NightSurge
Fully Optimized
- Messages
- 2,217
- Location
- Fort Wayne, IN
When I first built my computer, it was meant to be a mild gaming budget build. It was $500 to build. The original specs were something like:
Foxcon 780G mobo
AMD Athlon X2 5400+ 2.4GHz (OC'd to 3.2GHz)
4GB DDR2 800
HD 4830 512mb video card
160gb HDD
500W Xcilio power supply
Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
19" 1440x900 monitor
Then I bought a new monitor that supported 1920x1080 resolution and wanted to keep gaming at max settings so I purchased a new GPU as well. Then there was a sale on RAM so I purchased another 2GB. I ran out of HDD space so I purchased another 640GB drive.
Current specs:
Foxcon 780G mobo
AMD Athlon X2 5400+ 2.4GHz (OC'd to 3.2GHz)
6GB DDR2 800
XFX HD 4890 2GB video card
160gb HDD + 640GB HDD
500W Xcilio power supply
Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
Currently using my 47" TV at 1920x1080
I can now run pretty much everything at max settings, however there are some times when my frame rates drop during heavy loads or in the more demanding games and I feel the only remaining bottleneck in my system is my CPU. My motherboard is compatible with AM3 CPUs so I would like to switch to a new Phenom X6 processor and be done upgrading for another year or 2.
However, I think I am reaching dangerously close to the maximum load of my power supply. I currently have a 65W cpu (overclocked), 240W gpu (overclocked slightly), 2 hard drives, optical drive, 5 fans, and 5 usb ports drawing power. It seems like I should be able to afford the extra 60W to triple my processing cores, but how can I be sure? I don't want to purchase a CPU, find out I need a new PSU, and then have to make a separate order and spend another hour or so perfecting my wiring again.
Is there any way to measure power usage without buying a watt-meter like those ones you can buy at RadioShack for $50?
Foxcon 780G mobo
AMD Athlon X2 5400+ 2.4GHz (OC'd to 3.2GHz)
4GB DDR2 800
HD 4830 512mb video card
160gb HDD
500W Xcilio power supply
Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
19" 1440x900 monitor
Then I bought a new monitor that supported 1920x1080 resolution and wanted to keep gaming at max settings so I purchased a new GPU as well. Then there was a sale on RAM so I purchased another 2GB. I ran out of HDD space so I purchased another 640GB drive.
Current specs:
Foxcon 780G mobo
AMD Athlon X2 5400+ 2.4GHz (OC'd to 3.2GHz)
6GB DDR2 800
XFX HD 4890 2GB video card
160gb HDD + 640GB HDD
500W Xcilio power supply
Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
Currently using my 47" TV at 1920x1080
I can now run pretty much everything at max settings, however there are some times when my frame rates drop during heavy loads or in the more demanding games and I feel the only remaining bottleneck in my system is my CPU. My motherboard is compatible with AM3 CPUs so I would like to switch to a new Phenom X6 processor and be done upgrading for another year or 2.
However, I think I am reaching dangerously close to the maximum load of my power supply. I currently have a 65W cpu (overclocked), 240W gpu (overclocked slightly), 2 hard drives, optical drive, 5 fans, and 5 usb ports drawing power. It seems like I should be able to afford the extra 60W to triple my processing cores, but how can I be sure? I don't want to purchase a CPU, find out I need a new PSU, and then have to make a separate order and spend another hour or so perfecting my wiring again.
Is there any way to measure power usage without buying a watt-meter like those ones you can buy at RadioShack for $50?