Is a 600w PSU good for a GTX 480

[Altiris]

I have a 600w PSU from OCZ, Nvidia says the GTX 480 requires minimum of a 600w power supply. When I check on the website hwcompare.com it says the GTX 480 uses 250w. My current graphics card which is a GTX 550ti uses 116w.

Would my 600w PSU be enough for the GTX 480? I only have 1 hard drive running and 5 fans, I have an Apevia X trooper case. My Intel core i5 uses 95w.

Is there a program that shows how many watts the PSU is running? (I figured I could run my PC on heavy load and get the number of watts it has left, then subtract 116 and then add 250, am I correct?)

 

[eddieroolz]

I think 600W was the minimum recommendation by NVidia. But what's more important is the 12V rail. A GTX 480 needs a minimum of 42A on the 12V rail.

If you know the specific model name of your PSU, you can look it up or enter it here and we can find out of it supplies enough amperes.

 

[dish_moose]

I would say 600 is the min suggested supply for a GTX480(no OC). This usually takes into account that many people do not have quality psus. Apevia is not a great psu - I would reccomend an Antec, Seasonic, Corsair, Silverston, XFX....
-Bruce

 

[willard]

As has been said, the important stat on the PSU is how many amps on the 12v rail. If you list your exact PSU model, we can give you a more accurate answer.

Also, is there any particular reason you're interested in the GTX 480? It's a bit old, and as a result, is incredibly inefficient by today's standards. If your PSU can't handle the 480, there are certainly more powerful cards that it can handle, simply because they make better use of that power.

 

[dish_moose]

Great card for $200 - Apevia - if you do any reading on JonnyGuru you'll find Apevia have a terrible rep for over rating their supplies. I would not trust one in a system of mine.
-Bruce

 

[mactronix]

@ Altiris,

I was going to answer this but figured I would wait to see if recon-uk would post first.
What he dosent know about the 480 isn't worth knowing.
Having said that....
Please for the love of god select him as best answer so they can close the thread before he starts posting video's of his 480 on here again.

Just pulling your leg recon

Mactronix

 

[Altiris]

One of you guys didnt read at all, I said I have an Apevia CASE, not PSU lol. My PSU is this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017&Tpk=OCZ%20600w

It has two 12V rails.

Also to the guy who said the GTX 480 isnt that good and old, what other cards are good and are around $200???

 

[Altiris]

Yeah I was looking at the 7850 but the GTX 480 performs better and the 7850 is like $50 more.

 

[Altiris]

The 7850 is the same price I would pay for an OCZ 700w PSU and a GTX 480, so shouldnt I get the new PSU and the 480 instead of going for a 7850?

 

[mactronix]

50amp, should be good upto a nice 850mhz OC at 1075mv-1088mv..

There is nothing better at $200..

I would say a 7850 if you had a weak PSU at a push...

42 Amp not 50. 504/12 between the two rails = 42. You cant just add up the two rails come on you know better than that don't you ?

The only other card I would consider is a highly factory over clocked 560Ti. not quite as good but good enough.


Mactronix

 

[mactronix]

Me is not an expert in everything mac... i still learn, or do humans not learn?

Very true, point taken

If you can afford the 480 you can run it so if you want the best possible performance then stop looking and buy it already.

Mactronix

 

[Altiris]

The current PSU you have is up to the task of the 480...

Are you positive? Can anyone else support him on this? I want to be sure, I dont want my PSU getting overloaded or anything.

 

[Altiris]

I went to this website: http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

Filled everything out correctly and it currently says Recommended PSU Wattage: 460
I add in the GTX 480 and it says: 592w recommended (542 min.)
I understand these are just estimates but since the estimates are EXTREMELY close to 600w, so are you sure I would be fine?

 

[Altiris]

Yeah but I selected an option where I had "regular desktop" to "high end desktop" and now it went to 615...

 

[Altiris]

Alright but are you sure I am good with 600w? I want to get the card now to play during the summer and then I can get a new PSU for my birthday which is around September.

 

[Altiris]

Alright I guess, if the PSU cant deliver, are there signs that show it? Like slow performance on the entire computer or when gaming or something?

 

[Altiris]

Should I make another question asking about how many AMPs will the 12v rails support? On newegg it says +12V1@25A and someone was saying how it needed 42A on a 12v rail

 

[willard]

Should I make another question asking about how many AMPs will the 12v rails support? On newegg it says +12V1@25A and someone was saying how it needed 42A on a 12v rail

It will draw from multiple rails to get the power it needs. That PSU can provide 504 watts on the 12v rails. Divide 504 by 12 to get the total amperage across the rails and you get 42.

You should be fine.

 

[oxford373]

if you don't want to make any overclocking for CPU or GPU good 600watt PSU is all you need
and OCZ is a good one

 

[Altiris]

Alright thank you guys, you are a lot better than Yahoo answers. (obviously since this is about computers). Im gonna get a GTX 480 to replace my 550ti and then get a 700w PSU later.

 

[willard]

You can always save the old PSU to recycle in a later build. I upgraded from a perfectly good 550W Antec unit to a 650W Seasonic unit recently, largely because it was a great deal on Newegg and the efficiency is hard to beat (Seasonic X650 Gold, pretty much the best 650W unit on the planet).

The Antec is now my backup unit, and I'm actually considering pulling all my spare parts together for an HTPC since I now have a bit of everything lying around.

 

[robustus64]

Ya a 600 is ok long as its a solid psu i burnt 3 psu s in a row on a 6 core am3 and a 480 for a friend o mine lol...

 

[Altiris]

umm what?

 

[eddieroolz]

He's missing punctuation, its a wonder how people like that exist still.

Essentially:

"Yeah, 600W is okay as long as it's a solid PSU. I burned through 3 PSUs in a row, on a 6-core AMD Phenom/GTX 480 system, which was for a friend".