Solved: Graphics card

My friend has a HP Pavilion A6345.SC (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3658000) with Athlon 64 X2 6000+, 4 GB of RAM, gF 8500 GT 512 MB, Vista Home Premium, no idea of the power supply, HP crap.
He's a gamer, so it's quite apparent, that he wants to upgrade the graphics card. But.. There are the problems. Any ideas? Any graphics cards that would work on the stock PSU and be significantly more powerful? And wouldn't overheat in the idiotic case?

 

Bumpage.
I think I already know the answer, but this is kinda desperate.

 

Bump.
Compiler? Rich? Anyone?

 

You'll have to find out what the powersupply specs are and go from there.
However, I doubt you'll find anything much more powerful that the PSU can handle.
Probably a 300-350w unit in there.

 

Finally got to know about the PSU, 300W, 19 Amps on 12 V rail... It's crap. And we can't get any low-end, still quality power supplies here in Finland... 50 € is the smallest amount for a PSU that could handle, for example HD 3850...

 

So.. Now we've discussed, and thought about things. A decision was made, buy a Radeon HD 3850, and Antec Earthwatts 380W. Opinions on this? We thought that getting anything more powerful would most propably heat things up too much, no? And buying a new case would make it wiser to buy a new MB, buying a new MB would make you think of going Intel, and getting faster RAM...

 

A 500w or greater PSU would really be better. Think of it as an investment. A good PSU can be moved to a new PC in the future.

Not sure which one specifically you're looking at but I just took a quick look at the 3850 specs on Sapphire's website. It says it requires a 450w or greater PSU.
http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/products/products_overview.php?gpid=224&grp=3

A higher wattage PSU won't heat up the PC, it should have fans built-in to blow it out the rear. If you're heat concern is with the video card, then get one that has a heatsink/fan that blows out the rear through the adjacent slot opening.

 

I've read of people who run/ran their 3850 in systems more power demanding by other parts, with Antec EW 380W, and just enough is what he needs now. He will (read: I will) build a new computer in a year or so, and by that time higher power PSUs will be 5% cheaper, and who knows what parts will the computer have, how much power will it need? Thanks for trying to turn me. I know it would be a good investment, but 80 % more in price is REALLY too much... I think this is pretty much solved.

 

er... no. A 380watt PSU being stressed by the ATI 3850 card will cause MORE heat than a good 500watt PSU. Your friend should buy a 500~550watt PSU and then re-use it on the "new" PC build in the future. Then put the original PSU back into the HP.

The 4670 card may just work with a 350watt PSU... I wouldn't try it with 300watts.

So no matter what... a new PSU is needed.

 

The PSU's heat generation is not the thing we worry about, mostly the graphics card heat. Or would the PSU actually make more heat than the graphics card?

Anyways. If they happen to ship any of the 4670s into Finland (4650 is already in web stores, but couldn't find 4670), would it be better than 3850? If yes, then it'd absolutely be our choice, right?

 

I mean that a 300watt watt PSU would be getting over-worked, generating more HEAT which is NOT good for the PSU... means PSU go boom.

Sticking a 800watt PSU on a PC that'll only use 200 watts is not so good, the PSU is not being used enough and is wasting some energy. A good 30~60% load is what is wanted... 80% max during heavy use (like playing a game).

 

Okay, just summarizing a bit. An Antec Earthwatts 380 W is in the price range: 41 €, 3850 costing 86 €. Spending 72 € on the next PSU that is good quality would be... A total waste, because it wouldn't be enough for the PC coming next.
The current one in the HP is "300W", 12V = 19 A.

 

Okay.... a 380watt PSU is not enough to properly power up an ATI 3850 card... so what happens when the computer either crashes or worse, gets damaged because of overload. 380watt is below spec... it may work, but not long term.

 

What you didn't answer directly, is: would 4670 be enough powered by the Antec Earthwatts 380W?

 

BTW: Are Xilence PSUs any good? From the same price range, I find this: http://www.multitronic.fi/?prod=SPS-XP550(12)
And this: http://www.multitronic.fi/showprod.php?prod_id=SPS-XP500.(12)R2&b=1