"Watt" Should I do?

[falcon409]

I want to get back to flying now that my system is more or less tweaked for FSX. The main problem for now is that the Power Supply is 300Watts. If I try to run FSX for any length of time, what problems/damage/headaches am I to expect or should I just not try it right now?

[Meshman]

... or should I just not try it right now?

You've answered your own question and in a cautious manner. I can't recall your video card? It was a nVidia 9500, but didn't you just replace it? Even with that card you are running short on wattage, IMO. Start to stress the system and you'll probably see video corruptions, at the least.

Better safe than trashing what was a good part (CPU, RAM, video card) and having to replace it.

[falcon409]

You've answered your own question and in a cautious manner. I can't recall your video card? It was a nVidia 9500, but didn't you just replace it? Even with that card you are running short on wattage, IMO. Start to stress the system and you'll probably see video corruptions, at the least.

Better safe than trashing what was a good part (CPU, RAM, video card) and having to replace it.
Yep, a 9600 actually and I was asking around about a week ago about moving to a 450 and was advised to actually go to the 460 because it was a better card. Unfortunately that was about the time my Motherboard crashed and I ended up having to buy a replacement system which only has a 300Watt PSU. Bummer.

[mmann]

The recommended minimum power supply for GeForce 9600 GT graphics cards is 400 watts with a +12V rating of 26 Amps for a single card, I think you are unfortunately going to have to upgrade the 300 watt power supply you currently have.

Regards, Mike Mann

[Navy Chief]

Ed,

I went through the same process a few months back. I ended up rebuilding my entire system, and decided to spend the extra money for a more powerful power supply. This is the one I have:

1000W

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&expIds=17259,17311,27213,27744,27796,27868,27886&sugexp=leprodsca4&xhr=t&q=corsair+hx1000w&cp=15&safe=off&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=7691368361763071425&ei=vkkATZqOBYL58Abaye2LBw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQ8wIwAg#

[stansdds]

When the 1000 watt PSU was introduced, I scoffed at the notion of needing one. These days, a 1000 watt PSU doesn't seem unreasonable. With each upgrade, I look cautiously at my 650 watt Antec and hope for the best.

[falcon409]

When the 1000 watt PSU was introduced, I scoffed at the notion of needing one. These days, a 1000 watt PSU doesn't seem unreasonable. With each upgrade, I look cautiously at my 650 watt Antec and hope for the best.
Yea, the price alone would make me think long and hard before buying, lol. Having just bought a new computer, the ability to now go out and buy a PSU is on hold, especially with Christmas as close as it is. . .priorities, lol.:salute:

[GaryGB]

Hi Ed:

Based on my experience with AMD versus Intel CPUs, if your CPU is an AMD (usually needing more power than is clearly stated in mfgr. spec sheets), and you have a higher capacity GPU, you'd be lucky to have that 300 Watt power supply last a year... much less a few weeks or months. :pop4:

But maybe a few months will work out well enough to get a 750 Watt or higher PSU into the budget. :mixedsmi:



In the mean time... Happy Flying ! :cool:

GaryGB

[Wozza]

Hi Mate
1st up get an Idea of how much wattage you actually need http://www.antec.outervision.com/PSUEngine
remember that its a psu sellers page :) and you have to have every thing you list running at 100% to get to the calculated max wattage.... so if it reports max needed is 350wats then you prob be okish

Next grab a diag program like speedfan to monitor your PSU's 12v rail
check out what the voltage is with just windows booted at the desktop
then start fsx and check the voltage drop it will depend on the psu you have in your system
but anything around 11.75v and above should be workable if it gets as low as 11.50v your working the psu(depending on brand ect) hard if it gets as low as 10.90 to 11.20 the psu will prob shut the system down....

when I was running a low end PSU on a high end system I rigged up a 12v 1amp DC power pack
(most ppl have these laying around somewhere from old phone chargers etc). I then wired it
to a fan buss and ran all of my fans from that and the power pack rather than the power supply.
it worked so well Its still in place even though I now have a 750watt psu :)
Cheers
Wozza

