How much power do I need?

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OliRox990

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Oct 30, 2014
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I want to upgrade my graphics card and I'm worried I won't have enough power.

My rig is currently:
i5 4670k
Gigabye H87-HD3
Corsair Vengeance LP 2 x 4GB
Asus HD7770 2 GDDR5
Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB SSD
WD 1TB Caviar Blue
Corsair Carbide Spec-03
And a really bad quality 600W PSU.

I want to upgrade to a GTX 970 which needs a lot more power and I'm worried my PSU won't be able to cope. No matter what I want to replace the power supply but how big do I really need it. I would like one which will never have trouble with power even under maximum load. Also it's just personal preference but I would like the PSU to be modular or at least semi-modular and 80+ of any standard. Does anyone have any recommendations for PSUs under or around the £80 mark. Thanks for your help!
 
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OliRox990 - GTX 970 [I own her, just for 4 days :)] isn't really that power hungry, like 480 or 580 were. HQ 500W PSU will run Your system "as as". I'd go after some 650W HQ PSU, if I were You. Under 90 eur if I may, I'd suggest following:

Corsair RM650 [runns passive most of the time, actually, they never turn "on" besides some serious gaming]
Seasonic S12G-750 [this one's a classics]
Seasonic S12G-650 [this one will do just purrfect]

Or You could try one of the EVGA Super Nova PSUs.

I'm pretty sure there are some better PSUs for the buck on the market, but I'm using only these "lines" with all of the mid-high end Enermaxes. But people don't like them, so I don't suggest them, though I use them a lot.
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With the 970 at this point so long as you aren't running SLI and such you can get away with 600 with that setup I think. If you want a little head room I have a 750 running with the following:

i5 4670k Overclocked
16 gigs Corsair vengeance
3 SSD
2 HHDs
Gtx 970
DVD rom

I was running this on a 5 year old 600 W. I got the 750 cause I am eventually going to go SLI with the video card for my wifes computer.
 
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OliRox990 - GTX 970 [I own her, just for 4 days :)] isn't really that power hungry, like 480 or 580 were. HQ 500W PSU will run Your system "as as". I'd go after some 650W HQ PSU, if I were You. Under 90 eur if I may, I'd suggest following:

Corsair RM650 [runns passive most of the time, actually, they never turn "on" besides some serious gaming]
Seasonic S12G-750 [this one's a classics]
Seasonic S12G-650 [this one will do just purrfect]

Or You could try one of the EVGA Super Nova PSUs.

I'm pretty sure there are some better PSUs for the buck on the market, but I'm using only these "lines" with all of the mid-high end Enermaxes. But people don't like them, so I don't suggest them, though I use them a lot.
 
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Solution



your pc would only consume less than 500watts so its a safe zone getting a 500watts psu .. I will recommend seasonic psu ..has good warranty , quality psu that is soo realiable

Here's a lnk bro Seasonic M12ii available in 620 and 520 watts ..its semi modular http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151093
 
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Thanks guys, you've helped narrow it down a little but which of these three would you think best (They're not too expensive and are still high performance)

Corsair CXM series
Corsair CSM series
Be Quiet L8 series

Also as to overclocking how much does anyone think I would need power wise if I overclocked with a H80i?
 
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tried 970 at clients Fortron Aurum Xilenser 400 just to find out, well, it won't boot up, 12V rail has insufficent current [amps], therefore it doesn't "combine" enough watts [volts x amps = watts].

The GPU itself doesn't need more than 150 watts, even less, but in order for Your system to boot up, it checks out the 12V rail. I've had this issue when I hit my 580 GTX, she was so power hungry. Wouldn't boot up on 650W PSU from Corsair 80 silver [just checked, he was bronze, not silver]. Bought up HX 850 and ran just fine. She was hooked up on 2 x 8 pins 12V rails. On contrary, GTX 680 only needed 1 x 8 pin and 1 x 6 pin, and 650Watts were just fine for her.

So in general, yes, You're totally right and Your assumption is correct. Overall PSU power is sufficent, but segmented power isn't, at least not for the Strigx to boot up.

This though, might be the case of Aurum only. On the other hand I'm not so sure, that there's some other gold 400W PSU that just might have enough juice to power GTX 970 with their more amps-wise rich 12V rail. Combined power of both rails is roughly 390 watts, which is impossible in reality, it's pure 12V rail "capability", it's -100 watts, what is 300 watts per two rails, where 8 pin has theoretical capability of 170 watts but it just doesn't cut out the chase.

OliRox990 - from the ones You chose I'd go after bQt.
 
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Thanks but I've also been looking at the RM series to now as well as the Coolermaster GM series. I might go with the RM because it's quiet optimised and gold rating but what does everyone else think?
 
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OliRox990 - I love RM :) am using them literally "everywhere". Though, many experienced people will tell You Seasonic, mainly Platinum are much better PSUs - they pack better technology for the buck. Though, I just love RMs :). They are quiet, and I've put 0 to RMA to this today, so I'm really happy with them. And they also look cool. I kind of got used to color combo black, yellow and red. It's kind of sexy [RM is yellow, Crucial are yellow, and mobo is "most" of the time red].
 
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I prefer Corsair and between the: Corsair CXM series and Corsair CSM series there is a bit of difference. The CS is bronze rated 80 Plus and the CX is gold rated 80 Plus. Which means the CSM series is a bit better and thus more expensive. Both come in Modular and non-modular forms (meaning you can take wires out that you don't need). For an explanation of the 80 Plus ratings you can get that here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_Plus
 
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I knew the difference I was sort of asking whether the price difference was worthwhile. Also I saw the RM series (Also gold rated and modular) and the Coolermaster GM series which I think is bronze rated but is definitely modular.
 
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Yeah,
I think I've decided on the RM650 which is Tier 2
 
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What does everyone think about the Seasonic GM series, XFX 650W XXX or XFX 750W XXX in comparison to the RM650? I can't get the RM750 for sure but apparently the RM doesn't use very high quality components. I'm not sure if it's worth it for the silence though.
 
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