Power Supply Upgrade for my new Graphics Card

[Guest]

I am planning on buying a new Gigabyte GTX 460 graphics card for my new pc. I will have to upgrade the Power supply as right now it is only 300 watts.

Now, my question is should I get the requirement (500W) or go higher?

I am asking this because I think that one day i might want a better card, but i don't know for sure. And 500 watts is not that big of a power supply, though it will power many of the good cards out there.

I only have one full PCI-E slot so I will not need to ever have more than one card.

What would you do?

 

[placidtick]

I personally like to plan for future expansion so I would suggest going with a larger supply incase you need it one day. Something 650 plus should suit your needs.

 

[inzone]

The highest power supply requirement that I have seen is 650w for a single card and that's for the GTX 690 , so a 650w will cover any future video card upgrade and to go with two cards you will have to upgrade the motherboard to get the extra full slot so at that time you would be upgrading the whole computer most likely.
It doesn't hurt to have more than you need since you will only use what you need anyway and if you shop around you can find some good deals and/or rebates.

 

[f-14]

I am planning on buying a new Gigabyte GTX 460 graphics card for my new pc. I will have to upgrade the Power supply as right now it is only 300 watts.

Now, my question is should I get the requirement (500W) or go higher?

I am asking this because I think that one day i might want a better card, but i don't know for sure. And 500 watts is not that big of a power supply, though it will power many of the good cards out there.

I only have one full PCI-E slot so I will not need to ever have more than one card.

What would you do?

I am planning on buying a new Gigabyte GTX 460 graphics card for my new pc. I will have to upgrade the Power supply as right now it is only 300 watts.

Now, my question is should I get the requirement (500W) or go higher?

I am asking this because I think that one day i might want a better card, but i don't know for sure. And 500 watts is not that big of a power supply, though it will power many of the good cards out there.

I only have one full PCI-E slot so I will not need to ever have more than one card.

What would you do?

i have a 750W to do SLI on an evga ftw motherboard with multiple 16X PCIE slots and was designed for tweaking.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125412&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-Video%20Cards-_-GIGABYTE-_-14125412&AID=10440897&PID=3087823&SID=
the 192 bit memory bus version
System Requirements Minimum 450W or greater system power supply with two 6-pin external power connector.

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3530#sp
the 256bit memory bus version
gigabytes site says Power requirement 500W (with two 6-pin external power connectors)
nobody specifies the amps required and i can not recall off the top of my head.

however for those going the economical route 450W PSU with enough AMPS which is the critical part of PSU's that most PSU's don't have despite the over abundance of watts
it saves on your electric bill and produces less heat but will limit your overclocking if your system is decked out. for all i know you just have an HP tower like my brother and just wanted something to play newer games with on a 22"+ monitor

what you go with depends on the upgradeability of your machine, big box name not very upgradeable, not much reason to go with a PSU capable of 2 cards, they will not incorporate 2 pcie 16X slots in those machines with out spending $2000+ on one of their machines if that's what you buy later.

if your rig is custom made, it's up to you, single cards will be around for awhile and until screens start pushing over 27" you shouldn't even need 2 cards. but again i don't know what your set up is, for all i know you are or want to run dual 27" monitors

spend a $1 per 10W is reasonable, just make sure it has the AMPS and connectors you need. i suspect your board needs a min of 24AMPS for the whole system

[Solved] Cooler Master 550W Real Power is enough for GTX 460 1GB?
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/307513-33-cooler-master-550w-real-power.