How much wattage is enough?

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03jac

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Jan 15, 2014
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I've just received my GTX 760 today, and on the box it says that the system requirements require a PSU with a minimum of 500W.
Having calculated my power requirement before buying my pc parts, and everything totaling about 330W, am I still fine to use my PSU of 460W?
 
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Rammy
Neither of the replies above is terribly helpful or accurate.

Manufacturers inflate their recommended requirements to cover themselves against the huge variations amongst power supplies. The card itself has a tdp of 170W so in most systems you are likely to draw more than 350W for your entire system.

This would imply that any 400W+ PSU would do the job, however the rated wattage will be spread across multiple voltages. 12V is the only real concern, and any good quality PSU is likely to deliver 90%+ of its wattage at 12V, though a poor quality/antiquated PSU might only provide 50%.

Whether or not your 460W PSU is sufficient depends both on your other components, and what model of PSU it is. Additionally, most sub-500W PSUs tend to...
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Stu 95

Stu 95

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Nov 27, 2013
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I usually recommend having a PSU that is a bit over what they recommend but if that does not suit you financially then you might be able to get it to perform well enough on 460W.
 
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Rammy

Rammy

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Sep 3, 2012
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Neither of the replies above is terribly helpful or accurate.

Manufacturers inflate their recommended requirements to cover themselves against the huge variations amongst power supplies. The card itself has a tdp of 170W so in most systems you are likely to draw more than 350W for your entire system.

This would imply that any 400W+ PSU would do the job, however the rated wattage will be spread across multiple voltages. 12V is the only real concern, and any good quality PSU is likely to deliver 90%+ of its wattage at 12V, though a poor quality/antiquated PSU might only provide 50%.

Whether or not your 460W PSU is sufficient depends both on your other components, and what model of PSU it is. Additionally, most sub-500W PSUs tend to come with a single 6 pin PCIe power cable, the GTX760 requires two of these. It is possible to use molex adaptors to make up the shortfall, but it's a poor solution.
 
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