Wanting to upgrade to 660 gtx, but PSU 400w...

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Math Geek

Math Geek

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you should be ok if you have the 6 pin connector on your power supply for the card. however, that card is a little expensive for what it brings. i have an r9-270 running on a 375 watt psu no problems and they are pretty cheap right now. 2 or 3 models for 120-130 after rebates still on newegg and most less than that 660 even after the rebate.
 
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Math Geek

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the card maker ALWAYS overstates the power needs. right above that total power line it says the card uses a max of 140 watts. thee is no way the rest of his system uses 300+ watts to need 450 total. even a power hungry cpu is only another 125 watts which the i5-3450 is not as power hungry.

you've got the right idea to look at specs but you're looking at the wrong one in this case. to be even more specific the 140 watts is less than 12 amps on the 12 v rail which even a cheap 400 watt oem psu can cover.

to be sure the right question to ask here is what model is the psu (or look at the label on it) and see what is the amps available on the 12 v rail.
 
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aleksiu

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I'll look into that tomorrow....What are some decent alternatives to 660 gtx that aren't as power hungry?
 
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Math Geek

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the card is not that power hungry really. it's just that the manufacturers will overstate total power needs to be safe. the specs will say "600 watt psu recommended" when 450 watts will easily be enough for the system. remeber they do not know what else is in the machine so they pad the needs some so that most any system will will work with the power they state.

think about it if they went the other way and said 350 watts is plenty and someone has a system with a super overclocked water cooled pc with 6 hdd's 14 case fans and anything else they can cram into the case. that person will need more psu power to run all that other stuff and the 350 quoted is not enough and they decide to sue the maker for blowing up the system. therefore, to be safe they will say a lot more is needed to cover themselves.

what your looking at is what can you afford for your budget. the psu will run about the same no matter what card you pick ($50-60 for 550 watts which is plenty for most cards and some) so the rest of your budget tells you what you can get. the newer cards use less power than older ones while giving more performance. the gtx 970 is the sweet spot right now at around $350 which gives huge performance and uses a lot less power than you would think (needs 2 x 6 pin connector)



 
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aleksiu

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Thanks for the answer. I'm just looking for a decent card until i build a brand new in next year, probably in June or so, and the 660 GTX looked good for what it offers in terms of running the newer games in 1080p way much easier than 550 ti.

 
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azzazel_99

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I wouldnt waste the money going from the 550ti to the standard 660. Its a waste of money. Either get the gtx970 or the gtx 760. Going from one generation of gpu directly to the next NEVER yields ANY gains for the upgrade. MAYBE if you were going to a 680 it would be viable but going from the lower end of one gen to the lower end of another is wasting money man. Go to a 700 series card or newer 900.
 
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Tom Tancredi

Tom Tancredi

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While I agree with it being a waste of money especially in the current marketspace, I think your wrong about "NEVER yields ANY gains for the upgrade".

The op is running a 550TI, the x50 lines (750, 650, whatever) are all general USE low end cards in that series, where as the x60, x70 and x80 are incrementally stronger GAMING cards, specifically made for performance for complex tasks. That the OP is going from older generation 550 to a next generation 660 is a big performance leap the OP can easily see a 'difference'. BUT... as the op has a 550ti, the TI was made to increase the performance of the x50 lines to 'game' on the very low cheap, so the difference between a 550TI and a 660 while measurable (say 10FPS more) won't be a phenominal gain.

OP: Depending on what games your playing, what settings your using (Ultra, High, low, etc.) and what display setting your using (1024x768 to 1080p) determines ALOT on how you PERCEIVE a upgrade, other then seeing more FPS (stuttering, long loads, still getting crashes, etc. also come into your perception). Honestly I think the 660 is a waste too, because it can NOT play current titles (aka 2013 forward titles) that demand alot more.

If you WANT to know what a game is BEST played with, go to www.canirunit.com , use the drop down and have it scan your system. Then you will get a MINIMUM results (FORGET THAT!) then a RECOMMENDED (this is ONLY what you should pay attention to), that will tell you what is needed for THAT GAME. You do this for all the titles your interested and you will get the idea what GPU range you need to invest in AND you will see what SETTINGS are also recommended to "see it like I did on youtube" (which seems to be the common 'standard').
 
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Math Geek

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Take a look at your power supply and see what pcie power connectors are there and while your there look at the label and see what kind of 12 v amps it has. With this we can recommend a card that will run now. I'm sure you can run an r9-270 as is but just want to be sure you have the connector. Its possible you have 2 x6pin connectors and can squeeze in a 270x model for a slight boost over the 270. But need the info from the PSU to be sure.
 
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aleksiu

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Hey.

I checked the amps really quickly, but being newbie at PSUs so...

+12v1 to 16a
+12v to 17a
-12v to 0.3a

The PSU itself seems pretty rare to find on internet, but it was DELTA ELECTRONICS GPS-400BB 400w with PCI-E 6 pin, 20+4 pin, 24 pin and SATA with some translation from a polish site...

To everyone else who's saying i should get 970, it's not possible for me right now as a student, but after June... probably. I just need a GPU that could run on my system and run better at 1080p than 550, since 550 has a lot of problems handling higher resolution settings in games (1920x1080).

 
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