GTX 970 not getting enough power?

[DrSteveBrule]

So I recently purchased this GTX 970 from my local Microcenter
It was a pretty big upgrade from my 560 Ti, and so far it has been great (for the most part.)

My PSU is a Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 500 Watt. I mostly bought this cause I was giving away remnants of a previous build (including a PSU) to a friend and therefore had to reluctantly purchase a cheap new one... which I am pretty sure has come back to haunt me.

I get weird FPS issues sometimes (mostly in CS:GO, or perhaps most noticeably) where after playing for awhile the FPS will drop from the constant 250-299 FPS to 130-180 FPS. The weirder part is that this can be "fixed" by alt+tabbing out and back in, as when I alt tab back into the game, I hear my PSU's fan "revv up" and my FPS returns to normal for the time being. I know that it is the PSU fan because it makes this "revving" noise whenever I start my PC (which as far as I know is pretty common for PSU's.)

TL;DR: Bought a new 970, FPS sometimes drops, PSU fan "revvs up," FPS is temporarily restored. My PSU is faulty, right? Am I damaging anything right now by using the system with this PSU? Thanks.

 

[Outlander_04]

you are right that that psu is junk

 

[clutchc]

The fan revving up simply means the temp of the PSU is increasing. That could be due to the card suddenly demanding more power. Not necessarily the fault of the PSU. Could still be something else causing the sudden drop in apparent performance. The PSU is just reacting.

On the other hand, if your PSU doesn't come with a variable speed fan, then it should never change sped. Doing so would indicate that the fan is defective. As temps rise, the PSU may limit it power output.

 

[DrSteveBrule]

The fan revving up simply means the temp of the PSU is increasing. That could be due to the card suddenly demanding more power. Not necessarily the fault of the PSU. Could still be something else causing the sudden drop in apparent performance. The PSU is just reacting.

On the other hand, if your PSU doesn't come with a variable speed fan, then it should never change sped. Doing so would indicate that the fan is defective. As temps rise, the PSU may limit it power output.

So what measures should I take to further investigate the problem/solve it? I am honestly still pretty convinced it is the fault of the PSU, that or possibly the GPU was defective out of the box, but that seems less likely...

 

[clutchc]

The fan revving up simply means the temp of the PSU is increasing. That could be due to the card suddenly demanding more power. Not necessarily the fault of the PSU. Could still be something else causing the sudden drop in apparent performance. The PSU is just reacting.

On the other hand, if your PSU doesn't come with a variable speed fan, then it should never change sped. Doing so would indicate that the fan is defective. As temps rise, the PSU may limit it power output.

So what measures should I take to further investigate the problem/solve it? I am honestly still pretty convinced it is the fault of the PSU, that or possibly the GPU was defective out of the box, but that seems less likely...

It probably is the PSU. I can't find any reference to a variable speed fan for that PSU. Therefore, it would appear the fan is defective if it changes speed on its own. But what is worse, the two +12V rails are only 18A apiece. More like a 350W PSU than a 500W PSU. You shouldn't be using that PSU with that card anyway. Good excuse to buy a new one.