HD7950 or HD 7970 with 500 Watt PSU

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punk4yahweh

Prominent
Feb 15, 2017
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I would like to purchase a used HD7970 to replace my GTX550ti but I find mixed reviews about if my 500 watt PSU will handle this. If not I will go for the HD7950 and try to overclock (if I can with a 500 watt PSU). What do you think my 500 watt PSU can handle? Its a decent unit (enermax) and I have the two six pin connectors.

My PC is:

Asus P5K3 Motherboard
Quad Core Extreme QX9650 @ 3Ghz
8 GB RAM (1600Mhz)
4 Sata 7200RPM 750GB Hard Drives
 
Solution
LucaFire
Through the use of this useful Power calculator (http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator), it can give you a suggestion of what PSU you should equip yourself with. I've found that in a majority of cases, it is extremely accurate.

With yourself, through the use of this calculator, I've found that it recommends at least a 550W unit (with overclocks adjusted for). I've, of course, taken into account that the system won't be overclocked 100% of the time.
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dontlistentome

Glorious
Sep 5, 2016
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The CPU is normally 130W and the 7970 is around 225W(75Wx3), so you're looking at needing about 30A on the 12V rail MINIMUM. On a quick search I found an Enermax 500W PSU with two 6 pin connectors and it outputs 44A(22Ax2) on the 12V. So you could do it,even the CPU overclocking, but the thing is that PSU will be working relatively hard. Personally, if I was planning to both use a power hungry videocard AND overclock my CPU, I'd want a PSU will a bit more headroom. By the way, I'm assuming power usage on that CPU overclocked would be up around 200W, you should research how much those CPUs actually use before you do it. Also, it's going to get hot in that case and that harms PSUs and their performance, so cooling is a consideration.
 
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LucaFire

LucaFire

Distinguished
Jul 2, 2014
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20,760
Through the use of this useful Power calculator (http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator), it can give you a suggestion of what PSU you should equip yourself with. I've found that in a majority of cases, it is extremely accurate.

With yourself, through the use of this calculator, I've found that it recommends at least a 550W unit (with overclocks adjusted for). I've, of course, taken into account that the system won't be overclocked 100% of the time.
 
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