psu wattage enough?

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wrags

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May 16, 2013
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i'm building a new machine and i put in all the information on this calculator (http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp), to which it said that i only require 308ish watts for the entire pc.

the graphics card is an hd 7870

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202025

on the specifications tab it says: "minimum 500 watts required"

is that just a sales ploy or is there some truth to it?
 
Solution
nukemaster
As long as you are not running a extra power hungry system(150 watt cpu + overclocking ect), you should be ok(using an adapter if needed. Going higher end will avoid that need) with that power supply. A 6+2 pin should have as much power as 2 x 6 pins(150 watts), making it kind of a toss up. It has the power.

That is a more value designed power supply, so a case with the power supply on the bottom is also better to keep the heat the power supply has to suck in down.
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nukemaster

nukemaster

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Nov 23, 2004
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The minimum 500 assumes fully loaded system and leaves some room for some of the lower quality units on the market.

What is the power supply you have and what is the hardware you plan to run? a quality 400 watt unit would be recommended for most users.

As an example, an AMD 5770 requires a 450 watt power supply and a GTX 650 ti requires 400 as per the specs. I have run both(one at a time) on my media center with its 300 watt power supply(and this is long term not just testing). That system is a light weight[under volted i5 750 + notebook hard drive, SSD and notebook DVD drive. used to have 2 3.5inch drives in it at one point] so it never even comes close to maxing out the power supply(under 140 watts at the wall for most games and an idle under 40 watts[as low as 23]).

This all depends on what else is in the system and the quality of the power supply in question.
 
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nukemaster

nukemaster

Titan
Nov 23, 2004
19,626
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74,965
As long as you are not running a extra power hungry system(150 watt cpu + overclocking ect), you should be ok(using an adapter if needed. Going higher end will avoid that need) with that power supply. A 6+2 pin should have as much power as 2 x 6 pins(150 watts), making it kind of a toss up. It has the power.

That is a more value designed power supply, so a case with the power supply on the bottom is also better to keep the heat the power supply has to suck in down.
 
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Solution
4745454b

4745454b

Titan
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Apr 29, 2006
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Maybe, but I don't like adapters. More so, if you are going to buy a PSU, I consider it bad form to buy one that right off the bat is going to need an adapter. Better off buying a PSU that will do what you need. I could see using an adapter if you already had the PSU and were upgrading to a 7870. But if you are going to buy a PSU, I'd buy one that natively has the plugs you'd need.
 
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