PSU advice for a slowly evolving PC?

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Kogu

Kogu

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Aug 13, 2013
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I built a budget PC 3 years ago to get into PC gaming with my friends and I've been slowly adding new components but haven't updated anything especially taxing thus far, and now I'd like to but am unsure of how I want to go about it.

I'm looking at upgrading the GPU from a GTX 460 to a 770, 670, etc etc (that's not really the part I'm asking about here), and would potentially like to sell my 460 at some point in the future to cover costs and in the meantime use it in SLI, or as a PhysX card.

I have a budget, and I'm debating whether it would be worth it (if necessary) to upgrade my PSU for SLI potential as I don't believe the one I'm using currently would cut it. Just my gut feeling as it was a much more strict budget at the time but that's why I'm here to ask people who are more experienced.

This is the PSU I've had for a little under 2 years:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152035

It suited my budget at the time and hasn't caused me any power difficulties so far in OC'ing my processor and GPU (though I found little performance difference in the GPU OC so I've not done that for quite a while.. anyway..). Don't know if it could support SLI, though. I've tried reading up on multiple forums about SLI power requirements but they always refer to SLI'ing 2 high end, newer cards or at the very least 2 of the same card.. so I feel like it's a little stretched to draw a conclusion for my situation from any of that information.

TL;DR 630W PSU for SLI with an older GPU + newer gen card?

Thanks in advance for any information!
 
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bigcyco1
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Christiaan Lourens

Christiaan Lourens

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Aug 1, 2013
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Corsair TX750 as rounakr said would be best for a budget, however until SLI is really needed save up your money. Some stores/ online and in real life have discounts either when buying a pc as a whole, going over a certain price or they are just on sale. I would recommend buying then so if you buy from amazon or whatever set some items on your wishlist and buy them when they are on sale.

Keep in mind there are rumours (that might be 90% likely to happen) that the price of RAM & storage (especially SSD's) are likely to escalate in October.

So if you are in need of more RAM I would suggest getting that as well just for a slight save in money.

Some things to keep in mind:

The motherboard needs to be compatible with your CPU, GPU. Make sure about this as upgrading can sometimes lead to the fact that you buy the VGA only to find it won't fit on your motherboard.

RAM should be 8GB of DDR3 1600Mhz
CPU any of the following: i3, i5 3470 and up, i7 if you somehow get a bonus ;) or if you are an AMD kind of guy FX 4300, 6300, 8120 if you win the lottery (just kidding AMD is quite cheaper than Intel so for a budget system I would recommend them)

PC gaming is really very simple, I will give you the most important tip: all you really need to upgrade after the PSU is your GPU and if you do it this year, chances are you don't have to for 3-5 years depending on how badly you want to play on high,ultra by then since you should still be able to get away with medium - high. and by that time a little GPU upgrade shouldn't hurt. However if you plan on going SLI I see no need to upgrade that soon.

Good luck mate
 
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Kogu

Kogu

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Aug 13, 2013
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So regardless of upgrading the GPU the recommendation is to replace it? Besides having the brand listed in T5, what goes wrong with this one in partciular? Actually part of the reason I ordered it was based on the massive positive feedback on Newegg.

Is it capable of supporting SLI? If so I wouldn't be opposed to seeing if it would actually work unless there was some reason I'm not aware of to not do so. If it doesn't work, then I could try and replace it. I guess I'm just skeptical of "how bad" it is based on how problem-free it's been is all.. Like I said I definitely was budgeted but I calculated the wattage I expected to need and overshot it by a fair amount for sake of future proofing, but never considered SLI requirements at the time.

Also, a bit of a side-question, is the power consumption used by GPU's increasing as the generations get later? Meaning does a 760 require substantially more power than a 460?
 
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bigcyco1

bigcyco1

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Feb 11, 2012
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Tier 5 power supplies are NOT RECOMMENDED. If you have one, you should strongly consider replacing it ASAP. These can damage your computer, and often cannot put out the power that they're rated for. GeForce GTX 460

On your average system the card requires you to have a 450 to 500 Watt power supply unit. GeForce GTX 760 - On your average system the card requires you to have a 550 Watt power supply unit.

 
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Kogu

Kogu

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Aug 13, 2013
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Also, and sorry this is on my phone so I'll be a bit brief. You recommended a higher watt PSU, would a Corsair TX 650 cut it for my PC? I got a good offer on one and that's a highly rated brand based on the thread you provided.
Thanks for your insight so far, btw!
 
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bigcyco1

bigcyco1

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Feb 11, 2012
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That's a decent power supply go for it.
;)

 
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