Planning on upgrading GFX card but I have a question

McLubbin

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Feb 1, 2013
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I am going to be upgrading from a 550TI to either a 7850 or a 7870...

The question I have is my power supply.. After some research the 550ti uses more power at idle and at load.. Would I need to upgrade from my current Coolermaster 550w PSU?

I know that coolermaster is a bad type of PSU but this one has lasted me just fine, and I do not overclock anything I DO plan on going to a corsair within a few weeks to a month of buying my new card.

Thanks for any help

Also, I will be a couple hours before I am back to the forum. Sorry if I missed anything you might have needed
 

avacadobread

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Dec 27, 2012
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Since your upgrading away from a 550TI there is no need to worry about you PSU since you won't be using that card anymore. If you are going to upgrade your PSU make sure you buy one that it at least 80 Plus Certified. These models are less prone to losing power when it is drawn from the outlet, converted (which is where lower end PSU's often lose power), and finally reaching your computer.

The reasons for owning an 80+ is because you are often times getting the power that you paid for, not 550 watts minus whatever is lost in heat transfer.
But for most purposes if your only using a single GPU 550 watts will be just fine!
 

McLubbin

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Feb 1, 2013
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Thanks. I was going to upgrade it until I was on Anandpctech (Something like that) and compared the two cards.. And they used the same power... At load and idle...

Now I can definitely save to get the 7870 and 2 more monitors for Eyefinity