# Can a lower power supply cause FPS/performance drop?



## amit_talkin (Dec 17, 2008)

Hi friends,

I have a quick question. I am sometimes getting very low FPS ( under 30 fps ) in Team Fortress 2. can it be a PSU? I have 400w PSU and running ATI HD 4850 on it. I know 400w is not enough, so I have ordered 650w PSU which will arrive soon. but before it come to home, let me know that is it true that lower power can drop FPS/performance in games?

Amit


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## Gam'ster (Dec 17, 2008)

Yes and cause system instability, But other than your psu you have a nice system, what 650w psu have you ordered ? Even though it is rated @ 650w what are the amp on the 12v rails like.


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## Darren (Dec 17, 2008)

I agree system instability might occur such as crashing or random lock ups, but your frame rate will not improve!

In some situations, a 400w power supply can be more efficient than 650w if there are more amps on the rails.


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## Haytch (Dec 17, 2008)

For sure. I wouldnt even get the 650w. I think its vital one has a strong heart in his/her pc.
I think you should be aiming for an 850w+ with correct amp per rail, efficiency, stability and phase. These PSU's tend to be a little more expensive but i dont believe you can overkill the PSU


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## EnglishLion (Dec 17, 2008)

No, you will not see a change in fps from a power supply.  If it's a decent model then 400W will be OK, the new 650W should also be fine.

The only problems due to power supply are instability, reduced overclockability and catastrophic failure (including fire)!  ...but not drop on fps...


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## Darren (Dec 17, 2008)

Haytch said:


> For sure. I wouldnt even get the 650w. I think its vital one has a strong heart in his/her pc.
> I think you should be aiming for an 850w+ with correct amp per rail, efficiency, stability and phase. These PSU's tend to be a little more expensive but i dont believe you can overkill the PSU


You do not need 850+ watts for a 4850, this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, and you do not even need 850+ watts for crossfire 4870 X2.  
You made up the value of 850+ watts from the top of your head!

Edit:  Listen to EnglishLion, the frame rate will not increase, but a bad power supply can be dangerous.


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## amit_talkin (Dec 17, 2008)

thnx for ur comments, the 650W PSU I have ordered is Antec NeoPower Blue. had read some reviews before ordering it..never read full review though, only read conclusion and found it good so ordered it .

p.s. I got silent data corruption and bad sectors on all of my HDDs..I m sure this is due to my PSU. I m gonna replace this soon.


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## Asylum (Dec 17, 2008)

That antec 650 should treat you well!!


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## kysg (Dec 17, 2008)

yea the antec should do ya just fine.  heck the minimum to run a 4850 is a 450w PSU no joke says so right on the friggin box.  550w minimum for crossfire.

whoever says you will see an FPS increase from a psu I need to have to what he's smokin.


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## HolyCow02 (Dec 17, 2008)

kysg said:


> yea the antec should do ya just fine.  heck the minimum to run a 4850 is a 450w PSU no joke says so right on the friggin box.  550w minimum for crossfire.
> 
> whoever says you will see an FPS increase from a psu I need to have to what he's smokin.



betcha it's really good stuff. If you get some... ill buy some from ya 

The 650w you bought is good, and you will be set for a good time.


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## EnglishLion (Dec 17, 2008)

kysg said:


> heck the minimum to run a 4850 is a 450w PSU no joke says so right on the friggin box.  550w minimum for crossfire.



The specs on the box allow for huge amounts of give.  After all they don't know what the rest of your system requires (type of CPU, no of HDD etc) and they don't know the quality of your PSU - some don't produce quite what they headline!

So when they write the spec they err well on the side of caution.


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## kysg (Dec 17, 2008)

EnglishLion said:


> The specs on the box allow for huge amounts of give.  After all they don't know what the rest of your system requires (type of CPU, no of HDD etc) and they don't know the quality of your PSU - some don't produce quite what they headline!
> 
> So when they write the spec they err well on the side of caution.



this is true but seriously most of the populous does only contain 1 hdd and at best 2 for raid.

Also in the case of person who does have a 140w cpu you already damn well know they would get a higher grade psu than a 450w. pardon my lingo there.

it's more a general consensus or like a bottom line like if your completely screwed and you needed the minimum amount psu to get it going.

but still a lot of it is research though, if you don't do any R&D then your only digging yourself a hole.  It's not Powercolor's or Sapphire's job to go out and figure out exactly what PSU's work with that card or not.  Sorry if this sounds harsh.

and yes there is probably going to be the 1 dude who buys a 450w and screws his system up because it wasn't quite up to snuff.  You just RMA it back, not much else to that.


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## lemonadesoda (Dec 17, 2008)

> Can a lower power supply cause FPS/performance drop?


Yes. If you are running a game, and unplug your PSU, you will notice FPS drop to, approximately, zero.

From your system specs, 400W is too low for your set up. If it was running, then great, but you are really pushing it and could suffer instability and possible HDD shut on write (not good).

BUT, as others pointed out, it really shouldnt effect FPS in any way. It will work, or it will fail.

Your 650W should do you fine.


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## Damian^ (Dec 17, 2008)

If you count jitters , constant freezing, and even crashes as a drop in FPS, then yes


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