Is a bigger/newer/better power supply needed?

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cpmackenzi

cpmackenzi

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I used my old tower with 450W power supply to house my new computer core: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/cpmackenzi/saved/M6sMnQ

Part Picker doesn't have my tower on there, but it can be found at Tiger Direct: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3250925

Looking at Part Picker's estimated wattage, I'm at 245W. Do I really need a new PSU with more wattage? I was going to get this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438025 My old PSU only has two of the newer power supply connectors for SATA components, meaning that I don't have my DVD burner hooked up, but I haven't used it in a long time (except to install Windows on my new PC, so I left the second hard drive unplugged during the install).

Is the 80 Plus Bronze rating (plus more, newer power connectors) worth the upgrade to my PSU?
 
Solution
JackNaylorPE
From the link above..... this is physically measured with a meter and does not include overclocking....nvidia reports the TDP at 145 watts for the 970 but several sites testing were around 170 before overclocking. A 300 watt PSU will drop it's performance after about a year of gaming by as much as 90 watts.

Measured power consumption GTX 750 Ti card

System in IDLE = 120 W
System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 202W
Difference (GPU load) = 82W
Add average IDLE wattage ~10W
Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~92 Watts
Click to expand...

Sample low power inexpensive PSU

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=204
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JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE

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capt_taco

capt_taco

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According to that link, the manufacturer only says 300W. That card has pretty low power consumption. I'd be more concerned about whether that old 450W power supply is trustworthy or a junk brand.

That aside, I'd strongly recommend a more powerful video card; that one is several tiers down from the top:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

Right now Newegg has a sale on the HIS-branded R9 280 for only about $30 more than the card you've picked. Trust me, it will be worth the extra money: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161456

There you probably would need a bigger power supply; they say 750W to cover their butts, but really 600W should be more than enough, as long as it has the requisite power connectors.


 
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cpmackenzi

cpmackenzi

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I'm on a limited budget, and I just recently bought that vid card. I know, I'm working on the low end of the tech curve, but given that my previous card was a Radeon HD 5570, this was a big upgrade for me. I will bookmark it, but I can't really afford to simply buy another one a month or so after getting my current vid card. That being said, I'll go ahead with the 750W PSU for future upgrading options.
 
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JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE

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That's why I went in that direction, that old 450 I'd be willing to bet can not deliver 450 .... or even 300. These low end units the manufacturers tend to add up the max power on individual rails to get what they stick on the label. But you can't put max power on all rails at the same time so the max rating iis substantially less..... yesterday someone asked about IIRC a Sentey 600 watter to which he provided an amazon link ..... it maxed out at 380 watts. You also have to figure in capacitor againg which in the low budget market can exceed 30% or more over time. Even a quality 700 watter might be down to 630 after a year.

At the 300 watt - 450 watt level, it's pretty a choice between high quality / high price units and junk. And since the price premium for something in the 500+ watt range is usually very small, I never recommend anything below 520 watts

 
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JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE

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From the link above..... this is physically measured with a meter and does not include overclocking....nvidia reports the TDP at 145 watts for the 970 but several sites testing were around 170 before overclocking. A 300 watt PSU will drop it's performance after about a year of gaming by as much as 90 watts.

Measured power consumption GTX 750 Ti card

System in IDLE = 120 W
System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 202W
Difference (GPU load) = 82W
Add average IDLE wattage ~10W
Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~92 Watts
Click to expand...

Sample low power inexpensive PSU

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=204
 
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