[gera]

Did you read the specs of the cards before buying that system???..you din´t did you???:173go1:

[falcon409]

Gera,
This isn't about checking specs to see if the system I was buying would work with the Video Card. This is more about the reality of what I could afford.
(1) It's Christmas and there are obligations (A computer isn't really a necessity).
(2) A decent system (i5 or i7) would run me anywhere from $650 on up (based on the local Stores I have access to)
(3) I have had several offers to build a system in the future that would take into consideration cost as a major factor. If I had phone numbers for those folks I might have contacted them when my system cratered and checked, but I didn't so I couldn't.
(4) Did I mention that a computer isn't a necessity?
(5) I looked at the computers I had available to me (Best Buy) and I bought the one that was comparable to what I already had (Dual Core, 4Gig (mine had 8), 3.2Ghz CPU (mine was 3.0) and I already knew I was going to put my 9600GT into it. What Power Supply was in it was of little consequence, they weren't going to swap it out just for me. I paid $450 for it and that was actually about $100 bucks more than I paid for the one I already had in it's original state.

So, no, checking the specs wasn't really an option. Thanks for asking though!:salute:

[gera]

Gera,
This isn't about checking specs to see if the system I was buying would work with the Video Card. This is more about the reality of what I could afford.
(1) It's Christmas and there are obligations (A computer isn't really a necessity).
(2) A decent system (i5 or i7) would run me anywhere from $650 on up (based on the local Stores I have access to)
(3) I have had several offers to build a system in the future that would take into consideration cost as a major factor. If I had phone numbers for those folks I might have contacted them when my system cratered and checked, but I didn't so I couldn't.
(4) Did I mention that a computer isn't a necessity?
(5) I looked at the computers I had available to me (Best Buy) and I bought the one that was comparable to what I already had (Dual Core, 4Gig (mine had 8), 3.2Ghz CPU (mine was 3.0) and I already knew I was going to put my 9600GT into it. What Power Supply was in it was of little consequence, they weren't going to swap it out just for me. I paid $450 for it and that was actually about $100 bucks more than I paid for the one I already had in it's original state.

So, no, checking the specs wasn't really an option. Thanks for asking though!:salute:

You bet!!!! our toys are expensive and not a necessity....but man!!! you know that a 300 watt power supply defenitly would not get you running FSX smoothly and specially with the cards you mention ...just send Santa a note about this!!!!!!

[falcon409]

Wozza, I already had SpeedFan and so I loaded it back up and took a look. There isn't an option to monitor PSU Voltage and I have the latest version of SpeedFan. There is an option under the "Charts" tab for Voltage, but it doesn't produce a readout, just a blank screen. Can you elaborate?:salute:

[mfitch]

Not all brands/cards report the information in a fashion speedfan can see (at least that has been my experience).

On the encouraging side, as pointed out above the power ratings on cards and other bits are maximum draw. Even when running FSX not all components are maxed out at the same time (which would also produce enough heat to warm a couple of rooms). My i7 with 6M and Nvidia GTX275 + GTS250 and a few peripherals plugged into the UPS still pull less than 300 watts most of the time as reported by the UPS.

This does not mean an upgraded power supply would not be useful, just that you can enjoy yourself some in the meanwhile.

[Wozza]

Wozza, I already had SpeedFan and so I loaded it back up and took a look. There isn't an option to monitor PSU Voltage and I have the latest version of SpeedFan. There is an option under the "Charts" tab for Voltage, but it doesn't produce a readout, just a blank screen. Can you elaborate?:salute:
Hi
Speedfans not really checking the psu but a M/board sensor chip, just means that you particular m/b isnt 100% supported...find out what brand/make m/b you have and see if the manufacturers site has a probe type software 90% of them do........Only other quick and nasty way to check is use a multimeter on the 12 volt pins of a spare molex plug,a digital multimeter is easier to read...:)
Wozza