and I'm sure something like a 56XX or 53XX will come out and whoop the 9500GT on the same wattage. And if you are not sure, just buy a PSU, you won't regret it.

A little tip for you: My PSU has no 6 pin connector, any graphics card I get has to be able to draw power directly from the motherboard.

If the ATi 5000 needs a six pin connector then I can't use it.

And I don't trust myself enough to get a better PSU and hook it up myself. Knowing how I am with computers I tend to make problems worse.

And yes, I know a 9500 GT 1 GIG isn't the best thing you can get nowadays, but compared to what I currently have, an 8500 GT with only 256 megabytes, it's a huge upgrade relatively speaking. That should be enough for me overall.

Edited by Kacen, 18 September 2009 - 10:12 PM.

[Invadious]

A little tip for you: My PSU has no 6 pin connector, any graphics card I get has to be able to draw power directly from the motherboard.

If the ATi 5000 needs a six pin connector then I can't use it.

Yes I know that, but the 53XX and 56XX series don't need a PSU, they draw the power directly from the motherboard, just like the 9500GT. But I think the 56XX series are going to be just above 350W. We'll just have to wait and see the results. BTW, usually such weak power supplies come with a pre-made PC (Dell, Acer etc.). If that is the case, I would never replace the videocard.

And yes, I know a 9500 GT 1 GIG isn't the best thing you can get nowadays, but compared to what I currently have, an 8500 GT with only 256 megabytes, it's a huge upgrade relatively speaking. That should be enough for me overall.

Memory isn't really a huge factor in video card speed. The speed of the memory however, is. Currently, games are being made for video cards with around 512MB memory. So more memory is pointless unless you have a 2560x1600 screen, in which it still wouldn't matter that much since the current memory bit bus is too small and the cards are usually too slow to handle that resolution in the first place.

[Casen]

I know the RAM in graphics cards isn't the most important aspect, but still, RAM aside, 9500 GT is better than an 8500 GT.

Also...

http://itwinkle.stor...hp35posu51.html

Found my PSU.

Short Circuit Protection, In-Rush Current Protection, Thermal Overload Cutoff Protection, Over-Temperature, Over-Voltage, Over-Current, Under Voltage

I'm going to assume this means that it has a fail-safe and the worst that could happen if it can't take the new GPU is it just won't turn on, and I'd just have to remove it and replace it with the old for it to work again, right? My friend said a lot of cheapo crap no-name PSUs don't have such fail-safes and will just cause damage and short out or even start a fire if they can't take the wattage.

If you or someone else can confirm that the worst that will happen to this PSU if the GPU takes too much power is that it just won't turn on with no permanent damage, then I should have nothing to loose, right?

Edited by Kacen, 19 September 2009 - 12:27 AM.

[Casen]

Yes I know that, but the 53XX and 56XX series don't need a PSU, they draw the power directly from the motherboard, just like the 9500GT.

Erm, every computer needs a PSU, just not every graphics card needs the 6-pin connector (but most high-end powerful ones need it). Even if it draws power from the motherboard, the motherboard is getting power from the GPU. It's just some graphics cards are so strong they need their own dedicated connection to the PSU, that being the 6-pin connector.

[Invadious]

Yes I know that, but the 53XX and 56XX series don't need a PSU, they draw the power directly from the motherboard, just like the 9500GT.

Erm, every computer needs a PSU, just not every graphics card needs the 6-pin connector (but most high-end powerful ones need it). Even if it draws power from the motherboard, the motherboard is getting power from the GPU. It's just some graphics cards are so strong they need their own dedicated connection to the PSU, that being the 6-pin connector.

I don't want to come over as an ass or something, but I've build my own PC and tweaked it a lot. So I know what a 6-Pin power connector is. I just messed up that sentence but I thought you got the hint

[Casen]

Sorry I just tend to take this overly literally. But can anyone confirm that the worst that would happen with that PSU is that it just won't work?

