Do I need a new PSU, 250W is horrible, I know.

T

TheOrteganator

New Member
My current computer is an upgraded HP Pavillion a527x. I have added an extra fan, ATI Radeon 9550 SGP video card, Audigy SE PCI sound card, D-Link Network Card, and a second disc drive. This is on top of the already loaded system with a floppy drive, card reader, and many many many many USB ports powering a joystick, steering wheel, and gamepad that are always plugged in. It is running the same processor (AMD Athalon 64 3000+ 2.1 GHz), but a new one pulled from a nearly new identical computer(put in 2 days ago). I also have 1 GB DDR RAM. It wasn't until about 2 weeks ago that I even learned what a power supply was, and began thinking about how bad I need one. I decided to look on the side of the PSU while I was getting rid of the dust and cat hair that attacks my computer, and almost choked when I saw that it was an astonishingly low 250W.

I have noticed that my system runs the Test Drive Unlimited demo fine for about 45 seconds, and then slows down and becomes too choppy to drive. Could the lack of power be limiting the systems potential?

I am quite surprised that such a weak PSU even turns on with all this crap sucking its energy.

So, will buying a new PSU (probably around 450-500W sound good?) increase my system performance? Is there a way to check the amount of wattage being used by the computer, or the capacity the PSU is running at?

Thanks.
 
You can check your power usage using a Kill-A-Watt meter, or get an estimate using any of the numerous PSU calculators floating around the Internet. The available amperage on the +12V rail is more important than the total wattage, though.

You really are pushing a 250W PSU hard. Is Test Drive Unlimited the only game causing problems? Have you checked your temperatures? Download a program like Speedfan and use it to check the values of your various system voltages (particularly +12V) under load.

If you are after a new PSU, an XClio 450BL would be a good budget choice for your system.
 
Thanks. I ran Speedfan last night. It told me that Value 1 was at an OK temp, but Value 2 ran a little hot (59C) even with my adjustable fan on high. How do I find out what these values are linked to?

Test Drive Unlimited demo is the only thing that causes any issues, but it's also the highest requirement game in my computer.
 
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