Upgrading graphics card; quick PSU question

[zfoell]

I have an old Lenovo desktop that runs games alright, and I'm not looking to go in on a full-blown rig yet.

I have an Nvidia GeForce GT 730, and a 280W PSU.

I am getting an Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti, and all of its spec sheets say it is designed to operate on a 300W PSU (btw my desktop's spec sheet said the highest-end model came with a GTX 750 Ti with the same PSU, I'd imagine)

I'm wondering if my 280W PSU will allow the GTX 750 Ti to run... What will happen? Will it even run? Frequent crashes? Lessened FPS? I am literally brand new to this so please excuse any areas of my ignorance. Thanks!

 

[Oussebon]

Welcome to the forum

What is the exact make and model of your Lenovo, and the full spec?

What what is the exact model of your 750 ti?

The PSU recommendation for GPUs usually massively overestimates the power needed to run a system with it in. So I wouldn't worry about the 300W figure.

It's likely there's the headroom in your system for it but it would help to know the above to be more specific.

The 750 ti will takes its power through your motherboard's PCIe slot, and doesn't use PCIe power connectors from the PSU. Unless it's a specific model of 750 ti that does have a 6-pin power connector, in which case you'll need the PSU to provide one of those.

Obviously you'd need to make sure the card fits in your chassis e.g. if it needs to be low profile, as well as depth/ clearance.

And I'd also check - if possible - that the PCIe slot will deliver enough power; some OEM PCs won't, at least if other PCIe cards are installed.

Frequent crashes would probably be the best case scenario if there wasn't enough power for it. So we want to avoid that.

It's likely to be fine and that your system has the power for it, but easier to say for sure with specifics!