Question How bad of a bottleneck with my i7-4770K and is my PSU going to be suitable? (6900XT)

[Symbolite]

Current build is as follows...

MSI Z87-G45 Gaming
i7-4770K
12 GB DDR3
512GB SSD
Radeon R9 390 (dead)
EVGA SuperNova NEX750B PSU

Long story short, R9 390 died. Running on i7 4770K atm for general web browsing but can't game. Options were replace GPU with something similar or fast track building a new PC that I was planning to do in a year or so. I decided I wanted to build a new PC but I just don't have the money available to go all in just yet.

Decided on the 6900XT after finding an amazingly good deal when I was looking at the 6700-6800's from AMD and 3070-3080's from NVIDIA. I know there will be a huge bottleneck in my PC as it currently stands and I'm wondering how bad it'll be and if the bottlenecking will hurt the card at all or is that totally safe? And possibly the biggest thing, do I splurge a little early and upgrade the PSU now too? or can that 750W handle things in this old system for now? Figure with the bottlenecking it potentially uses less power (is that even a correct assumption to make)? In the new build I'll probably aim for a 1000W just for future proofing. I just need a few months to save up some cash to go all in with the rest of the new PC build.

 

[Dave8671]

I have a Nvidia 1660 gtx and I been playing over 10 games with this card with a Intel 8500 cpu. 600 watt power supply. Though I was never a power user. I still have a HD PC monitor.

 

[DSzymborski]

Current build is as follows...

MSI Z87-G45 Gaming
i7-4770K
12 GB DDR3
512GB SSD
Radeon R9 390 (dead)
EVGA SuperNova NEX750B PSU

Long story short, R9 390 died. Running on i7 4770K atm for general web browsing but can't game. Options were replace GPU with something similar or fast track building a new PC that I was planning to do in a year or so. I decided I wanted to build a new PC but I just don't have the money available to go all in just yet.

Decided on the 6900XT after finding an amazingly good deal when I was looking at the 6700-6800's from AMD and 3070-3080's from NVIDIA. I know there will be a huge bottleneck in my PC as it currently stands and I'm wondering how bad it'll be and if the bottlenecking will hurt the card at all or is that totally safe? And possibly the biggest thing, do I splurge a little early and upgrade the PSU now too? or can that 750W handle things in this old system for now? Figure with the bottlenecking it potentially uses less power (is that even a correct assumption to make)? In the new build I'll probably aim for a 1000W just for future proofing. I just need a few months to save up some cash to go all in with the rest of the new PC build.

I would absolutely replace the PSU now; those first-generation EVGA Supernovas weren't particularly good PSUs, especially not in 2022. The NEX PSUs used an inexpensive FSP Aurum platform at the time that was still group-regulated. Now, it was highly competent group regulation, far better than some of the junk you see as in low-end Thermaltakes and Cooler Masters, but it was still group regulation. EVGA didn't really have their golden age of PSUs until they partnered with Seasonic and Super Flower. Now, this PSU isn't actually dangerous or anything, but I'm not sure I'd trust it with the transient loads of recent GPUs and since you're going to be upgrading anyway, it makes all sorts of sense to do that now.

 

[boju]

https://www.techspot.com/review/679-intel-haswell-core-i7-4770k/page13.html

164w

https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/powercolor-radeon-rx-6900-xt-red-devil-review,6.html

322w

= 486w, + around 50w for motherboard, ram, drives etc. Total 536w, or there abouts. 35w more for Red Devil version of 6900xt.

750w should be enough but considering it's age and quality, id not risk it being a tier D unit, especially trying to deal with transient spikes from gpu, over current protections.

Article - [psucultists] PSU tier list rev. 14.8 (Final Update Jul '21)

PSU Tier List 4.0 rev. 14.8 (outdated) Last Update: 12-07-2021 Legend : Gray - EoL/obsolete and/or otherwise not recommended for purchase. Green - small form-factor (gold and blue colors are disregarded due to scarcity of SFX PSUs) Gold - best units in the tier (includes requirements for blue...

forums.tomshardware.com

I would sort your psu situation first before running your new gpu.

