Need advice on Wattage and choosing PSU, other component advice

Your motherboard does no support PCI-E 3.0. The GTX 970 wont be at its full potential. You will just suffer a small performance loss.

Psu:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

benchmarks have shown time and time again, that this is not true. the 970 won't see any notable change on a 2.0 x16 slot over a 3.0 slot. think about the fact that sli will only run at x8/x8 on 3.0 slots and you would not suggest that a 970 would be slowed down at 3.0 x8 speed. yet this is exactly the same speed as a 2.0 x16 slot.

PLEASE read my post and look at the links. I provide actual facts and information, not conjecture and mis-information like the posts above!

Your current PSU is more than enough. Total system power consumption UNDER LOAD for a gtx 980 is only 300W. People grossly over-estimate what they need for a single card setup. Browse 1/2 way down to see full system power usage under load (300w for 980):

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8568/the-geforce-gtx-970-review-feat-evga/15

Bottlenecking is another mis-understood term. Only overclock based on your GPU if you literally see your GPU through monitoring maxed out and your graphics card not using 100% of its capability. This RARELY happens unless a grossly underpowered processor is paired with a higher GPU.

Very informative video on the myths of "cpu bottlenecking" and the truth of what it actually takes to cause a true bottleneck:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAgpvWc4VBM

though what you post is true it is not the whole story for psu choice. overclocking and such uses more power so this has to be factored in, he did mention wanting to oc the cpu so i took that into account. and though the system may pull around 300w, it is not advisable to only get a 300w psu. generally it is suggested to stay around 80-85% of the psu's rated wattage assuming a quality psu. and of course the 12v amps is where we look since this is where the power parts pull power from. so to do the math for you, it looks like this: ~100w for the cpu + 160w or so for the gpu (970 anyway) + another ~75w for the "other" including mobo needs, oc and non reference gpu. this is about 335w on the 12v rail. not much higher than what you are posting but accounts for other than reference design and uses. so anyway this is 335/12 = about 28 amps used on the 12v rail. to stay in the 80-85% range this means the psu should have between 33 and 35 12v amps available or around 400w on the 12v rail. obviously a 300w psu won't provide 400w on any rail. 500w is about the lowest psu you will find this amount of 12v amps on. this explains why you won't find the 2 6 pin power connectors the 970 needs on a lower wattage psu, they only show at 500w+ units. the manufacturer knows it won't give the power so they don't put the connector on as a HUGE clue it should not be used for that gpu.

as i stated above, 500-550w is the sweet spot for the power needs of this system as i just proved to you as well. i chose the xfx 550w not for its wattage but for its price. looking over quality psu's at 500w+ this was the cheapest model that fit the needs. on a good sale you might find a 650 or even 750w unit just as cheap and it would be recommended for the same reason and that is price.

so what you say is true about power used but it is not the whole story. please continue to offer help but please ensure you know the whole story before stating that "I provide actual facts and information, not conjecture and mis-information like the posts above!" as i have just shown you, your post is the one with misinformation in it have a great day

edit: and i do agree about the whole bottlenecking thing. it is a word often said yet rarely understood. i think it makes folks feel smart to say it despite not having a clue what it means or when it is happening. nothing wrong with an oc of an unlocked cpu however, so oc that 6300 at will if you wish to.

I'm not trying to be a troublemaker, but the OP stated he currently has a 500W psu. I never said a 300W PSU was the answer, I only stated that 300W was the total system power use. That leaves 200W of overhead for the OP. Hard-drives use 7-10W, and overclocking uses very very small increases in power.

