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Power Supply Vs GPU: Upgrade Now or Later?

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  • GPUs
  • Power Supplies
  • Video Editing
Last response: in Components
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September 23, 2014 8:45:25 AM

I am getting a custom gaming / video editing pc for myself. I am buying a gpu that is 4 way crossfire compatible and may use that in the future. Anyways, i was wondering if it makes sense to buy a cheaper powersupply that i need to replace in the future, or a good one now that wont need to be replaced...

More about : power supply gpu upgrade

September 23, 2014 8:57:30 AM

Depends how far into the future you think you'll need it. PSUs don't live forever and I've read that it's worth considering a new PSU after 4 or 5 years - especially if around that time you'll be doing multi SLI configuation.

If you think you'll start utilizing it within 1-2 years, get it now. If you're thinking after 2 years then it may be best to get what you need now. Just my two cents.

Always remember the diminishing returns from adding more GPUs. Rule of thumb is that it's better to have one dominate GPU as opposed to two, three, or four in SLI/Crossfire. Personally, 2 in SLI is enough for me and anything after that I'd consider selling both GPUs for something newer.
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a b ) Power supply
September 23, 2014 9:22:04 AM

1) You might want to consider NVidia. The new GTX970 cards are awesome and use far less power than current AMD cards.

2) An Intel setup with 2xGTX980 uses at most about 500Watts so a good 750W PSU is sufficient for that. If you go 3-Way a 1000W should be plenty.

3) 4-Way Crossfire or SLI is a bad idea. You rarely see any benefit, and you can cause problems. Even Tom Peterson from NVidia said so talking to PCPer. Even 3-Way is questionable.

Summary:
My advice is go 3-Way at most and go NVidia. As said, don't "future proof" with an expensive PSU if you aren't going to use it soon especially if you're way off in your calculations and forced to get a much more expensive 1200W or something.

Personally, I'm looking at 2xGTX970 as that's where the value is. The average gaming benefit on a single GTX980 vs GTX970 is only about 14% depending on the sample of games. It's $680 for two custom GTX970 cards which is really great and the performance is so high it's hard to see getting more.

Other:
If you're thinking about "4K" gaming then think again as it's really POINTLESS. You get about HALF the frame rate as 2560x1440 but it's nearly impossible to see the difference.
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