Can a weak power supply reduce my gaming performance?

Question

I have a 250 watt power supply in my case and my ATI X1300 pro requires a 450 watt power supply. Will that make my card less effective?

My card works but i do notice that it overheats way to quickly with low settings on during oblivion. Lowest resolution and lowest settings and 10 min later, VPU recover turns on and shuts the game down.. is not enough power going to my fan on the card?

Answer 1

PC power supply or PSU is one of the most important components of a gaming rig. You need to ensure that you have enough power flowing through your system else you might damage the GPU or other hardware.

I would strongly urge you to change your PSU to at least a 450W one (as you have to consider the other gizmos in the PC) and also make sure that you get a tru-power series. This means that when it says 450W - it is 450W !! (some lousy PSUs say 450W on the box but you'll get something else...) Some well known brands include Enermax, Coolermaster and many more.

Before you purchase your PSU check and confirm that the 12V rail on the PSU has at least 22-24 Amps pumping out of it. You can get this info on the box or the PSU manual. The 12V rail is the one that powers your graphic card and most high end cards really give the PSU a good workout. Are you using a CrossFire or SLi config? If you are, then you need to ensure that your PSU has double 12V rails.

My rig has a ATi Radeon X1800XT and I use a 500W PSU - tru power series and it works like a charm. Since you are using the ATi X1300 Pro, a 450W PSU would do...but hey, why not get the 500W to be safe eh....

Hope this helps....& good luck with your rig.

Answer 2

Lol, does your card run at all? Anyways, a weak power supply will not reduce your gaming performance, though if you do not have sufficient power, you risk overloading your power supply and burning expensive hardware in the system. It is almost the same rule as do not plug too many high demanding electronics into one power socket.

Nontheless, are you sure your video card requires that much energy? It is very unusual to see a video card require that much energy. Anyways, if you are planning to have a gaming system, 250 watt of power is not going to float your boat, a 500watt is minimal in my opinion.

Answer 3

Yes! the stressed-out power supply lowers the voltage to compensate for the current overload. You could damage your computer ior video card. Get yourself a 600 W power supply or a different video card.

Answer 4

Yes, not enough power can make the card not work at its best performance. Just like a human have not enough energy cannot concentrate.