[Casen]

Hmm...

Every source I go to says my current 8500 GT is around 40-42 watts, and every source I go to says the 9500 GT is around 50 watts...that's not that big of a jump, honestly.

[Phoenix Rising]

I'm pretty sure you won't break anything permanently if you don't have enough power... but don't quote me on that. I think your PC will just shut off once it crosses the power threshold.

[Casen]

Yeah most non-shit PSUs have that fail-safe built in. This doesn't seem to be a no-namer, and the site implies it has safety measures.

Shit PSUs can cause permanent damage if you strain them.

Edited by Kacen, 19 September 2009 - 02:31 AM.

[Invadious]

If you could post your complete system and give me the Amperage on the 12V, 3V and the 5V+ rail of your PSU I could calculate it for you.

Edited by Invadious, 19 September 2009 - 02:29 PM.

[Casen]

Well I just removed an HVR-1800 card from my PCI-E x1 slot because I never used it. It's one of those cards used to connect the PC to a television. I don't know if it uses watts even when not used but it disrupted airflow so I just removed it. Noticed the temperature on my current GPU is lower now, guess it's because the HVR was right on top of it.

And well it has two SATA drives (350 gigs each), two 1 Gig DDR2 RAM chips, two 512 gig DDR2 RAM chips (yes, I know, asinine, it came like that. I should replace them with one 1 gig RAM chip), and it has a Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 CPU. It has a PCI modem for the ethernet and that's about it.

What I do know is that my current graphics card, the 8500 GT, only takes approximatly 42 watts. The card I'm getting, the 9500 GT, takes 50 watts. That's not that huge of a jump, so if it were to cause any problems I would have been cutting it fairly close as it was (and this is how the comp came).

Ether way I removed the HVR-1800 because I had no use for it. Maybe I'll sell it. If the wattage jump is iffy then the removal of the HVR-1800 may balance it out when I get the new GPU.

Even then according to the manufacturer of the PSU it seems it shouldn't damage the PSU as it has fail-safes built in...I would hope.

http://itwinkle.stor...hp35posu51.html

Short Circuit Protection, In-Rush Current Protection, Thermal Overload Cutoff Protection, Over-Temperature, Over-Voltage, Over-Current, Under Voltage

With that in mind, hopefully I have nothing to loose. If it doesn't work and this thing has a safety measure in place then I could just return it and no harm done (the only harm being me getting annoyed that I can't support a measly 9500 GT.)

Edited by Kacen, 19 September 2009 - 06:21 PM.

[Invadious]

Well I just removed an HVR-1800 card from my PCI-E x1 slot because I never used it. It's one of those cards used to connect the PC to a television. I don't know if it uses watts even when not used but it disrupted airflow so I just removed it. Noticed the temperature on my current GPU is lower now, guess it's because the HVR was right on top of it.

And well it has two SATA drives (350 gigs each), two 1 Gig DDR2 RAM chips, two 512 gig DDR2 RAM chips (yes, I know, asinine, it came like that. I should replace them with one 1 gig RAM chip), and it has a Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 CPU. It has a PCI modem for the ethernet and that's about it.

What I do know is that my current graphics card, the 8500 GT, only takes approximatly 42 watts. The card I'm getting, the 9500 GT, takes 50 watts. That's not that huge of a jump, so if it were to cause any problems I would have been cutting it fairly close as it was (and this is how the comp came).

Ether way I removed the HVR-1800 because I had no use for it. Maybe I'll sell it. If the wattage jump is iffy then the removal of the HVR-1800 may balance it out when I get the new GPU.

