Question GPU power requirements ?

[tbgjlb]

hello all.
its that time of year and a possible upgrade is on the horizon , probably the gpu . It is on a system that was built 3 / 4 years ago and is still quite decent but upgrades would be nice. looking around one issue would seem to be the power needed for a new gpu, I have a 550w psu so how can I find out if this is enough with regards to the power supply on a gpu and the rest of the system.

regards
tom

 

[DSzymborski]

Need to know the *exact* power supply, not just the wattage.

 

[--SID--]

What's your CPU, motherboard and RAM?

 

[tbgjlb]

ok here goes.
asrock z370 pro4 mobo
8gb ram
intel core i3 8350k cpu " 8th gen , 1151 socket "
crucial mx500 2bg ssd
nvidia gtx 1060 6gb gpu
evga 550g3 supernova psu
1440p 165 hz monitor

I hope this is all the info needed

 

[CountMike]

ok here goes.
asrock z370 pro4 mobo
8gb ram
intel core i3 8350k cpu " 8th gen , 1151 socket "
crucial mx500 2bg ssd
nvidia gtx 1060 6gb gpu
evga 550g3 supernova psu
1440p 165 hz monitor

I hope this is all the info needed

What will "New GPU" be as all hinges on it ?

 

[--SID--]

evga 550g3 supernova

RTX 3060 Ti/4070/RX 6700 XT is no problem for this PSU but

intel core i3 8350k

is your limiting factor.

8gb ram

isn't much either and needs an upgrade too.

 

[geofelt]

The psu wattage you will need is largely gated by the graphics card you pick and how many psu connectors it needs.
Here is one suggested table:

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/Accessory/Power_Supply/Manual/RECOMMENDED_PSU_TABLE.pdf

Then, if you can contemplate a gpu upgrade in the future, plan for that.
I would also add extra wattage regardless. Incrementally stronger power supplies may only add $20 or so to go up 100w.
For example, this seasonic focus GX-750 with a 10 year warranty is on sale for $99.

https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-focus-plus-750-gold-ssr-750fx-750w/p/N82E16817151187?Item=N82E16817151187

But the GX-850 is only $20 more:

https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-focus-plus-850-gold-ssr-850fx-850w/p/17-151-188?Item=17-151-188&cm_sp=product-_-from-price-options

Overprovisioning a psu is not bad. A psu only uses the wattage demanded of it, regardless of the max capability.

 

[tbgjlb]

thanks for the help, I'll look at the links asap.

SID when you say cpu limiting factor in what way.
ram upgrade is also on the cards.
I'm leaning towards the 4060 but there are still questions I'm looking into.

 

[thestryker]

SID when you say cpu limiting factor in what way.

It's an older CPU which is 4c/4t so that will definitely be a limiting factor with frame rates (especially minimums) in games no matter what video card you get.

I'm leaning towards the 4060 but there are still questions I'm looking into.

Make sure you look into PCIe 3.0 performance on the 4060 in case that's a limiting factor for games you're looking to play.

 

[tbgjlb]

hi
what is 4c/4t and I'm not sure what is meant by PCie3 performance on the 4060 when the mobo seems to be PCie 4

 

[thestryker]

hi
what is 4c/4t

Your CPU has 4 cores and it doesn't have hyperthreading so can only run 4 threads. It was a SKU differentiation thing Intel did until AMD was competitive again. This limits multithreaded performance and modern games spread out work a lot more. So your CPUs thread limitation combined with older architecture means it may be a point of bottleneck.

I'm not sure what is meant by PCie3 performance on the 4060 when the mobo seems to be PCie 4

Your motherboard most certainly does not support PCIe 4.0 as no Intel desktop CPU until 11th gen supported the standard. The RTX 4060 only has an 8 lane PCIe connection and is designed around PCIe 4.0. Since your system only has PCIe 3.0 it would be operating at half the bandwidth on an already limited card. Due to this it would be worth seeing if anyone has tested the card (hopefully in games you play) at PCIe 3.0 bandwidth to see if there are any performance problems.

 

[tbgjlb]

I kind of thought this would be a relatively easy upgrade which it seems to be getting complicated . can anyone suggest a decent upgrade if possible.