Recycling old system: will this PSU be enough?

[Valamyr]

Hello all. I brought new hardware recently and am trying to recycle the old one by putting most of it in an old case and giving it away to a friend, but I've kept my old (good) PSU for the new system, and thus the sole PSU I have on hand is really "on the edge" on the requirements of this aging hardware and I want to know if you guys think I'd run into serious issues cobbling this together.

The recycled ld box would basically be a A8N-E motherboard, a 3.0ghz core duo 2 cores, a 9800GTX+ (recommends 450w, but only requires 26amp on the 12v and the psu delivers 28), a single dvd-reading drive and a single 7200rpm disk. 4go of DDR2, an audigy soundblaster card and a floppy drive. The PSU I have for this is a brand new corsair cx430. Only 430 watts. Nothing would be OC'd and this system wouldnt be used for very demanding tasks most of the time anymore, the new owner would be a casual user.

Specs and review:
Builder Series
Corsair CX430 Power Supply Review | Hardware Secrets

http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html > tells me 400 watt is OK
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Recommended Power Supply Wattage Calculator> tells me 500 recommanded :(

I'm guessing this might be cutting it too close, but I wonder how much so? If the PSU wears out slightly faster thats acceptable. If it risks frying the hardware its not. Your thoughts welcome!

[frontier204]

You'll be fine - just don't change that GPU or CPU to anything much more powerful.

Les rsultats - La consommation de 93 cartes graphiques ! - HardWare.fr
A 9800GTX+ shouldn't draw more than 170W, and CPU+chipset+hard drive will be at most 110W under load.

So 280W max on a PSU with 336W +12V rail? No problem. That new owner can do Folding@Home 24/7 on both the CPU and the GPU and not risk anything, so that PSU won't shorten the life of the computer at all.

[Valamyr]

Wow... I'm impressed !

I guess the "PSU calculators" just tend to be very conservative to ensure no one runs into issues then? Or this hardware is particularly easy on power consumption? I recall 3-4 years ago I believe I tried to go for lower power usage in that rig, so that would make some sense...

Edit: Uhh, I really like hardware.fr, but these numbers of power usage are a bit shocking. My new Radeon 6950 uses just about exactly as much power as my old 9800GTX+? I'd have never guessed. (Though that'll obviously be corrected once I flash it to 6970 )

[_dangtx_]

those builder series from corsair are workhorses. dont be afraid to load them up

[NI3]

I've powered more on less, and of a lower quality.

You should be fine.

[frontier204]

Originally Posted by Valamyr

Wow... I'm impressed !

I guess the "PSU calculators" just tend to be very conservative to ensure no one runs into issues then? Or this hardware is particularly easy on power consumption?

The PSU calculators always gave me conservative numbers - none of them would say that I could use a quad core overclocked + GTX 550 Ti overclocked on a 375W power supply
Another thing the calculators probably consider is that lower quality or older designs for PSUs don't have as strong a +12V rail, where everything except HDDs and maybe USB are powered from these days. If you had a CoolerMaster Elite PSU at the same wattage as the Corsair your configuration would not work because CMs at the low end have a weak +12V.

Since I don't have any set of components that can overload a 600W power supply anymore, I estimate my computers power consumption these days by attaching whatever it is to the 600W PSU and measuring the wattage with a power meter. That takes most of the guesswork out, assuming the new PSU is as efficient or more efficient that my old 600W.

[MARSTG]

the 9800GTX+ is with one 6 pin connector or is the version with 2? Mine is a PNY that GPU Z says is on 65nm process and still has only 1x6pin connector

[JD]

Originally Posted by _dangtx_

those builder series from corsair are workhorses. dont be afraid to load them up

I had one "die" on me and take an i3 2100 and P8P67 PRO with it, and then a brand new i5 2500K and P8P67 PRO until I finally realized that it must be the PSU causing the issues. Oddly enough it powered up the system once before killing it. YMMV though since manufacturing defects happen. From here on out I won't be putting any of the "value" class PSUs in my systems though.

[roh_ultima]

most of the power requirements that GPU makers put out there are to cover their own A$$

they know it will run on less, but they make sure you have a big enough PSU in case its a "value" psu
and such

[_dangtx_]

looks like you had a dud, mr a.

but ive used those by the ton. i dont see more issues with them vs anything else out there thats got a good sticker on it