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upgrading from gt 545 to gtx 750 ti

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  • Gtx
  • Power Supplies
  • Nvidia
  • Graphics Cards
  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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April 22, 2014 5:15:07 PM

Hello all,

I am considering upgrading my old gt 545 (I know its not a great card) to a gtx 750 ti. I am not interested in upgrading my power supply (currently a 300w psu), rather I want to get a better experience than I am getting now the gt 545. I know that the gt 545 pulls 70w, and the gtx 750ti pulls 60, but the specs say that it needs 20 amps on the +12v rail. I am currently only getting 18 amps but I am pulling 70w on my current card. Will I be able to run the gtx 750 ti considering that it pulls 10 less wats but calls for 2 more amps on the +12v rail? Thanks for you help in advance.

More about : upgrading 545 gtx 750

a b ) Power supply
a b Î Nvidia
a b U Graphics card
April 22, 2014 5:21:02 PM

NO you need at least a 430 W psu to run that card and the rest of the system.

Simple as this, If you re looking to get a better GPU with out Upgrading the PSU you need to find a card that does not need a 6 pin PCI-e power connector.

If you are honestly looking to upgrade to a powerful GPU you need to upgrade the PSU.
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April 22, 2014 5:25:13 PM

bgunner said:
NO you need at least a 430 W psu to run that card and the rest of the system.

Simple as this, If you re looking to get a better GPU with out Upgrading the PSU you need to find a card that does not need a 6 pin PCI-e power connector.

If you are honestly looking to upgrade to a powerful GPU you need to upgrade the PSU.


This card does not have an auxillary power connector. it is run completely off of the PCI-e slot. it uses only 60w. my current card uses 70w. I don't know where you came up with the 430w psu figure from. I am just curious why my current card uses more watts than the newer one, but calls for more amps.
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a b ) Power supply
a b U Graphics card
April 22, 2014 5:21:17 PM

With the amperage being lower than what you need to supply, when the GPU is stressed to close max it will blue screen the computer
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a b ) Power supply
a b Î Nvidia
a b U Graphics card
April 22, 2014 5:35:56 PM

rollis420 said:
bgunner said:
NO you need at least a 430 W psu to run that card and the rest of the system.

Simple as this, If you re looking to get a better GPU with out Upgrading the PSU you need to find a card that does not need a 6 pin PCI-e power connector.

If you are honestly looking to upgrade to a powerful GPU you need to upgrade the PSU.


This card does not have an auxillary power connector. it is run completely off of the PCI-e slot. it uses only 60w. my current card uses 70w. I don't know where you came up with the 430w psu figure from. I am just curious why my current card uses more watts than the newer one, but calls for more amps.


At the same time IF you know so much about the card why ask? really? all GTX 450,550,650 series cards need the 6 pin pin power connector the 750 and the 750 ti series is the the first to not need it. So in this aspect I was correct and now you have answered your own question! waste someone else's time! not mine...

amperage on the 12 V rail is what matters more than the wattage of the PSU. If you are lacking on the amperage don't get that card. simple, clear cut, obvious solution. Not enough power, NO BUY.
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April 22, 2014 6:03:36 PM

OK, thanks for your time. I wasn't trying to waste anyone's time. I came here for advice, and if you see that as wasting your time, then I am sorry for doing such. Not everyone out here in cyberworld has the same amount of knowledge as you or others. I thought that is why they made forums. Again, if I offended you, then I am sorry. I was honestly just confused about the difference in the watts versus the amps. I guess I shouldn't ask anymore questions of you and your precious time. If anyone else has some input, I would love to hear it...as long as it isn't wasting your time that is
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a b ) Power supply
a b Î Nvidia
a b U Graphics card
April 22, 2014 7:01:20 PM

Point being if your amperage is under the recommended don't get that card or there will be issues like firo40 mentioned. Watts do coincide with Amps but like I mentioned the amps on your PSU are way to low. To replace the PSU your best bet is the 430 watt PSU as it is cheap with enough amperage and there are some very good quality PSU's.

sorry you seem to think I was attacking you but when you are told the best route to go and throw it back in someones face that has been in your position years ago, you should expect an irritated response. I started off buying store bought PC's till I came to forums and learned to ask the proper questions that I needed to learn how to judge parts (changes from person to person). This will come with time and experimenting and failure.


EDIT: as a reminder of where I started I keep my old board and CPU on my wall as a ground point. This is to remind me that I was once a noob to PC tech.
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April 22, 2014 7:34:06 PM

bgunner said:
Point being if your amperage is under the recommended don't get that card or there will be issues like firo40 mentioned. Watts do coincide with Amps but like I mentioned the amps on your PSU are way to low. To replace the PSU your best bet is the 430 watt PSU as it is cheap with enough amperage and there are some very good quality PSU's.

sorry you seem to think I was attacking you but when you are told the best route to go and throw it back in someones face that has been in your position years ago, you should expect an irritated response. I started off buying store bought PC's till I came to forums and learned to ask the proper questions that I needed to learn how to judge parts (changes from person to person). This will come with time and experimenting and failure.


EDIT: as a reminder of where I started I keep my old board and CPU on my wall as a ground point. This is to remind me that I was once a noob to PC tech.


