350W PSU sufficient for GTX 1050 + i7-870 upgrade?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Z

zephyrinthesky

Prominent
Feb 23, 2017
4
0
510
Hi all - I'm thinking about upgrading my ~6 year-old HTPC to handle mid-range games, without having to replace the Mobo and reinstall Windows. To do that I was thinking about upgrading my dualcore i3-530 to a quadcore i7-870, and replacing my Radeon HD 5450 with a GTX 1050. However, I'm concerned that my current 350W Seasonic PSU won't be able to handle the new parts - Parts Picker states that

My proposed machine would look like this:

CPU: Intel Core i7-870 2.93GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3 Micro ATX LGA1156 Motherboard
Memory: Kingston ValueRAM 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory
Memory: Patriot Signature 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V100 Series 64GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Sandisk Z400s 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 640GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 2GB D5 Video Card
Power Supply: SeaSonic 350W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit
Monitor: LG 27MP37HQ-B 27.0" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor
Monitor: HP 22er 21.5" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor

Other than the stock CPU cooler and case fan, I don't have any fancy cooling units that will take up more wattage.

Thoughts or suggestions? Frankly I'm not even sure if upping to a quadcore and adding a new video card is really worth it given how old the rest of the hardware is, but I will only be gaming sparingly and am working with a sub-$400 CAD budget.

Thanks in advance!
 
Solution
L
Have a look at how hard your processor is working at the moment while playing the games you like. If it is anywhere near 100%, then it will bottleneck a more powerful GPU. The upgrade from the i3 to the i7 will roughly double your CPU power, which will help a lot.
Newer models of processor are faster, but each generation only improves things by 5-10%. You can get a good comparison between different CPUs (and GPUs) by looking on Passmark.com

As for your memory, your CPU will definitely be faster with matched pairs of memory, but don't expect a huge speed increase.
Sort by date Sort by votes
L

lodders

Admirable
Nov 2, 2015
1,888
0
6,460
Your proposed machine looks pretty good. It should work well.
But, your memory should be in matched pairs. Either 4x2GB or 2x4Gb would give you much better memory access times than your proposed configuration.
I would definitely increase the PSU to at least 500W. Seasonic are an excellent brand.
I would also consider if you need a better processor cooler - the stock intel cooler is fine for anything up to an i5, but is a bit marginal for an i7
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Z

zephyrinthesky

Prominent
Feb 23, 2017
4
0
510


My machine originally only had the one 4GB RAM stick before I scavenged an additional 2 sticks of 2GB from an office computer that recently died. It's been stable with the mish-mashed RAM for a number of months now - I might do a more proper upgrade with this proposed processor and video card purchase.

If I chose to hold off on upgrading from the i3-530 to the i7-870 and just went with the new GTX 1050 card, do you know if there'd be a bottleneck at the processor? I know LGA 1156 has been discontinued for several years now so I'm not sure if it'd be better just to save money for a wholesale upgrade (or use the money for proper RAM) instead.

Your help is appreciated!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

lodders

Admirable
Nov 2, 2015
1,888
0
6,460
Have a look at how hard your processor is working at the moment while playing the games you like. If it is anywhere near 100%, then it will bottleneck a more powerful GPU. The upgrade from the i3 to the i7 will roughly double your CPU power, which will help a lot.
Newer models of processor are faster, but each generation only improves things by 5-10%. You can get a good comparison between different CPUs (and GPUs) by looking on Passmark.com

As for your memory, your CPU will definitely be faster with matched pairs of memory, but don't expect a huge speed increase.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
Z

zephyrinthesky

Prominent
Feb 23, 2017
4
0
510


Thanks! I'll do some comparisons on Passmark and check out some different combinations.

And power-wise, it turns out that there's another computer in my house that's been running with a BFG Tech GS-550 550W PSU that I could potentially swap with my Seasonic.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom