will this sparkle PSU run a 5870?

It's an FSP OEM unit, which is ok but not great. It will probably work, but I don't know about long-term stability.

that psu will work just fine. The 12 volt rail is good, take 50 watts from max since it is a bad psu, so you have 500 watts at 36amps. Question is how old is it? And how much abuse did it have?

As above sad, longevity is going to be an issue especially 63% efficiency(efficiency is not going to mean a good or bad psu, just lower generally means lower quality parts).

36A?

I wouldnt.

It will probably be OK.

I'm running a 5850 on a 500w seasonic, and the PSU doesn't even get lukewarm at load.

edit: I just looked at a 5870 review, and total system power draw at load with a 3.2Ghz i7 and 5870 was 352w.

You should be just fine. This PSU overkill thing of the last couple years is absolutely ridiculous.

In fact, it's actually detrimental. PSU's usually hit peak efficiency at 60-70% load, and if you buy too big of a PSU and underload it, you are actually wasting power.

No, but the 5870 does use 200W under load. And the rest of his system will take up a good 100-200W as well. That's going to be pushing it for this PSU, especially if it's more than a couple years old.

SeaSonic has a higher build quality than FSP. FSP's low wattage units are pretty good, but their higher wattage models just can't compete.

It's a seasonic...

However, OP. You are currently running a GPU that uses close to as much power as a stock HD5870, so I would say yes.

Sparkle =/= FSP

Sparkle = Sparkle

Which from what I hear, is a SUPERB brand of PSU, although not very well known in the USA. I think that Fortron and Sparkle are related, but Sparkle is to Fortron as PCP&C is to OCZ.

edit: after further reading I'm not completely sure, but from what I remember reading in the past Sparkle PSU's are not always direct FSP rebrands.

Either way, FSP's are pretty decent themselves, although not amazing.

I don't want to turn this into a huge discussion, but you do realize that most PSU companies don't make their own PSUs? They have an OEM company make it for them. For instance, Ultra uses Andyson PSUs, Corsair uses SeaSonic and CWT PSUs, and apparently Sparkle uses FSP.

Of course not. But the OEM determines the build quality usually. Take a Corsair design and give it to both SeaSonic and Huntkey, which PSU is going to be better? Almost certainly the SeaSonic.

I really don't know much about this unit in particular, and that makes me cautious. If it's using cheap Chinese caps then odds are it's quite derated already. The efficiency looks pretty low (63%), which says to me that it is using low quality caps and other components. And in that case I would be very worried about it not being able to power a 5870 and the rest of the system over the long term. It does claim OVP, OCP, and SCP which are the most important protections imo, so it probably won't fry his system if it dies. Still, I wouldn't risk it in his shoes.

Data:
http://www.fspgroup.com/Catalog_PDF%...P550-60PLG.pdf

Under load there isn't much difference between a GTX260 and a 5870 in terms of power consumption. Should be ok.

Most of the PSUs that are raved about on this site are expensive and can survive in the Swamps of Louisiana. Truth is, most medium end PSUs do just as well as the better builts in a normal environment. Treat your PSU right, and it will last, usually no matter what the brand is.

Shhhhh.............Don't let the PSU snobs hear you, they will run you off the forum on a rail (12v with atleast 22A).