The ONLY time you need a PSU more than 500W is if you plan to use SLI.

it appears you were answering a question that was not asked and at the same time saying that everyone before you was spreading misinformation. what exact outcome did you expect?

in the op he states "I was planning to upgrade my PSU when I get this card." so i responded with a suggestion for a good psu that as i already explained is the right wattage range for his build. so basically, your answer was not only factually incorrect but also not even pertaining to the op's question.

your thoughts on the bottlenecking would have been a welcome addition and something i am sure the op would love to know, you should have stuck with that as power supplies are obviously not your strong suit at this time. reading numbers from a review site and interpreting them are two different things. i take great offense when someone says i am spreading misinformation and conjecture when clearly i am not. do avoid such things in the future. if you are not sure, maybe a softer touch with the reply would save you the trouble of being called to the floor.

as i showed you with the math, 200w of overhead is not really the right way to look at it. the 12v amps is what really is important. many crap psu's claim 750w yet only provide 250w or so on the 12v rail, making it pretty much useless to many builds. the other watts are tied up in the 3.3 and 5v rails which need very little power for the few things they power. so by your logic this psu would have 400w+ of overhead and be overkill even when it is not even worth turning on. few more things to consider as well but you get the idea. stated watts are not really what is important, actual delivered watts to the parts that matter is what is important.

i make mistakes and readily admit them once pointed out and even if you were right, that is not the way to go about pointing it out. i correct people all the time on this forum, especially about power supply needs/choices, and i work hard to not only correct the mistake but also to teach something to those who do not know. just something to think about.


but hey nice link to the bottlenecking video, i will probably be using that one myself to help others understand what it means.

I apologize for wording my response in a confrontational way.

I am aware of the importance of voltage and consistent power on the rails, but that is an issue rarely needed to be brought up. In the past insufficient voltages on the +12v rail were problems, but not today, unless its a cheap knock off brand (which in this case it was a 500W corsair, good brand, good model).
Most if not all modern PSU's from reputable companies have proper +12v rail power delivery, its not worth bringing up voltage with someone not versed in it.

Your current cx500 is more than enough for a single 970 mate.
No worries at all there

I would hold off on any CPU upgrade.
You've got a decent board & cooler there.
While the 6100 will limit a 970 performance wise it doesn't mean you wont see massive improvements with your GPU upgrade.
Push that 6100 to 3.8ghz or so & most CPU limits will disappear.

500 is enough with 550w giving the bit of cushion. manufacturers suggest higher than needed power since they know that many power supplies don't actually provide the power they say they will. most of the time, that same company makes crappy psu's and they know that it would take a 600w or whatever of their crap psu to run the card they sell. that is why numbers get overstated.

the numbers we have given you and show the true needs and the power supplies recommended will provide that power. as also noted, a "550w" is not as important as it saying "you need 40 12v amps" for the reasons i explained above. the xfx psu i suggested has the needed power in the right places in a quality unit for a good price. when looking at prices, often the best price is for a psu with more power than needed. so i suggest that one over a lower power unit for more money. i start at the minimum wattage and scan for the best unit at the best price no matter what watts it is. so you may find a high quality 750w psu for cheaper than a 550w one. though the power is not needed, it is a better buy at that time.

right now, the xfx is the right psu at the right price if you wish to upgrade. i only suggested a new psu since you stated you wanted a new one. the corsair 500w you have now will run it but it is not recommended that you do any high overclocking of the system with it. it is not designed for such uses. a small cpu overclock will be ok but nothing major. so you could just buy the 970 and drop it in and be good to go as is. the better psu would allow for an oc and such later on. you could hold off on that buy until you upgrade the cpu/mobo as you plan on later.

i hope we have not confused you with the earlier discussion between me and xyos but as you can see it bothers me when stuff is said like it was. so in the end it seems the conclusion for you is, you can run the 970 now with the psu you have or you can get a new one now as well and i suggest the xfx i linked to if you do for the price right now.

feel free to ask more questions as they come up and we can clarify anything that needs to be

Fx cpu Overclocking is done in the bios.
The 6100 is a very similar chip to the 6300.generally you can push an extra 300-500mhz out of it with just a multiplier change & barely any temp increase.
I'm not familiar with your boards bios but will have a quick look around later .
You won't push the limits of your cx500 psu with a 970 & the 6100 IMO.
You'd have to be pushing a massive overclock of well in excess of 4.5ghz before you'll run into power related problems,that's not really what you should be aiming for.3.8ghz will give you a decent boost,if you can get to 4ghz even better.