Is my old Thermaltake good enough for ATI 4890?

[Ken B.]

I have an older Thermaltake 420 watt unit, W0062RU, that has a 15amp 12V rail and a 10amp 12V rail.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153026

I look at idle and max loads for higher end cards like ATI 4890 cards and GTX 2XX cards, and none of them go over 300 watts max (non-SLI/CF) in whole system use. But I was thinking of getting a little lower card, like a 4870.

I'm upgrading to a Phenom II X3, with 4GB, one hard drive and one optical, along with a possible 48XX series card.

Do I really need to concern myself with all the "rail" and "amp" gobbledygook for a simpler setup, or is the power supply here still a concern in re to stability, in your opinion?

I previously used this psu with a 6800GS, and currently a 2600XT, with no probs at all, but these are not high consumption cards, obviously.

[Evilsizer]

the 2000's used more power then current 4000's in their respective market segment. the 4870 doesnt use much less then the 4890. one that does use less power is the 4830's and lower. according to a few manufactures i checked out for the 4830, they stated you need a 400watt psu. yes you need to mind the amps on the 12v rail....

[juane414]

That's pushing it I would say. Your PSU barely meets the minimum required watts for most HD 4870's. Some recommend 450 watts. Also, the 4870's have two 6-pin pci-e connectors and your PSU only has one pci-e connector from what I can tell. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble finding the required amps for the 4870. I would be scared to try, but if you're brave you could give it a shot. I personally would get a new PSU.

[RollingThunder]

I have an older Thermaltake 420 watt unit, W0062RU, that has a 15amp 12V rail and a 10amp 12V rail.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153026

I look at idle and max loads for higher end cards like ATI 4890 cards and GTX 2XX cards, and none of them go over 300 watts max (non-SLI/CF) in whole system use. But I was thinking of getting a little lower card, like a 4870.

I'm upgrading to a Phenom II X3, with 4GB, one hard drive and one optical, along with a possible 48XX series card.

Do I really need to concern myself with all the "rail" and "amp" gobbledygook for a simpler setup, or is the power supply here still a concern in re to stability, in your opinion?

I previously used this psu with a 6800GS, and currently a 2600XT, with no probs at all, but these are not high consumption cards, obviously.

Ken,

I agree with Evil, your 12v rails aren't up to a 4870 or a4890 and the rest of your planned system. Get something better. There is a lot to choose from at inexpensive prices.

Check them out here:

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=589708

Anything listed in the 450 - 550 watt would work fine for you with a single video card.

[Ken B.]

Thanks for your help, guys. I guess it figures if my PSU is just 70% efficient, I'm only getting about 300 real watts.

I looked at another posting where some guy showed a KillAWatt meter displaying a 4870 card running in a pretty average system, running a Crysis demo, and it was sucking up just over 300 watts system total.

Guess it's time to consider a new PSU. I wouldn't mind considering a 4830 card, since it uses less power, but then I'd have to scale back more on all the games' features, and I'd only end up replacing the card sooner than I'd want to, anyway.

[Neuromancer]

Definitely do not do it

I was running a 560W Silverstone Zeus, and was running a phentwo quad and 2x 4850s. Worked fine until I started to OC the CPU.

Now I cant pass vantage at all stock. It crashes out with "device missing" error, which I assume to mean one of the 4850s did not get enough power and shut down.

[burningcpu]

Someone has a good price on a Corsair HX520 in the classifieds if you have access.