Power Supply effects on performance

zenx

Honorable
Feb 22, 2013
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Hey guys! Could use some opinions on the following matter:

I have a gaming-ish pc I built myself some time ago and upgraded a few components since, here are the specs:
MB: Gigabyte z77m d3h
CPU: i5 3470 (stock speed: 3.2 ghz) running at 3.8 Ghz (thermaltake nic c4)
16 gigs of CL9 corsair ram
1x intel ssd 120gb / 1x wd blue 1TB
thermaltake litepower 600w PSU
and I used to have a gigabyte gtx 660 but I recently upgraded that to an Asus strix gtx 970 OC

So the bit that is troubling me is that I play at standard 1080p resolutions (no 4k stuff) and even if I for example don't go for ultra textures just simple High settings and turn on any form of hardware AA like nvidia's TXAA (which should be fairly 'easy' for this card) I get really low fps values and I'm not really getting the performance I expected from this card overall. (based on nvidia charts for example)
What's also strange is that every time there is a loading screen and the gpu is preparing to render at the very end of the loading period I hear my cpu fan dropping kinda much in speeds.

Made some bottleneck testing and it's actually the GPU that's bottlenecking.

Also made some peak power usage calculations and my system is rated around ~500w (on full load, overclocking included, 20% PSU aging considered) with the standard nvidia card (that's what I assume the calculator had) - Now this is an Asus OC version so normally it should consume more.

Down to the questions:
Is it possible that my card isn't getting enough power (from what I've seen it actually runs on its boost clock when under load, but still.. the fan speed dropping thing is kinda disturbing)
There is also the matter of psu amperage, could this particular psu give enough juice for the whole system.. specifically on the 12v rail?
Could there be a significant performance change resulting from a PSU upgrade? was thinking of maybe a 750w corsair or something..

So yea I could use some opinions before I start spending money on a new PSU...
Any thoughts appreciated!
Cheers
 
Solution
While it is possible the card is not getting enough power, this is usually seen in more of an instability issue with random reboots than what you describe.

You can certainly try a 750 W PSU, just don't be shocked if the issues remain.
While it is possible the card is not getting enough power, this is usually seen in more of an instability issue with random reboots than what you describe.

You can certainly try a 750 W PSU, just don't be shocked if the issues remain.
 
Solution

zenx

Honorable
Feb 22, 2013
171
0
10,760
I thought the same.. or at least that it wouldn't be able to run on boost clock speeds and would throttle itself due to lack of power or something. but I'm having no instability issues whatsoever.
Yea a better power supply wouldn't hurt even if not for the extra wattage but for quality. Just wanted to see some opinions before I go out spending money on stuff :) Thanks