GTX650 power requirement?

[Brynn]

Hi All,

I'm considering replacing my current 3870 with a GTX 650 and I'm trying to find out if I'll be OK with my current (good quality) 400W power supply. The homepage of the product (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4359#ov) says "System power supply requirement: 400W". Can I take that as gospel and stop worrying? If not, please bear with me and read on.

I compared the two GPUs here:
http://www.hwcompare.com/13574/geforce-gtx-650-vs-radeon-hd-3870-512mb/
This chart shows that the 650 actually consumes less power than the 3870.

I have the following questions:
1.) Am I reading this chart right, and if so, is this result realistic/reliable?
2.) If my system is running fine at the moment, and I'm replacing the GPU with one that supposedly consumes less power, will I be safe power wise?
3.) Can I inadvertently damage my system if I test it with the old PSU and new GPU?

I also plugged my system parameters into a couple of online power supply calculators I found here in the stickies. The total power of my system is well under 400W at peak utilization according to them (old CPU makes a big difference I suppose).

Current config:
- Gigabyte EP45-DS3L motherboard
- Intel Core 2 Duo 7300 2,66Ghz
- ATI Radeon 3870 512MB
- 4 GB RAM

Thanks!

 

[ASHISH65]

Have you already brought gtx 650?

 

[yialanliu]

No need to worry, the GTX 650 really only need like 65 watts since it's the same as the 640, just with gddr5, the extra wattage is just for the gddr5 vs ddr3 and that really isn't a huge power guzzler.

 

[Brynn]

Have you already brought gtx 650?

Nope, I haven't, I'm planning to buy it next week. Why?

 

[ASHISH65]

Get hd 7750 instead of gtx 650.it performs better than gtx 650 and consumes just 43w at peak so it will work with your psu.

 

[ASHISH65]

Do not use hw compare it doesnot shows real difference only it shows benchmark according to specs.

 

[Brynn]

Ah... This NVIDIA vs ATI thing is driving me nuts! I considered the 7750 first simply because my current GPU is ATI and it's been working perfectly for years. But then ppl told me I should go for an equivalent Nvidia instead and showed me hwcompare... So after a week of limbo I finally made up my mind but it seems my decision was based on a not so reliable source! As far as I can tell by the product pages the only difference is that the 650 has 1100 Mhz clock speed, and the 7750 only 880. Doesn't that make the 650 a better choice?

I'll do some more reading on these two before I buy.

Thanks for the PSU-related replies! Looks like either GPU will be fine with my current setup. Phew!

 

[ASHISH65]

Both are very close in performance in some games amd hd 7750 wins and in some gtx 650.

 

[ASHISH65]

See these review for comparasion- http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2012/10/04/evga-geforce-gtx-650-1gb-review/1

 

[djangoringo]

You're fine with that psu, a decent psu 400w like yours will do for a 650 gtx.
The 650 has a maximum gfx power of 65W.
Here's an e.g. : http://tpucdn.com/reviews/KFA2/GTX_650_EX_OC/images/power_peak.gif

The 650 is better than the 7750 : http://tpucdn.com/reviews/EVGA/GTX_670_FTW_Signature_2/images/perfrel.gif
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/KFA2/GTX_650_EX_OC/images/bf3_1280_800.gif

 

[Brynn]

Best answer selected by Brynn.