Ugrading PSU, need advice to finalize purchase

[jloosh]

Ok, awhile ago I bought a pc off a friend at work. He needed the money, and the price was right. The system is a few years old now, and I dont think he really researched alot while building it, but I want to start off on the right foot and get a reliable power supply that will deliver. (I want to upgrade the video card within a few months so more power will be needed)


This is what I have currently:

PSU: Thermaltake TR2-430W
(have a Cool Power CP-P700 power supply still in box)
MB: Gigabyte EP43-DS3L Mother Board
CPU: intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @2.40ghz
Ram: 8.00gb ram I believe 4x2gb ddr2 800mhz
Video: AMD Radeon HD 6450 1gb
1 SATA 7200rpm HD
Wireless NIC card
Sound card
2 case fans and a cpu fan
Bunch of ports for USB
DVD burner


I think ill be upgrading to a GTX 560ti video card, and I want to play around with overclocking at some point, this is why I want the new power supply.

My cousin just built a system, and has been doing some research and found that the Seasonic s12ii seems to be a top of the line, for what you pay, PSU. And newegg has them on sale now, so that adds to it.

I have went through a few PSU calculators on different sites, and they seem to give me different numbers, so thats why I am coming here.

I was looking at either the 520W or the 620W.

I know if its two big for the system, when its in idle the PSU becomes very inefficient, so I want big enough but dont want to overdue it.

Any other information just ask.

Thanks

 

[jay2tall]

You are in the right ballpark on wattage. I would say a really good 500W or decent 600W would do you just fine. If you plan to do some really wild overclocking I would stick with the 600W range. However, 500w should be plenty if you are going with a top model PSU. Also consider they have the OCZ and PCP units on sale as well. Plus a $20 MIR. The PCP's are modular so it might be a benefit to you. I have a 750w PCP that I've had for.... 5+ years I think and it's running my system without a hitch (see link to left) Either route you go, you will be fine. The PSU you have isn't a bad unit either, you could get away with a somewhat ok card, but not a 560Ti. Just remember the GTX660Ti's are out now and the GTX650Ti should be coming out sometime this month.

 

[jloosh]

You are in the right ballpark on wattage. I would say a really good 500W or decent 600W would do you just fine. If you plan to do some really wild overclocking I would stick with the 600W range. However, 500w should be plenty if you are going with a top model PSU. Also consider they have the OCZ and PCP units on sale as well. Plus a $20 MIR. The PCP's are modular so it might be a benefit to you. I have a 750w PCP that I've had for.... 5+ years I think and it's running my system without a hitch (see link to left) Either route you go, you will be fine. The PSU you have isn't a bad unit either, you could get away with a somewhat ok card, but not a 560Ti. Just remember the GTX660Ti's are out now and the GTX650Ti should be coming out sometime this month.

I was going for more of a budget build on the video card. From what I have heard from people I know and from what the little research I've done so far, for 150-200 the 560ti seems like the best bet....hasnt been purchased yet so its not set in stone. I think im going to wait closer to black friday to see what deals can be had.

This is off topic, but would anything bigger than the 560ti almost be overkill for my system, wouldn't the cpu start becoming the bottleneck?


(right now its coming down to modding the pc, or saving money and modding my trans am haha, both are fun)

 

[jay2tall]

You do have to watch the GTX560Ti's because there are 2 models. The original 384 cuba core and the 448 cuda core model. The wierd thing is the GTX560ti 448core model is pretty much the same price as the GTX570 now. The original model fludders around that $200 mark and below, but has mail in rebates alot of time. To be honest I would at least wait for the GTX650Ti to come out. It will be around that $249 mark maybe even $199. Who knows. It should drive the price of the 500 series cards down even more at the very least. And as you said with Black Friday around the corner, Newegg will have a ton of sales. Just get on their email list. I get about 2-3 emails a day with all sorts of stuff. I glance through them on my phone in the morning because ever so often they have a crazy deal on something with while or that I'm looking for.

As far as bottlenecking your CPU. Yeah that could be a concern, but it's all related to how a certain game performs on older cpu's. You still have 4 cores, it's not like it's an old Pentium or something like that. A moderate gaming card will do fine.

BTW... modding a Trans AM? That will cost more than $200 wouldn't it? You could always just save it for gas money.

 

[jloosh]

You do have to watch the GTX560Ti's because there are 2 models. The original 384 cuba core and the 448 cuda core model. The wierd thing is the GTX560ti 448core model is pretty much the same price as the GTX570 now. The original model fludders around that $200 mark and below, but has mail in rebates alot of time. To be honest I would at least wait for the GTX650Ti to come out. It will be around that $249 mark maybe even $199. Who knows. It should drive the price of the 500 series cards down even more at the very least. And as you said with Black Friday around the corner, Newegg will have a ton of sales. Just get on their email list. I get about 2-3 emails a day with all sorts of stuff. I glance through them on my phone in the morning because ever so often they have a crazy deal on something with while or that I'm looking for.

As far as bottlenecking your CPU. Yeah that could be a concern, but it's all related to how a certain game performs on older cpu's. You still have 4 cores, it's not like it's an old Pentium or something like that. A moderate gaming card will do fine.

BTW... modding a Trans AM? That will cost more than $200 wouldn't it? You could always just save it for gas money.

Haha the trans am, yeah, definitely more expensive. Looking at finishing the exhaust now....530 just for headers before shipping, and there are all the other little things I still need....but letting that ls1 breath and make more power ohhh so soothing haha

but anyways, what about the gtx 480, I think newegg has them around 200 right now, and that seems to be better than the 560ti?

Still going to hold out to see where the 650ti lands though, but seen the 480 and figured would ask. I ended up going with the 620W seasonic

 

[jay2tall]

Haha I hear ya. I had a 2000 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 5.9L that I tinkered with, lifted, replaced a few go-fast parts. As in replaced I mean when they broke I put go faster parts instead of stock. I should have patented a decal that read "This vehicle is 25% replacement parts, It's a DODGE thing." Ended up selling for an Accord so my go fast parts are PC related these days.

Anyway. I'd really stay away from a 480. I mean the price for performance is probably fine, but it is a REALLY hot card. Hot as in your exhaust pipe after a lap hot. Since my last post on this thread the GTX 660 (non-Ti) came out and it is a really good deal for any casual gamer. It blows by a GTX560Ti and for $230 it's a good card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130826