I appreciate your help and expertise on this matter. The money is the issue with replacing the video card and not the psu and video card together. I can only afford one of them at the moment. Looks like I will have to wait until I have enough for both the psu and the gtx750 ti since I am strapped a little at the moment for extra cash (I have newborn twins that are 3 months old...they seem to be a drain on the wallet). Since you seem to have a solid grasp on the subject, could you recommend any specific psu s for a tight budget? Or could you recommend the best video card that I could get with a 300w psu and 18amps +12v rail?
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a b ) Power supply
a b Î Nvidia
a b U Graphics card
April 23, 2014 8:18:27 AM

OK when looking for a PSU there are a few things you need to look at. AMPS on the 12v rail, Build quality, Energy rating and Wattage rating.

Lets start with wattage rating of the PSU. When using dedicated GPU's they have a minimum wattage rating, as you already know, but this number is a recommendation for the hole system and not just the GPU. The GPU manufacture sets this level to help guide us so we don't buy the wrong parts for our system. One thing they do not tell you on there official page is the amperage the card will need on the 12v rail. This makes it hard for us to judge if a low quality PSU will run a new release card. After web sites get there review cards they do the tests for how many amps the card uses.

Amps on the 12v rail is one of the most important parts to watch for when purchasing a new PSU. here is a little reading to help clarify the differences in amps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampere, watts, volts and ohms. http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/q... If your amps are to low there will not be enough current flowing through the system to power all the parts that need to run causing many issues and could be hard to track down for a novice PC builder.

The Energy efficiency rating is a rating on how much energy is lost in the conversion from A/C current to D/C current. A PSU is just a big power converter. Any time you convert electricity to a different format a/c to d/c or d/c to a/c there is a loss of electricity while this happens. They use the Energy rating to let us know how efficient the PSU is in the conversion process. The better it is the more money we save on the electrical bill every month. A few extra bucks for a PSU can be paid back in about 2 years depending on the amount extra paid and how much it is run.

Build quality is a major factor in how the PSU performs and how long it is expected to last. A PSU can be used in multiple systems so purchasing a good one to start with is essential. You can even look at it like the human body, it is the heart of the system, without a good heart your not going to run very long before having issues. What is the difference between a cheaply built PSU and a quality one? The main difference it the quality of the parts that are inserted. Cheap capacitors, cheap chokes and poor voltage regulation will lead to an early death of the PSU and sometime other parts. one of the main things that burn out in a PSU is the capacitors. Cheap caps will burn/blow out a lot quicker than those of a higher quality.

Here is a list of some brands that have good build quality ( there are others but this is just off the top of my head.)
XFX
Seasonic
Corsair
Gold and Platinum rated Rosewill
Antec

look in to these brands and do some studying (when the kids allow) so you can make the best informed decision possible.

How to know how many amps on the 12v rail? On the side of power supply's there is a label that will give this information. It will tell you how many rails there are if more than one, how many amps are on each different voltage supply and how many watts for each also. Make sure you research the PSU your interested in to make sure the values are what you need and not lower. Once you make your decision you can come back here and ask peoples opinions to help keep you from making a mistake.
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April 23, 2014 9:46:21 AM

I must Thank you greatly for taking the time to explain this all to me. ... especially after our rough start to the conversation. I'm glad that I came to these forums and came across you and your knowledge base. After reading what you have said, now I'm thinking about the future of my pc. I like what you said about the psu being the heart . If this is going to be something I can transfer from system to system (hopefully), how strong of a psu should I be looking at. I will probably only be using one hard drive, one disk drive (blu ray), sound card, and only one video card. I'm not a hard core gamer (not enough time any more) but I am a gamer for life. I don't need the most powerful card. I just want to be able to play modern games at 1080 and keep up with a decent frame rate. Thanks again
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Best solution

a b ) Power supply
a b Î Nvidia
a b U Graphics card
April 23, 2014 3:35:06 PM

Right now even for the most demanding single GPU card, the recommended wattage is 650. Many of the newer CPU's are very energy efficient so the need for a higher wattage PSU has dwindled. I have an 850 watt psu because I plan on getting another GPU in the future to run crossfire which is much more power demanding then 1 GPU.

In most cases a 500 to 550 watt PSU is more then sufficient. This would give you the ability to get the most powerful CPU, multiple HDD's, a higher end GPU and optical drives. not to mention case fans and lighting if you wish.

If your plans are much more moderate then a 430 - 450 watt PSU will suffice. you can still have the most powerful CPU, HDD's, optical drives and case fans BUT the GPU you will be limited to a entry range GPU.

In my case I spent the extra money on my PSU because it had the things I wanted, great build quality, the right wattage and amperage with a 7 year warranty.
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April 23, 2014 5:18:52 PM

After all of this great information I think I have decided to get a550w psu and to wait for the video card. I will hit the forums up when I have narrowed down my choices to help me get the right one. I would rather have more power than not enough down the road. The same with the video card choice. I can't thank you enough for your help on the matter. Hopefully you catch my post when I ask about the psu in the near future. Hopefully my noob days are numbered. I have a feeling that with the help from this site that they are. Have a good one
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