In the summer of 2010, I asked for help from the community about computer parts, and got great advice, set the computer up and had it running fine, with no problems. I have recently upgraded some parts on it and have added a few more, and have just ordered a Phenom X6 1055t for 138$ from DirectCanada, and am planning to overclock it. I have looked at the potential power usage levels this cpu has and am wondering whether my current power supply will be enough for my system.
My current system is as follows:
Athlon x3 440 (unlocked to a x4, so a 640) running at stock speed.
G.SKILL 4 GB ECO running at 1600 9-9-9-24 (rated for 7-8-7-24) &
Kingston HyperX 8 GB running at 1600 9-9-9-24 (rated for that) (I couldn't resist the price) (I know this may impede overclocking, but I'll try it anyways)
XFX 5770 (Bought slightly before Christmas, on sale, big surprise) (I slightly overclocked it using MSI Afterburner, but reinstalled the OS and haven't bother redoing it since)
Barracuda 7200.12 SATA 3Gb/s 500GB Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB 7200 3Gb/s
OCZ Vertex Plus 2.5" 120GB SATA II (Arrived about 2 weeks ago, also on sale, but through a darned rebate which I'm not sure my claim will get to in time) (Currently being used as the boot drive)
ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 DDR3 ATX AMD 870GX (The motherboard, beautiful is she not?)
Thermaltake Contaq 29 Heatsinkfan
And the most important part of the question:
COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS500-PCARD3-US 500W (Actually states on the power supply, 430w) (About... at least 2 years old, probably a bit older than that)
Now, with a 1055t on its way, and my planning to potentially overclock it, do you think I'll be ok sticking with this power supply, or should I consider investing in a higher wattage power supply?
I only game at 1680x1050 and my motherboard does NOT support CF, and so I was planning on keeping the 5770 for a while and maybe replacing it when the 8000 series comes out, or maybe when the 9000 series comes out, depending on how it holds up against newer and newer titles. Thus if I upgrade the power supply, it will be a while before I will be upgrading graphics cards, in which case, would it even be worth getting a strong enough one for a better card, or save the money now and just get one sufficient for this system?
If you really don't think I'll need to change the power supply, or whatever, please let me know, any/all opinions welcome (Unless for example you found this thread a waste of time and want me to simply drop dead, in which case, no can do; go have a nap)
Thanks in advance, Daniel.
P.S. Oh yes, the most strenuous things I tend to do with my computer at the moment is play steam games, such as Saints Row 3, GTAIV, MW2-3, and lots of various other titles (I can't seem to resist a sale, on the other side, I don't smoke or drink so I suppose I am entitled to some vices...)
Although I will be running prime 95/ furmark or something else to check the stability of overclocks on the cpu, gpu and ram. (The ram I just tend to run on loose timings because I'm not in this for the benchmarks.)
Edit:
I totally forgot to say that should you think I need a new power supply, could you recommend the ideal wattage for my set-up, and I'll take a look at some nearby stores (Microbytes.com / PcSonic.com) to see what they have in stock. So far I was looking at something like 700-750w, just to make sure I have enough power to never have to worry about my psu trying to pull too much power and going kerplut. Also, it would potentially be enough to power the system with a stronger graphics card in a year or two.
(God, I never do stop typing, do I?)
Edit 2: (The last one, I swear)
I was looking at the 1055t's wattage here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-cpu-build-a-pc,2700-15.html
It shows the 1055t drawing up to 289w at full load on stock settings. (My motherboard is rated for a 140w processor, and this one is supposed to go from 90-125w right?)
Overclocked to 4ghz, it went up to nearly 400w, and that's why I'm questioning whether my power supply will be sufficient or not.
My current system is as follows:
Athlon x3 440 (unlocked to a x4, so a 640) running at stock speed.
G.SKILL 4 GB ECO running at 1600 9-9-9-24 (rated for 7-8-7-24) &
Kingston HyperX 8 GB running at 1600 9-9-9-24 (rated for that) (I couldn't resist the price) (I know this may impede overclocking, but I'll try it anyways)
XFX 5770 (Bought slightly before Christmas, on sale, big surprise) (I slightly overclocked it using MSI Afterburner, but reinstalled the OS and haven't bother redoing it since)
Barracuda 7200.12 SATA 3Gb/s 500GB Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB 7200 3Gb/s
OCZ Vertex Plus 2.5" 120GB SATA II (Arrived about 2 weeks ago, also on sale, but through a darned rebate which I'm not sure my claim will get to in time) (Currently being used as the boot drive)
ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 DDR3 ATX AMD 870GX (The motherboard, beautiful is she not?)
Thermaltake Contaq 29 Heatsinkfan
And the most important part of the question:
COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS500-PCARD3-US 500W (Actually states on the power supply, 430w) (About... at least 2 years old, probably a bit older than that)
Now, with a 1055t on its way, and my planning to potentially overclock it, do you think I'll be ok sticking with this power supply, or should I consider investing in a higher wattage power supply?
I only game at 1680x1050 and my motherboard does NOT support CF, and so I was planning on keeping the 5770 for a while and maybe replacing it when the 8000 series comes out, or maybe when the 9000 series comes out, depending on how it holds up against newer and newer titles. Thus if I upgrade the power supply, it will be a while before I will be upgrading graphics cards, in which case, would it even be worth getting a strong enough one for a better card, or save the money now and just get one sufficient for this system?
If you really don't think I'll need to change the power supply, or whatever, please let me know, any/all opinions welcome (Unless for example you found this thread a waste of time and want me to simply drop dead, in which case, no can do; go have a nap)
Thanks in advance, Daniel.
P.S. Oh yes, the most strenuous things I tend to do with my computer at the moment is play steam games, such as Saints Row 3, GTAIV, MW2-3, and lots of various other titles (I can't seem to resist a sale, on the other side, I don't smoke or drink so I suppose I am entitled to some vices...)
Although I will be running prime 95/ furmark or something else to check the stability of overclocks on the cpu, gpu and ram. (The ram I just tend to run on loose timings because I'm not in this for the benchmarks.)
Edit:
I totally forgot to say that should you think I need a new power supply, could you recommend the ideal wattage for my set-up, and I'll take a look at some nearby stores (Microbytes.com / PcSonic.com) to see what they have in stock. So far I was looking at something like 700-750w, just to make sure I have enough power to never have to worry about my psu trying to pull too much power and going kerplut. Also, it would potentially be enough to power the system with a stronger graphics card in a year or two.
(God, I never do stop typing, do I?)
Edit 2: (The last one, I swear)
I was looking at the 1055t's wattage here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-cpu-build-a-pc,2700-15.html
It shows the 1055t drawing up to 289w at full load on stock settings. (My motherboard is rated for a 140w processor, and this one is supposed to go from 90-125w right?)
Overclocked to 4ghz, it went up to nearly 400w, and that's why I'm questioning whether my power supply will be sufficient or not.