Running an RX 480 with a 240W PSU

[ask_da_wolf]

My sister has a prebuild I plan on inheriting once I finish building her new streaming/rendering PC. It's not that old, it being a Dell Inspiron 3650 containing an i5 6400, 16 gigs of ram (just added the extra 8) and a brand new SSD boot drive to speed up the dreadfully slow boot from a 1TB HDD. I've been planning on getting a used RX 480 being sold locally for $100 USD or searching for a GTX 1060 on eBay, but I hadn't thought about whether or not the OG power supply can support either of those cards. The PSU does not have any extra cables other than the bare minimum already in use, but the MoBo has a mini 6 pin plug, so I bought a Mac Pro mini 6 pin to standard 6 pin adapter. So the final question being.

Can a 240W PSU support both an i5 6400 and an RX 480 during a normal gaming load? Should I expect frequent crashes or can I scrape by for a year or two while I bother to buy a compatible PSU with the appropriate proprietary connectors for the custom Dell MoBo?

[The Sloth]

Not a good idea, that PSU sounds like a bomb combined with a RX 480. 

[LIGISTX]

25 minutes ago, ask_da_wolf said:

My sister has a prebuild I plan on inheriting once I finish building her new streaming/rendering PC. It's not that old, it being a Dell Inspiron 3650 containing an i5 6400, 16 gigs of ram (just added the extra and a brand new SSD boot drive to speed up the dreadfully slow boot from a 1TB HDD. I've been planning on getting a used RX 480 being sold locally for $100 USD or searching for a GTX 1060 on eBay, but I hadn't thought about whether or not the OG power supply can support either of those cards. The PSU does not have any extra cables other than the bare minimum already in use, but the MoBo has a mini 6 pin plug, so I bought a Mac Pro mini 6 pin to standard 6 pin adapter. So the final question being.

Can a 240W PSU support both an i5 6400 and an RX 480 during a normal gaming load? Should I expect frequent crashes or can I scrape by for a year or two while I bother to buy a compatible PSU with the appropriate proprietary connectors for the custom Dell MoBo?

There is no way that will run on 240 watts. If it does, that’s a failure waiting to happen. There is no way that PSU has anywhere near the required amps on the 12v rail. 
 

Sorry for my strong language, I’m just trying emphasis how much you don’t want to do this. 
 

Also, the mobo has a mini 6 pin? What is that? I have never seen this. The mobo would be taking power from the 24 pin and shoving some 12v out of a 6 pin, and expecting you to power a GPU with that? Maybe..... an incredibly low current card. But that’s strange, most low current cards don’t have external plugs and get all their power from the PCIe lane. If the mobo tries to supply the 75 watts (standard power for PCIe lane) AND power over a 6 pin, your sucking down a lot of amps through that 24 pin cable. Amps the power supply doesn’t have.... so likely won’t actually be sucking them down. But if the PSU could provide them, that would be a scary amount or power through cables not meant to support that much current. Lots of current through small diameter cables = lots of resistance = heat = melting = shorting = potentially damaged parts or fire.

 

If the dell mobo has proprietary cables, odds are someone on eBay sells and ATX adapter for them. 

[RejZoR]

Weren't RX480's running off PCIe slot only as far as power goes? That means 75W on GPU side. That i5 is a 65W chip. Lets say that's 150W total. He'd still have 90W left for mobo, RAM and HDD/SSD. I'd say it's perfectly doable and it wouldn't even be running on the edge, really. Watts should be fine. Amps might be a bit of an issue tho...

[LIGISTX]

6 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Weren't RX480's running off PCIe slot only as far as power goes? That means 75W on GPU side. That i5 is a 65W chip. Lets say that's 150W total. He'd still have 90W left for mobo, RAM and HDD/SSD. I'd say it's perfectly doable and it wouldn't even be running on the edge, really. Watts should be fine. Amps might be a bit of an issue tho...

AMD site has it listed as 150 watt power draw. And AMD usually underestimates their power needs on GPU’s, historically anyways.

 

Basically, if the card needs auxiliary power from a 6 or 8 pin cable, a 240 watt is not the solution to the problem. IF it does only use PCIe a lot power (I don’t know of a 480 that does), it theoretically will work, yes.

 

The 460 is a 70 watt card... the 480 very much is not.  Same goes for 1060. Both would need ~450 watt PSU to feel comfortable, even though in all reality that system with a 480 in it would only draw 280-300 watts max. While that sounds like not much more than 240, you really don’t want to go over.... the current on the 12v rail will 100% not be enough. 

[RejZoR]

1 minute ago, LIGISTX said:

AMD site has it listed as 150 watt power draw. And AMD usually underestimates their power needs on GPU’s, historically anyways.

 

Basically, if the card needs auxiliary power from a 6 or 8 pin cable, a 240 watt is not the solution to the problem. IF it does only use PCIe a lot power (I don’t know of a 480 that does), it theoretically will work, yes. 

