GTX 970 500w PSU Essential?

[MrChris360HD]

Im looking into a GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4G Edition, do you have to have a minimum of 500w power supply or is this not essential?

 

[junkeymonkey]

I guess the manufacture gives a little overhead , but that's just for the card at a minimum then you still got the rest of your system drawing power from the unit .. so now where are you at with it ???

 

[Alex Kelly]

Yeah I'd suggest at least a quality 450w unit. I'd personally go for atleast 600W as it allows for future upgrades and heavy overclocking.

 

[RazerZ]

From Guru3D's review:

Measured power consumption GTX 970

System in IDLE = 120 Watts
System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 274 Watts
Difference (GPU load) = 154 Watts
Add average IDLE wattage ~10 Watts
Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 164 Watts
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is Guru3D's power supply recommendation:

GeForce GTX 970 or 980 - On your average system the card requires you to have a 500 Watt power supply unit.

Make sure you have a quality 500+ W PSU. 500W is technically not needed, but it leaves you with good headroom to spare.

 

[junkeymonkey]

ya, I was going to say now a days I cant see going less then a quality 650w

 

[MrChris360HD]

well the total wattage is under 400w full load so idk

 

[RazerZ]

Well what PSU did you have in mind (or already have)? There are some decent 400-450W PSUs that will handle the upgrade fine, such as a Seasonic or Rosewill Capstone.

 

[MrChris360HD]

evga 430w I already have

 

[MrChris360HD]

this is the full build, I already have the PSU, RAM, Storage, and optical drive

 

[MrChris360HD]

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/dKkQBm

 

[junkeymonkey]

well you can use a unit that you worry about things like this with it or you get a unit you don't worry at all and can through anything on the board you want with out coming here and asking advice -- that's all up to you

 

[RazerZ]

Your PSU only has one six pin PCIE cable. The 970 requires 1 x6pin and 1x 8pin PCIE to run the card.

I would avoid running a molex to six pin adapter to power the 970 since your PSU is mediocre quality and really isn't meant for use in high end systems.

I recommend looking into a new PSU.

 

[junkeymonkey]

this unit was $99 after rebate 5 min. ago but still a deal

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438017

 

[RazerZ]

Here are a few PSUs I would consider:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/parts/compare/seasonic-power-supply-ss620gm2%2Cxfx-power-supply-p1550sxxb9%2Cxfx-power-supply-p1650xxxb9/

Includes a non modular, semi modular, and fully modular PSU, the cheapest being non modular.

 

[junkeymonkey]

for what a office rig??

 

[RazerZ]

What do you mean?

The ones I listed would be a good fit for his rig.

@OP forgot to ask, but do you plan to sli the 970?

 

[junkeymonkey]

'' @OP forgot to ask, but do you plan to sli the 970? ''

well now your back to what I said over this

'' well you can use a unit that you worry about things like this with it or you get a unit you don't worry at all and can through anything on the board you want with out coming here and asking advice -- that's all up to you ''


buy once , not once just to find you need to buy again cause the cheap low end / powered you now got and find it may be a issue

whats so hard to understand on that??

 

[space6011]

I would say get a good quality PSU, better to have more power than not enough. Not to mention a faulty PSU could damage other components. Not saying that this EVGA one will, but it's worth thinking about.

 

[RazerZ]

'' @OP forgot to ask, but do you plan to sli the 970? ''

well now your back to what I said over this

'' well you can use a unit that you worry about things like this with it or you get a unit you don't worry at all and can through anything on the board you want with out coming here and asking advice -- that's all up to you ''


buy once , not once just to find you need to buy again cause the cheap low end / powered you now got and find it may be a issue

whats so hard to understand on that??

The OP asked what PSU he needed for one GTX 970. I answered his question. I see you're not a native English speaker, so I wasn't sure what you were trying to say, but I guess you meant to buy a PSU ready for 970 sli. Sorry I must have read over that.

On the presumption that he's running one 970, a solid 550W unit would work great. There's no reason to pay for a 750W if he's only using one card. That's why I asked the OP if he plans to run multiple cards, rather than posting answers based on speculation.