Prebuilt computer system GPU upgrade

[Baa]

My friend has a prebuilt computer with a "300w" power supply, and is wanting a graphics card. I'm suggesting an R7 250, since her monitor's panel is only 1366x768, so I figured this card would be fine for 720p graphics at medium.

 

The PSU itself lists these voltages and wattages:

 

+5V  - 18A

+12v - 12A
-12v - 0.5A
+3.3v - 16A
+5VSB - 2A
Total - 300w

The system has an i5-3330, a WD Green drive, an optical drive, and a 1x PCI-E Wi-Fi card - would the R7 250 be fine in this system? I'm mostly concerned about available wattage on the +12V line - the highest games she'd be playing is likely Borderlands 2/PAYDAY 2.

[Frosty]

What's he playing?

[Baa]

Sorry, forgot to mention that  - edited OP

[Frosty]

8 minutes ago, Baa said:

Sorry, forgot to mention that  - edited OP

That will probably suffice for something with no PCI-E connector. Though a 750ti might work a bit better.

[Citadelen]

24 minutes ago, Frosty said:

What's he playing?

*she

[Citadelen]

What about an R7 370, if she can afford it.

[Baa]

2 minutes ago, Citadelen said:

What about an R7 370, if she can afford it.

Budget is unfortunately very strict, and the R7 250 is the absolute best thing she can manage - I'm mostly concerned about the available power on the 12v rail, and the PSU in the system doesn't have PCI-E power connectors, so anything higher isn't really an option at this time

[Citadelen]

2 minutes ago, Baa said:

Budget is unfortunately very strict, and the R7 250 is the absolute best thing she can manage - I'm mostly concerned about the available power on the 12v rail, and the PSU in the system doesn't have PCI-E power connectors, so anything higher isn't really an option at this time

Does the 250 even have PCI-E connectors, I would have thought it would all come from the PCI slot.

[Niko_2142]

7 minutes ago, Baa said:

Budget is unfortunately very strict, and the R7 250 is the absolute best thing she can manage - I'm mostly concerned about the available power on the 12v rail, and the PSU in the system doesn't have PCI-E power connectors, so anything higher isn't really an option at this time

the 750 ti doesn't have pcie power, just the models like asus's that have more wattage for better overclocks, im myself running a 250, on a 1080 panel and it goes pretty decent, i could've got a better gpu but here in argentina they are so expensive. anyway, with that resolution, seems like a good plan.

[Baa]

11 minutes ago, Citadelen said:

Does the 250 even have PCI-E connectors, I would have thought it would all come from the PCI slot.

It doesn't, but I'm still concerned, I don't wanna overload the power supply, 12A on the 12v rail doesn't seem like that much to me - the Corsair VS350, for example, does 25A on the 12V rail.

http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator is saying this setup would use 17.6A on the 12v rail at 90% TDP load, I dunno how accurate this is.

[Citadelen]

1 minute ago, Baa said:

It doesn't, but I'm still concerned, I don't wanna overload the power supply, 12A on the 12v rail doesn't seem like that much to me - the Corsair VS350, for example, does 25A on the 12V rail.

http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator is saying this setup would use 17.6A on the 12v rail at 90% TDP load, I dunno how accurate this is.

This sounds like she may need to wait to upgrade her PSU then, I can't see any other way.

[Frosty]

45 minutes ago, Citadelen said:

*she

Whoops, I posted that reply before OP updated the description. 

[Baa]

33 minutes ago, Citadelen said:

This sounds like she may need to wait to upgrade her PSU then, I can't see any other way.

Thought as much - I'll do some more research into stuff.

 

Thanks for your help ^^ - If anyone else also has any input, I'd be glad to accept it.

[Citadelen]

2 minutes ago, Baa said:

Thought as much - I'll do some more research into stuff.

 

Thanks for your help ^^ - If anyone else also has any input, I'd be glad to accept it.

No problem, glad to be of service.  

[A10-FTW]

1 hour ago, Baa said:

My friend has a prebuilt computer with a "300w" power supply, and is wanting a graphics card. I'm suggesting an R7 250, since her monitor's panel is only 1366x768, so I figured this card would be fine for 720p graphics at medium.

 

The PSU itself lists these voltages and wattages:

 

+5V  - 18A

+12v - 12A
-12v - 0.5A
+3.3v - 16A
+5VSB - 2A
Total - 300w

The system has an i5-3330, a WD Green drive, an optical drive, and a 1x PCI-E Wi-Fi card - would the R7 250 be fine in this system? I'm mostly concerned about available wattage on the +12V line - the highest games she'd be playing is likely Borderlands 2/PAYDAY 2.

yes, that psu (with 12A on +12) can move the R7 250 friend 

 

(make sure that the R7 250 card "don't" need a 6 pin connector)