Antec Earthwatts 380w to power Pentium e5200 @ 3.4GHz and Radeon 4850?

[Ionizer86]

All,

Trying to upgrade the following rig's video card:
Pentium e5200 LGA775 CPU default 2.5GHz, overclocked to 3.4GHz at stock voltage
4GB DDR2-6400 (2x2GB)
DVD±RW drive
Integrated sound (Realtek)
500GB WD 7200RPM HDD
No additional peripherals

Original Antec Earthwatts 380w PSU (not one of the new series Earthwatts) (80+ certified, 5v+3.3v total 130W, 17 amps max on 12V)

Old video card is eVGA GeForce 9600GSO 384MB DDR3. eXtreme PSU calculator recommended 267W PSU for this config.

Trying to upgrade to XFX Radeon 4850 1GB, but it won't POST Tried using 6 pin power cable from PSU and also using 2x 4 pin adapter to 6 pin power cable. This video card already posted in another PC. eXtreme PSU calculator recommends 316W PSU for this config.

For reference, tried friend's GeForce 8800GTX video card in the past and it didn't POST either. eXtreme PSU calculator recommends 337W PSU for this config.

PSU too small?

Thanks~!

 

[Rifter]

sure sounds like the PSU isnt up to it.

 

[theAnimal]

17 amps max on 12V

It has 27A available on 12V. Should be plenty of PSU for that system.

 

[mindwreck]

should be fine.. my htpc is a similar setup. my e5200 is at 3.6ghz and i have 3 hard drives running on a 400watter.

is this the one you have? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371005

It says there are two rails. are you balancing the plugs correctly?

 

[Concillian]

I an a lesser 380W supply for an OCed e7200 / OCed 4850 / 4 gig DDR2. In Furmark (renamed durmark, because the drivers would throttle the card for furmark) it was fine for hours. Kill-a-watt said 230W or so at the wall. Earthwatts 380w will be fine.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yeah, EarthWatts 380 should be fine.

 

[theAnimal]

It says there are two rails. are you balancing the plugs correctly?

There's really not much choice about what plugs in where, nor does it matter.

 

[Ionizer86]

is this the one you have? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371005

It says there are two rails. are you balancing the plugs correctly?

Yep, that's the PSU. Discontinued now due to new "Earthwatts Green" 80+ bronze models.

In theory, this PSU should be big enough, but it's funny that I can't get the Radeon 4850 to post in this rig. I've tried underclocking the CPU to 600MHz as well, and it still won't post. Funny that it posted in another PC (Athlon 64 X2 4000+) with a Sparkle 250W PSU.

In order to balance my 12V rails, what do I need to do? There is only one 6 pin PCI-e video card power connector, unless I use the 2x 4 pin to 6 pin adapter. There is only one 20+4 pin for the mobo. Should I use different plugs for the SATA dvd burner and SATA hard drive? Regardless, these drives shouldn't consume much power though.

 

[theAnimal]

In order to balance my 12V rails, what do I need to do?

Nothing. Plug everything in to the proper connector.

Have you tried resetting the CMOS?

 

[RavenSEAL]

How old is this PSU? If it's discontinued, it's gotta have it's year, which means the capacitors are probably slightly aged.

 

[Ionizer86]

After trying CMOS reset, reseating multiple times and using 2x 4 pin to 6 pin PCI-e adapter off of two 4 pin lines off the PSU, this was all no go. Fan just kept spinning up and down but no post.

Gave up, and put this Radeon 4850 in a PC with Core 2 e7200, 4GB ram, 640GB WD 7200RPM hard drive, 40GB Intel X25-V, powered by an Antec Neo Eco 520c. Works great! Even installed the HDMI audio driver so I can get audio and to the TV without needing to use both VGA and 3.5mm audio.

Looks like the EA-380W probably wasn't powerful enough for this card. XFX box recommended 450W PSU anyway.

 

[AkumaX]

I'm on an i7-875k + 4850 on the EA-380W (crosses fingers)