Is my PSU enough for an upgrade

[Vicks]

Hello!
I'm thinking of upgrading my graphics card from a HD 6850 to HD7950 (Birthday present to myself!), but don't have an exceptional understanding about needed power.

My current PSU is a Corsair 650TX.

My current setup is the HD 6850, i5 2400, 8gbs ram, and my sata hdd.

I thought it might be fine, but I want to be sure, as I dont want to purchase a new psu right now. I might get a 2500 next year as well to OC.
Help is very much appreciated !

 

[bigcyco1]

It will be more than fine no worries!Your powr supply will run a 7950.Here's guru3d's power consumption test for 7950-
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7950-crossfire-review-2-and-3way/5
Quote :

Here is Guru3D's power supply recommendation:

Radeon HD 7950 - On your average system the card requires you to have a 500~550 Watt power supply unit.
Radeon HD 7950 Crossfire x2 - On your average system the cards require you to have a 700 Watt power supply unit as minimum.
Radeon HD 7950 Crossfire x3 - On your average system the cards require you to have a 850~900 Watt power supply unit as minimum.

If you are going to overclock GPU or processor, then we do recommend you purchase something with some more stamina.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-7950-crossfire-review-2-and-3way/5

 

[Guest]

that PSU will handle any cpu and single and most multi graphics card combination.

 

[Vicks]

Thanks for the replies!

Sorry if this is a silly question.
Does overclocking without or without the voltage affect the power? What I mean is do I need a heftier PSU if I'm overclocking the gpu at stock voltage? (I was thinking of oc-ing the gpu to 1000~1100 but leaving the voltage alone)

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the replies!

Sorry if this is a silly question.
Does overclocking without or without the voltage affect the power? What I mean is do I need a heftier PSU if I'm overclocking the gpu at stock voltage? (I was thinking of oc-ing the gpu to 1000~1100 but leaving the voltage alone)

i doubt you will be able to overclock past 850Mhz. where did you get the idea you can push it to 1000Mhz?
How to overclock the Radeon HD 6850 and HD 6870

 

[Vicks]

Sorry, I was referring to the new gpu I want to buy.The stock speed for the model of 7950 I'm looking at is 880 Mhz.
I did the step by step method with Furmark with my current 6850 and was able to get it to 925 without changing the voltages and it was stable. I was mostly testing to see what difference it would make and placed it back to stock, so maybe I didn't get an adequate chance to catch artifacting, but it was fine for the 1/2 hr I ran it with Furmark and the few times I took it for a spin ingame.

But I'm not sure if increasing clock speeds alone affect power drainage or altering voltages as well.
If I want to OC the 7950 in the future, I want to know if I should plan to upgrade my psu then or if I have wiggle room.

Thanks again!

 

[bigcyco1]

Sorry, I was referring to the new gpu I want to buy.The stock speed for the model of 7950 I'm looking at is 880 Mhz.
I did the step by step method with Furmark with my current 6850 and was able to get it to 925 without changing the voltages and it was stable. I was mostly testing to see what difference it would make and placed it back to stock, so maybe I didn't get an adequate chance to catch artifacting, but it was fine for the 1/2 hr I ran it with Furmark and the few times I took it for a spin ingame.

But I'm not sure if increasing clock speeds alone affect power drainage or altering voltages as well.
If I want to OC the 7950 in the future, I want to know if I should plan to upgrade my psu then or if I have wiggle room.

Thanks again!

for a single 7950 extremely OC you would still be fine

 

[JackNaylorPE]

650 watter will be fine but I'd wait for the 660 Ti to drop (week or two) and see how it compares w/ the 7950.

 

[bigcyco1]

650 watter will be fine but I'd wait for the 660 Ti to drop (week or two) and see how it compares w/ the 7950.

+1

 

[Vicks]

Thanks for the tip guys. My only reservation about waiting is I know I want the 3 gb of vram from the 7950 because I run skyrim with a ton of texture mods that pushed my 6850's 1gb over its max.
I understand the 660 Ti will have 2gbs likely when released?
Is it still worth the wait?

 

[bigcyco1]

Thanks for the tip guys. My only reservation about waiting is I know I want the 3 gb of vram from the 7950 because I run skyrim with a ton of texture mods that pushed my 6850's 1gb over its max.
I understand the 660 Ti will have 2gbs likely when released?
Is it still worth the wait?

Well nobody can say for sure if it's worth the wait or not i guess that would be up to you to decide

 

[Vicks]

True. Thank you all for your help

 

[Vicks]

Best answer selected by Vicks.

 

[bigcyco1]

No problem your very welcome!