Would OCZ 520watt run Radeon 6950?

xinji

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Apr 13, 2011
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Hi guys, I've got a OCZ Modstream 520watt, it's a bit over 4 years old now since bought, but it's been stable the entire time.

I've googled a few forum posts saying it should run the latest Radeon 6950 just fine especially b/c OCZ is a so called 'good' brand, which I'd like it to be also. Might anyone have expertise with these things?

The card i'm hoping to buy http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...ark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

Much Thx!!

**EDIT: Wooh! I'm very grateful for the quick replies just over one night. The power consumption testing and calculator links are a great help. I do believe Manufacturers/corporations do overstate PSU requirements somewhat, for safety concerns and some other shady reasons :P
I'm gon go ahead and buy it, thx for all ur reassurances & quick responses.

To 'a pet rock,' nice to see you here, i rmbr playing on your team in a game of Brink fairly coincidentally when it first came out, too bad the game's dead.
 
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It should... although it does only have one PCIe power connector on it. The 6950 uses around 200-watts if I'm not mistaking. Since that's the case, you should be fine.
 
First off, most if not all online calculators are crap.

Second, a 6950 and an old CPU won't need more than 400W.

Third, if it's four years old it might not be giving it's full 520W anymore. While I won't say you need to buy a new one now, you should be on the lookout for any warning signs of PSU failings. You should be good for now, though.
 
I'm not sure, but this tool should be able to let you know.http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html

That calculator always gives a number way higher than you would ever need.

Not surprising considering newegg is a corporation that is trying to make you spend more.

a more accurate (albeit not perfect) is this one:
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

It should... although it does only have one PCIe power connector on it. The 6950 uses around 200-watts if I'm not mistaking. Since that's the case, you should be fine.

you can use those little molex to PCIe adapter things.

a 6950 shouldn't use more than like 150w at most.



I would say it is fine. That said, It is 4 years old, and VERY 3.3/5v heavy, so it might have a problem there. There shouldn't be much risk, it seems to be a fairly high end unit, so it should have some sort of functioning OCP. TL;DR, it should be able to shut down if it cant power it.
 
you can use those little molex to PCIe adapter things.

a 6950 shouldn't use more than like 150w at most.

Then why does it have 2 6-pin PCIe connectors? 150-watts at most is 75-watts at the PCIe slot + 75-watts for a 6-pin PCIe power connector. I think it uses more than 150-watts...
 
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My rig has i5-2500k @ 4.2ghz, 1x6870 video card, and LCD monitor. Running FurMark and Prime95 putting GPU and CPU at 100% utilization my UPS software shows 338 watts being drawn. With everything at idle 99 watts are drawn. A 520 watt PSU is sufficient. The more power the hotter the PSU will run. If you always near max capabilities the PSU will typically have a shorter life due to heat load. Heat kills. If you have an OLD PSU that has worked hard it might be worth $60.00 to $100.00 for a new one....
 
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