Hi guys I need your opinion on this. I just purchased a Gecube HD 3850 card, and I'm not having problems with games but that's because i'm not pushing the graphics too high because I'm afraid i'll burn my system considering that my PSU is ATX 400W P4 with only 12A on the 12v (The hd3850 manual recommends a 500w with 30A on the 12V) Now I had some unexpected short pauses with NFS Most Wanted on high settings 800x600, and while playiong very smoothly the C&C3 i started having the simultaneous chopping as 1-second pauses (it runs for a sec and pauses for another) I think this is due to my low PSU wattage, SO I'm thinking of buying a new one but the weird thing is that the card is always cool at 40 degrees Celsius I play Timeshift at 1024x768 almost everything set high very smoothly and after 3 hours of play i run SpeedFan and find that the temperature is the same as it was at windows strart up here's a pic, i think the 40c relates to the card but maybe i'm wrong Do you think i'm fine or should i get a new psu ( i want to know if by getting a new psu would my system's performance go up or it will stay the same)? BTW if you want my system specs to estimate the wattage consumption, here they are: Dual core 3.0Ghz (930 Presler) 2 sticks 512mb 667 ddr2 (thisnking of upgarding to 2 sticks of 1gb) Intel 945Gz motherboard (gma950 and Realtek audio on board) LG 20x DVD-RW 120Gb maxtor HHD 2 side fanes 12mm Any help would be greatly appreciated.
It would not be a bad move to invest in a newer PSU. While the unit you have may be perfectly fine, the 12A rating on the +12V is really low. The Presler core isn't exactly a light weight when it comes to power consumption and draws off the +12V rail. In and of itself that would be high enough as is, but the current video cards in PCIe form draw from the same +12V pool. Wattage isn't the problem, so don't look at that as the sole factor. It's how the wattage is determined. A generous +12V rail or multiple +12V rails are ideal because more and more components use that voltage.
