[SOLVED] 520W PSU with 1080 and 6700k?

Condorboy

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Jan 30, 2016
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Hey, I have the Seasonic Si2ii 520W as a power supply, and currently have a GTX 1080 with an i5 6500. My system runs fine now, but if I upgrade to a 6700k and overclock it a little will it push my PSU too far?
 
Solution
While it was a good unit in its day, for modern systems, especially if, as you say, you're planning on pushing it with an overclock on both CPU and GPU, I'd recommend going with a Seasonic FOCUS model. 550W would be sufficient if you weren't overclocking, but 650W if you plan to overclock.

The FOCUS is a more modern design than the S12ii, and better capable of handling how modern systems draw power.

Eximo

Titan
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That should still be okay, Seasonic makes a decent unit. Both CPUs are within the same rough power category.

If you have an i5-6500 now, do you have a Z class board for overclocking?

Most you can reasonably expect to pull out of a 6700k is about 150W, and that is with some pretty extreme cooling. If you are going for a mild overclock, probably closer to 100W peak.

Only caveat would be if you have one of the very high end GTX1080 with more than the standard single 8-pin. The stock card is only 180W, but there are some out there that take dual 8-pins and have a much higher power target.
 

Condorboy

Reputable
Jan 30, 2016
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That should still be okay, Seasonic makes a decent unit. Both CPUs are within the same rough power category.

If you have an i5-6500 now, do you have a Z class board for overclocking?

Most you can reasonably expect to pull out of a 6700k is about 150W, and that is with some pretty extreme cooling. If you are going for a mild overclock, probably closer to 100W peak.

Only caveat would be if you have one of the very high end GTX1080 with more than the standard single 8-pin. The stock card is only 180W, but there are some out there that take dual 8-pins and have a much higher power target.
I don't have a z170 chipset board yet, but I will get one when I upgrade to the 6700k. One more question, If I only moderately OC my i7 to say 4.2 GHz while moderately overclocking my 1080, should that be good? I don't care about huge overclocks on my components. I am just trying to decide if upgrading to the Seasonic 600w unit is worth from the 520W I got now.
 

King_V

Illustrious
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While it was a good unit in its day, for modern systems, especially if, as you say, you're planning on pushing it with an overclock on both CPU and GPU, I'd recommend going with a Seasonic FOCUS model. 550W would be sufficient if you weren't overclocking, but 650W if you plan to overclock.

The FOCUS is a more modern design than the S12ii, and better capable of handling how modern systems draw power.
 
Solution

Eximo

Titan
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If you are buying CPU and board you might as well just jump to 8th or 9th gen. Unless you are specifically looking for used bargains.

4.2Ghz is the CPU's target boost speed, so not really an overclock. You can force it to that speed though. 4.5Ghz is probably reasonable without much additional voltage.

I can't really say what the end power requirements of a GTX1080 are. I've set mine to max power target, but I also water cooled it, and I have an 850W supply. Let me see if I can find some data on overclocked power requirements for it.
 

Eximo

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Ah, Tom's did a nice review with good equipment and a founder's (reference) card:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-pascal,4572-10.html

So, based on their numbers (nearly 400W peak, 200W average overclocked), overclocking with a 520W supply would be a bit risky. CPU only, sure, would probably leave the GPU alone until you can replace the power supply with a higher wattage unit.