No, you are correct. It had PCIe power connector. Now I remember. At first I thought it was 75W as there were reports of drawing more power on the slot side, but that was with the external PCIe power included. So yeah it was 150W. That would certainly be pushing 240W PSU to the edge.

[none77]

What is the capacity of the 12V rail?

[ask_da_wolf]

13 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

There is no way that will run on 240 watts. If it does, that’s a failure waiting to happen. There is no way that PSU has anywhere near the required amps on the 12v rail. 
 

Sorry for my strong language, I’m just trying emphasis how much you don’t want to do this. 
 

Also, the mobo has a mini 6 pin? What is that? I have never seen this. The mobo would be taking power from the 24 pin and shoving some 12v out of a 6 pin, and expecting you to power a GPU with that? Maybe..... an incredibly low current card. But that’s strange, most low current cards don’t have external plugs and get all their power from the PCIe lane. If the mobo tries to supply the 75 watts (standard power for PCIe lane) AND power over a 6 pin, your sucking down a lot of amps through that 24 pin cable. Amps the power supply doesn’t have.... so likely won’t actually be sucking them down. But if the PSU could provide them, that would be a scary amount or power through cables not meant to support that much current. Lots of current through small diameter cables = lots of resistance = heat = melting = shorting = potentially damaged parts or fire.

 

If the dell mobo has proprietary cables, odds are someone on eBay sells and ATX adapter for them. 

As for the Mini 6 pin, it’s just a small 6 pin, similar on shape to a normal 6 pin. It was commonly used on older Mac Pros to power GPUs through the MoBo with as little cable length or space occupying the board. I hoped maybe that could be the case here but then again, that’s just Apple trying to have sleek internals vs Dell just giving the bare minimum.

[LIGISTX]

Just now, ask_da_wolf said:

As for the Mini 6 pin, it’s just a small 6 pin, similar on shape to a normal 6 pin. It was commonly used on older Mac Pros to power GPUs through the MoBo with as little cable length or space occupying the board. I hoped maybe that could be the case here but then again, that’s just Apple trying to have sleek internals vs Dell just giving the bare minimum.

That’s very interesting... I have literally never seen this. 

[Pc6777]

Maybe you could get a used 950 or 1050 or a new 1650 not sure the pci slot would even get enough power because it only uses a 6 pin proprietery motherboard cable to power the whole Mobo. Those cards would hardly need any power from a 6 pin pci cable if it even requires a 6 pin pci (,some models don't) but you could probably get away with molex to 6 pin on low power cards that don't really need a 6 pin in the first place, definitely not a 1060 or 470 or something like that it would melt the cables. I would try to get a 950 1050 or 1650 that has no 6 pin but you could probably just use an adapter if you find one that needs a 6 pin for cheap as long as you don't oc. But that's because those cards hardly need a 6 pin anything more needs a better PSU and an adapter won't cut it. But honestly, you can get LGA 1151 boards on eBay for cheap and get a nice looking cheap atx case for 30 dollars, you could keep the cpu and ram and get a used/refurbished Mobo a new case and a usable power supply that's 500 plus watts and an RX 4 or 570 or 4 or 580 or a 5500 xt/used 1060. New 570s can be found under 130 dollars with shipping if you look around. Like the 1050 or whatever can play anything right now low settings 1080p but if it's the 2 gig model you might have to drop to 720p in the not so distant future, if they have 4 gb models try and get that, used 1050s cost like 100 or so not really cheaper than a used 470/570 but if you don't want to replace your PSU a 950 1050 or 1650 are your options, the best gpu you could run in that system would likely be a 4 gb 1650 which is better value than a used 1050, a new 4 gb 1650 is 150 dollars and way more future proof so if you cant afford to get a new ram mobo case and psu I would get that, but even a 50 series card could put a lot of strain on that psu, 240-80 is 160 so you have 160 watts for the rest of your system if its a quality unit it might be ok, im not sure what dell uses. Or you could try and get a better psu and use an adapter for that mobo and get a new or used card thats more powerful or equivalent performance wise and cheaper, I dont even know if a normal psu would fit in that case without hacking it in and I doubt it has air holes so you can keep your psu fan out of the case so the psu would suck in hot air from the gpu/other components which is why a new case mobo and psu is the best option if its in your budget. there were refurb asus z170- ks for 40 on ebay recently and refurb h110m lga 1151 asus motherboards for 35 recently on ebay. 

 

[Deslumo]

I would not recommend using that PSU, even if it has enough muscle to power your components. As mundane and overused as this may seem, always try to look for a PSU that is a least 80+ Bronze rated from a reputable brand like Seasonic, Corsair, or EVGA. PSUs are probably the component that might last you a decade, with everything else either dying or simply becoming obsolete by faster, more powerful components. But, I guess if you were to stick to it, that PSU would be fine, but not exactly trustworthy. 

 

 

[SavageNeo]

15 minutes ago, Deslumo said:

a PSU that is a least 80+ Bronze rated from a reputable brand like Seasonic, Corsair, or EVGA

Brand and effiency doesnt matter at all. only quality will. EVGA, Seasonic and corsair have very ban units and very good units.