Does my AMD Athlon II x4 635 bottleneck my 6870?

[panfluit]

Hey,

Im looking for a new graphic card and got to choose with my budget between something like a 5830, gtx 460 and 6870.
Im wondering if my AMD Athlon II 4x 635 can handle it or will it bottleneck?

Greets

 

[sosofm]

Everything will be fine. There is no bottleneck.

 

[esrever]

It will be fine, very few games will be cpu bound enough to bottleneck.

 

[panfluit]

It will be fine, very few games will be cpu bound enough to bottleneck.

Like what games?

 

[esrever]

like skyrim and starcraft 2.

 

[panfluit]

Alright, thanks for replying so quickly!
One more question what power supply do you recommend for 6870?

 

[esrever]

antec earthwatt 380D or the corsair cx430 will do.

 

[mouse24]

antec earthwatt 380D or the corsair cx430 will do.

They might but just barely, I recommend a good 500w from Antec, corsair, seasonic, Xfx, PC&C

 

[esrever]

its not barely, they will work fine. The full system loaded with the 6870 is less than 300w.

 

[mouse24]

its not barely, they will work fine. The full system loaded with the 6870 is less than 300w.

Yeah but that gives hardly any left for upgrades, add in cards, etc... I dunno, I just think getting a quality 500w for around 20 bucks more is totally worth it

but thats just me, I don't see the point in going with anything less then that except for an HTPC build.

 

[omega21xx]

Having an extra 100 watt of overhead also increases the life span of the PSU. Running to close to full load will shorten it's life span (by how much really depends on the quality, i have had PSU's run for 8 years close to full load so it all really depends...). That's why always suggest a minimum of 100 overhead. So a quality 400-500w in my opinion is what i'd go for.

 

[esrever]

Having an extra 100 watt of overhead also increases the life span of the PSU. Running to close to full load will shorten it's life span, That's why always suggest a minimum of 100 overhead. So a quality 400-500w in my opinion is what i'd go for.

a system is almost never at full load. 90% of the time its on idle.

 

[omega21xx]

a system is almost never at full load. 90% of the time its on idle.

Well you can't assume someone's usage however. On average you are correct most do follow that, but it's better to be on the safe side incase someone is a 24/7 OC user that runs folding when not using the PC and taxes it on the weekends and after work. Overall if you look at my suggestion on wattage, it's only slightly higher than your suggestion (380+20). Just providing input to save any hassle, but i do agree

 

[aaronstyle]

I agree, go with the 500w+ I'm running an antec 550w. Similar specs, but with 3.8 ghz on the cpu, and 820 core/ 1800 mem on my gtx 460. 7 120 mm fans, 1 220 mm fan. I have no problems and my psu doesn't get very warm.

 

[esrever]

getting an overpowered psu is wasting power. Peak efficiency is at about 50% and if you are buying something a lot higher than 2x the idle power use, you will be wasting electricity.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/42796-hd-6870-roundup-diamond-powercolor-msi-sapphire-xfx-18.html

they system is with a extremely oc'ed 920 which increase power usage a lot. In OP's system, it would be 30-50w less than that.

 

[mouse24]

getting an overpowered psu is wasting power. Peak efficiency is at about 50% and if you are buying something a lot higher than 2x the idle power use, you will be wasting electricity.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/42796-hd-6870-roundup-diamond-powercolor-msi-sapphire-xfx-18.html

they system is with a extremely oc'ed 920 which increase power usage a lot. In OP's system, it would be 30-50w less than that.

Sorry, but that "wasting power" bit is completely and utterly wrong. Power supplies only use as much power as is required for the system from the wall. or atleast thats how I understand it to be and why those wall to psu load testers are so commonly used.

And I guess the 30-50w headroom WOULD be ok IF the psu was rated at continuous instead of peak, but still... better safe then sorry.

You still need to compensate for voltage spikes, capacitor aging, as well as initial boot load, etc

 

[omega21xx]

Sorry, but that "wasting power" bit is completely and utterly wrong. Power supplies only use as much power as is required for the system from the wall. or atleast thats how I understand it to be and why those wall to psu load testers are so commonly used.

And I guess the 30-50w headroom WOULD be ok IF the psu was rated at continuous instead of peak, but still... better safe then sorry.

You still need to compensate for voltage spikes, capacitor aging, as well as initial boot load, etc

What esrever is true, its about using more power is in terms of efficiency, yes, it's only pulling as much as it needs, but that's not the whole story.
Say you are 95% efficient at converting the power to be usable at a load of 80%
when you drop the load down to 50% you may only be 85% efficient at converting that power. which means you need to pull more power. I could go more into detail about numbers math and power draw and convertion, but it's late and i'm sleepy lol

 

[mouse24]

What esrever is true, its about using more power is in terms of efficiency, yes, it's only pulling as much as it needs, but that's not the whole story.
Say you are 95% efficient at converting the power to be usable at a load of 80%
when you drop the load down to 50% you may only be 85% efficient at converting that power. which means you need to pull more power. I could go more into detail about numbers math and power draw and convertion, but it's late and i'm sleepy lol

Ah yeah, that makes sense. I did not think of it that way lol, aaanywho unless you live on the moon or where electricity is extremely expensive I don't see a point in paying 45 bucks for a 380w psu vs a 500w for 55-60

(even if the 380 was gold cert and the 500w was bronze)

 

[omega21xx]

Ah yeah, that makes sense. I did not think of it that way lol, aaanywho unless you live on the moon or where electricity is extremely expensive I don't see a point in paying 45 bucks for a 380w psu vs a 500w for 55-60

(even if the 380 was gold cert and the 500w was bronze)

I agree as electricity is cheap where I am (iowa) but i know major cities tend to have severe kw/h costs. Also it does add up over time, in some cases you could be saving 50-200 a year depending on how it does at normal load.