Is my Corsair CS450M PSU enough for MSI GeForce GTX 560ti Hawk?

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BambleBee1984

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Jun 9, 2015
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Greetings from a noob! I built my first desktop PC about a year ago, mostly for storing pictures and videos and whatnot, but thought that I might eventually migrate to PC gaming from Xbox. A couple of weeks ago I went to a yard sale at my neighbor buddy's house and saw that he was selling his "old" graphics card on the cheap, so I thought I'd bite and try my hand at this PC gaming thing. As the title states, it's a MSI GeForce GTX 560ti Hawk edition. I get the thing home and get to reading the specs on the card, and it suggests a 600 watt PSU...mine is 450. I immediately think, well crap, but after reading a bit on here it sounded to me like I would be okay since my PSU delivers the requisite amount to the 12 volt rail. Long story short, I installed the card, and it seems to be doing fine. I've played some Assassin's Creed Revelations without any hiccups at pretty high settings, but I'm afraid if I push the card too hard I will have problems. My neighbor was kind enough to say that if I didn't feel comfortable with it he'd take it back and give me my money back, which I'd hate to ask him to do, but I'd really hate to kill my computer too. What do you all think? Am I safe with this card with my setup, or should I either buy a better PSU or a card that doesn't require as much power. I'd considered an EVGA GeForce GTX 750 ti Superclocked, as it doesn't require near the amount of power. Thanks in advance for the help!
 
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Dark Lord of Tech
A GeForce GTX 560 Ti needs 31 amps on the 12 rail and a 450w to 500w power supply and 2 - 6 pin power connections , if your PSU meets these requirements and is decent quality you should be fine.
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BambleBee1984

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According to Corsair, my PSU delivers 35.5 amps on the 12 rail, however it doesn't have 2 6 pin power connections. I currently have it hooked up to the single PCI express modular plug on the PSU for one of the 6 pin connections, and the other one is hooked up to the 2 molex -> 1 6 pin PCI adapter that was supplied with the card.
 
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BambleBee1984

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I was kinda afraid that that wasn't a good idea, even though it's obviously an option since MSI included the adapter in the packaging. That being the case, would I be better off:

A) Upgrading my PSU? I had my eye on a 750 watt Antec for $59.99 after rebate from Newegg

B) Returning the card to my neighbor and picking up a card that requires less power? As I previously mentioned, I was looking at the EVGA GeForce GTX 750 ti superclocked. I'm still a bit unsure of the differences between the different GTX models (i.e. 560 ti hawk vs. 750 ti superclocked.)

 
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BambleBee1984

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Jun 9, 2015
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Okay so I've decided that rather than spend another $60+ on a power supply, I'm going to just sell the 560 ti Hawk and purchase a newer card that doesn't require as much power. I would like to stay in the $120 or less price range and used/eBay is fine. I was thinking EVGA GeForce GTX 750 ti FTW edition but would consider other options as long as they would jive with my 450 watt PSU. What do you guys think? I suppose I could start another thread asking "insert card" vs. "insert card," but my PSU situation has already been explained here.
 
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BambleBee1984

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....OR would I be better off picking up a 660 or 660 ti off of eBay? It appears that the power requirements for those two cards are still within the 450 watt limit, however the ti DOES still require 2 6 pin connectors. They're about the same price as the 750 ti FTW, but from what I've gathered better performers?
 
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Sapphire Thunder

Sapphire Thunder

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It would be best to just pass on the 600 series because it's old.
They are still powerful, but you would just have to upgrade again shortly.


Also, about the 750Ti and 560Ti: the 750Ti uses the newest Maxwell chip while 560Ti is much older Fermi.
660 and 660Ti are Kepler, which is newer than Fermi but older than Maxwell.

If you already bought the 560Ti, you might as well keep it and buy new power supply (600W is enough)
Then later upgrade to something like GTX960 or wait for next year and see what comes out.
 
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BambleBee1984

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Decisions, decisions! I kinda wish that I hadn't bought the 560 ti in the first place. I feel like it's already pretty dated and will require me to upgrade my PSU, but if I were to sell it for $70, I could use that money and an extra $40-$50 and get a used 750 ti FTW and not have to upgrade my PSU to a more powerful one. I can't imagine with the new Maxwell architecture that I would need a PSU with greater than 450 watts going forward unless I went up significantly in price range (which I doubt will happen.) Would I be correct in that assessment? I figured spec-wise, the 660 would be a better choice if I could have one or the other at the same price point, but I suppose the 750 ti FTW being "newer" would be a more important factor? You all tell me...I have no basis other than what I've gleaned from here.
 
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Sapphire Thunder

Sapphire Thunder

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You could indeed sell that 560TI and get 750TI which has about same performance but needs only 1x 6-pin PCi-E cables.
It uses only about 90W, so 450W is more than enough.
(as comparison, 560Ti uses 170-180W)
If you can choose between 2 similarly performing parts, it's (almost) always better to go with the newer one.
750TI also should be supporting the DX12 that is coming with Windows 10.
 
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BambleBee1984

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Well after much debate, I decided to go ahead and upgrade to the EVGA GeForce GTX 960 "Super" SC. I figure that it will be a nice step up from the 560 ti hawk, but doesn't require as much power, AND it's a newer model so an upgrade won't be necessary any time soon. It was definitely a little more $$$ than I wanted to spend, but I figured that it will last me longer than a 750 ti or whatever else I might have decided to go with. Thanks for all of the input!
 
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