The system I'm putting this in has a 300w power supply. I have no idea if it's "good" or not, the brand on it is "Microstar". As for amps, it has different ratings depending on the voltage. Here's the table on the side of it, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me:
| Volts | +3.3v | +5v | +12v | 12v |
Amps
Peak Amps | 16A
18A | 25A
27A | 14A
16A | 0.5A
0.5A |
If I decide to test the 5970 using this power supply, how can I tell if it's not supplying enough power? Will the PS and/or GPU get hotter than normal? Can I risk damaging the GPU by using this power supply?
WHAT ?
Your OLD 300w PSU can merely provide 160w of 12v (if lucky).
Very few 300W PSU are good, in the sense that they allow 300w on the 12v. Go for 400w and 500w if you want effciency.