Even then according to the manufacturer of the PSU it seems it shouldn't damage the PSU as it has fail-safes built in...I would hope.

http://itwinkle.stor...hp35posu51.html

That system, with the 9500GT uses around 240 Watt. If you buy the 4670, which is roughly twice as fast as the 9500GT and a beast in AA even uses 2 watts less according to the calculator (according to this calculator you will only need 13.4A with your system and the 4670 on the 12V rail, and you have 18). Don't get me started about the 5670, it will use around the same power as the 4670 but more than twice as fast... count your win (more than 4 times as fast as the 9500GT). With that card your processor will be the bottleneck in FoC in battle.

Invadious

[Casen]

So your saying that the new graphics card I'm getting should work fine but there's better graphics cards I could get that should also work?

Damn...I underestimated by comp...rofl.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the HD/DVD-ROM drive and DVD SuperMulti Drive / CD-Writer.

Just to reiterate I have no 6 pin connector.

Well, I also have quite a few USB ports (about 7 if you include the HP media drive)...

Well, for the hell of it, I'll just post my computer model:

http://compreviews.a...Pavilm9150f.htm

Subtract the HVR-1800 (HDTV Compatible TV Tuner) and you have my comp.

Erm, can you give me a link to the 5670?

Edited by Kacen, 19 September 2009 - 06:44 PM.

[Invadious]

I counted 6 USB devices, so the difference should be minimal. If your computer is working fine now with those USB drives it shouldn't be different with another videocard since that will draw the power from another rail, the 12V RAIL. Here is a review about the HD 4670 vs. the 9500GT. Now keep in mind what I said about the 5670, it will be more than twice as fast as the 4670 (probably), so to give you an idea of it's power you should look at the 4870 in terms of performance.

[Casen]

When will this 5670 be out, can you estimate it's cost, and do you know it has no 6 pin connector?

Funny I never got anything other than NVIDIA, I kept my mind stuck on them. Didn't consider radeon.

Are are you positive that this 5670 would work on my comp? If so, I'd imagine it'd be expensive...

Sounds like a pretty damn efficient card for it's power.

If worst comes to worse, is a 9500 GT still a good step up from an 8500 GT, speaking strictly relatively?

[Invadious]

When will this 5670 be out, can you estimate it's cost, and do you know it has no 6 pin connector?

The first one, I don't know. The 5850 and 5870 will be released on the 22nd, so that's in 3 days. It usually takes a little longer for the X6XX series to pop up.
Cost: I'm not located in America so I wouldn't know. This ownage version of the HD 4670 is as you see $75. I suspect the 5670 will be around 150 but I don't know for sure. News will pop up on sites, and when they do I'll answer your question.
And for the 6-pin connector, the ATi Radeon X6XX and X3XX series always draw power from the PCIE interface.

Funny I never got anything other than NVIDIA, I kept my mind stuck on them. Didn't consider radeon.

In case you want to know, ATi is whooping Nvidia's @$$ at the moment. It's absolutely ridiculous to buy a Nvidia card considering the awesome price/performance ATi is offering.

Are are you positive that this 5670 would work on my comp? If so, I'd imagine it'd be expensive...

If a 9500GT will, an ATi card will also work. However, always remember to completely remove all the drivers with Driver Sweeper in safe mode before installing the new card.

If worst comes to worse, is a 9500 GT still a good step up from an 8500 GT, speaking strictly relatively?

Not really.

EDIT: You are going to replace a videocard from a factory made pc, I've personally never done this and I don't know the risk.

Edited by Invadious, 19 September 2009 - 07:08 PM.

[Casen]

I read somewhere that the 4670 needs a minimum of 400w...

Also will I have to remove the old 8500 GT drivers the same way to install the new 9500 GT?

[Invadious]

I read somewhere that the 4670 needs a minimum of 400w...

That should be the ATi website. They make a safe number, so if you are using a i7 with 5.0 GHz and a water cooling loop and a 4670, you will need 400 Watt As you can see in the review about the 4670 vs 9500GT, the 4670 uses 9 Watts more than the 9500 GT.

Also will I have to remove the old 8500 GT drivers the same way to install the new 9500 GT?

I don't really know, I always use this method just to be safe.