As far as bottleneck is concerned regarding hardware damage? If that's what you're asking, such a thing is not possible. Just wont get most out of the card but will still enjoy a great deal improvement over 390 by great margin.

 

[Symbolite]

I would absolutely replace the PSU now; those first-generation EVGA Supernovas weren't particularly good PSUs, especially not in 2022. The NEX PSUs used an inexpensive FSP Aurum platform at the time that was still group-regulated. Now, it was highly competent group regulation, far better than some of the junk you see as in low-end Thermaltakes and Cooler Masters, but it was still group regulation. EVGA didn't really have their golden age of PSUs until they partnered with Seasonic and Super Flower. Now, this PSU isn't actually dangerous or anything, but I'm not sure I'd trust it with the transient loads of recent GPUs and since you're going to be upgrading anyway, it makes all sorts of sense to do that now.

I would sort your psu situation first before running your new gpu.

As far as bottleneck is concerned regarding hardware damage? If that's what you're asking, such a thing is not possible. Just wont get most out of the card but will still enjoy a great deal improvement over 390 by great margin.

So looks like the general consensus here is that the card will be fine being bottlenecked by CPU temporarily and that I should totally upgrade PSU now. Better safe than sorry I guess!
Sounds like 750W is just going to cut it a little too close so there is potential there to damage the GPU.

 

[boju]

Corsair RM850x if looking for psu suggestions. Im running 11700k (default turbo 4.6) and 3080Ti with that psu. Additions being 5 fans, 3 nvme drives, 2x 16gb ram. Had it for awhile now and hasn't missed a beat. If want more wattage look at Hx series.

750w would be enough for your current system but yeah id go higher for piece of mind, upgrading for future more powerful parts.

Im using this case if interested. Excellent to work with. https://lian-li.com/product/lancool-ii-mesh/

 

[Symbolite]

Corsair RM850x if looking for psu suggestions. Im running 11700k (default turbo 4.6) and 3080Ti with that psu. Additions being 5 fans, 3 nvme drives, 2x 16gb ram. Had it for awhile now and hasn't missed a beat. If want more wattage look at Hx series.

750w would be enough for your current system but yeah id go higher for piece of mind, upgrading for future more powerful parts.

Im using this case if interested. Excellent to work with. https://lian-li.com/product/lancool-ii-mesh/

Thanks, I will probably go for a 1000W PSU just to prepare for the future. I think I saw a Corsair one in the same series you suggested there.

Don't need a case atm luckily, have a Phanteks Enthoo Pro but I wouldn't be opposed to changing out the case if one day I wanted to go nuts trying to make my setup look pretty but right now on a budget haha

 

[Novacore676]

Your 4770k will dramatically bottleneck your gpu. How do I know? From 2017 to 2019 I ran 4770k with a 1080ti. I upgraded to 9900k and 3000mhz ram. I saw anywhere from 15 to 35 fps upgrade on pretty much every game.

Now, I believe I'm having the same issue with my 9900k and my 4090. So I'm going with 13900k this week to see if I see the same gains.

 

[boju]

Your 4770k will dramatically bottleneck your gpu. How do I know? From 2017 to 2019 I ran 4770k with a 1080ti. I upgraded to 9900k and 3000mhz ram. I saw anywhere from 15 to 35 fps upgrade on pretty much every game.

Now, I believe I'm having the same issue with my 9900k and my 4090. So I'm going with 13900k this week to see if I see the same gains.

Op is aware of that, just doesn't have the money yet to go all in so current cpu will have to do for now. Their query based on bottleneck was if it was possibly damaging. Anyways, nice comparison.

 

[Mr_Jingles]

Hello there,

I have the same issue here, i'm running quite the same build:

ASUS Maximus VI Hero C2
i7-4770K
24 GB DDR3 - gskill TridentX
1ToGB SSD
Radeon R9 290x (still alive)
Corsair AX760i platinium 750W

I understand that i will be hardly bottlenecked with such an old CPU but i will change it maybe next year,

Do you think this Corsair PSU can be risky too ? It was a platinium but maybe to old ? I wanted to wait next year to upgrate it, with CPU and motherload, unless you tell me it may be a risk for the GPU so as Symbolite ?

Thanks !