ASUS STRIX GTX 960 4GB on a FSP HEXA 500

[eclipse_]

Can a HEXA 500 handle ASUS STRIX GTX 960 4GB?

The system I currently have (and where 960 would jump in) is:

MoBo: Asus P8H77-M
CPU: i5 3550
GPU (current one): Sapphire 7770 Vapor-X
RAM: 8GBs of DDRIII
PSU: HEXA 500
Fans: 2x120mm (front and back)
Storage: 840 EVO SSD and 2 HDDs

 

[madmatt30]

yes mate itll manage fine.

 

[eclipse_]

Much appreciated mate. How much "wiggle room" do I have for future reference/upgrades? GPUs seem to demand less/same amount of power as their efficiency keeps improving lately ...

 

[madmatt30]

Much appreciated mate. How much "wiggle room" do I have for future reference/upgrades? GPUs seem to demand less/same amount of power as their efficiency keeps improving lately ...

if its a standard hexa & not the + model then not a huge amount of headroom mate as it only has 336w on the 12v rail.
to be fair without a complete new rebuild to a newer board/chipset theres no upgrading that needs to be done anyway imo.
that old i5 is still a great cpu & will go well with the 960.

 

[eclipse_]

Much appreciated mate. How much "wiggle room" do I have for future reference/upgrades? GPUs seem to demand less/same amount of power as their efficiency keeps improving lately ...

if its a standard hexa & not the + model then not a huge amount of headroom mate as it only has 336w on the 12v rail.
to be fair without a complete new rebuild to a newer board/chipset theres no upgrading that needs to be done anyway imo.
that old i5 is still a great cpu & will go well with the 960.

It is a standard HEXA ...

Yeah, I built it on a budget back in early 2013 so it's definitely gonna be on the dated side by now ...

And I realize that 960 will probably be the last upgrade I'll be able to do on this system, and that the next thing will have to be a completely new build ...

Also, what do you think about ASUS' STRIX R9 380 4G ... Would it fit better than the 960, even though the architecture is older the the 960's Maxwell? Would my HEXA be able to handle it, since it's more power hungry then the 960? It's on sale now and I can actually get it for the same price as the 960 ...

Thanks for the help

 

[madmatt30]

the 380 is a better card full stop,cutting it mightly close with the hexa 500w though mate.

What exact model is that ?? there are more than one.

looking at specs the one im seeing has a pair of 6+2 pin connector but only has 336w max available on the 12v.
seeing as those pci-express connector combined can pull 300w it all seems a bit off to me spec wise.
this is from the officianl spec page.

looking around Im then seeing another model with over 400w available on the 12v as below

if yours is badged like the pic above then youre good to go with the 380

 

[eclipse_]

if yours is badged like the pic above then youre good to go with the 380

That's the one, two 12v rails with 36A 408W ... Pardon the dust though

http://i68.tinypic.com/2dbntaa.jpg (linked because the img itself is big)

Also, bear in mind that this PSU is like 4-5 years old ( 1-2 years older than my current system). Surely the power is not all there anymore after all the mileage?

 

[Rogue Leader]

I agree with Madmatt normally it should work fine. Now its age it may be worn a bit, and what will happen is if its worn too much it could shut down on you. Trust me not a good thing but better than if it was a junk PSU and would blow up. If you have stability issues then you should replace the PSU but I wouldn't spend the money yet until you know.

 

[madmatt30]

5 years really doesn't mean much - depends how much usage & how much stress its put under daily.
3-4 hours a day gaming & normal use ,5 years is virtually nothing.
If its been running 12hours a day+ under max loads then yes 5 years is a long time.

The old hexa's were fairly solid quality units, if your daily usage wasn't overly dramatic it should still hold up fine

 

[eclipse_]

Thanks for the advices to the both of you, and to SR-71 Blackbird for giving his opinion by upvoting madmatt30's solution, you've helped a lot.

I'll probably get the 380 in the next few days.