[SOLVED] Is 220w power supply enough to run gtx 970 by itself?

Jul 2, 2019
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So I recently got a great deal on a gtx 970 and decided to upgrade my prebuilt HP using it. As you can probably guess the PCs power supply is absolute junk and cant run the card. I was thinking of using the power supply from another prebuilt I have to solely run the graphics card. Is 220w enough for gtx 970 with no other components?

The exact card is a PNY Geforce GTX 970 4GB.
 
Solution
This would work, and would a lot better than that W1 unit.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $59.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-12 16:50 EDT-0400



But this, for an extra ten bucks, if you can figure a way to swing it, would be a LOT better than that. And I'd recommend it being worth the effort to figure out a way to budget for it.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($69.90 @ Amazon)
Total: $69.90
Prices include shipping...
There are no 220w power supplies that are sufficiently well designed, or of good enough quality, that you should even TRY to use them with a card like that. Get a proper power supply that is decent quality and has enough capacity for your graphics card and the rest of the system. Being cheap is a good way to end up with toasted hardware.
 
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Jul 2, 2019
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There are no 220w power supplies that are sufficiently well designed, or of good enough quality, that you should even TRY to use them with a card like that. Get a proper power supply that is decent quality and has enough capacity for your graphics card and the rest of the system. Being cheap is a good way to end up with toasted hardware.
You definitely have a point. I'll probably go for a 600w Evga power supply then. Should work perfectly.

Thanks!
 
So I recently got a great deal on a gtx 970 and decided to upgrade my prebuilt HP using it. As you can probably guess the PCs power supply is absolute junk and cant run the card. I was thinking of using the power supply from another prebuilt I have to solely run the graphics card. Is 220w enough for gtx 970 with no other components?

To be fair, the HP power supply's aren't actually junk. They just don't have more power than what the PC they came in need.

What HP do you have? About 90% of them are proprietary and don't use ATX form factor.

You definitely have a point. I'll probably go for a 600w Evga power supply then. Should work perfectly.

Thanks!

"A 600W EVGA"? Well... that narrows it down to about a dozen different models ranging from fire hazard to way more than you need.

That's like I saying "I'll get a Hyundai." Which one? An Accent or a Genesis? Same idea.
 
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Jul 2, 2019
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I have the HP Prodesk 600 G1 Tower with Intel i5-4570 and 8GB Ram.

The power supply I got is the Evga 600w W1 80+ Rating.

Also I just realized that thanks to HPs proprietary power supplies my evga (already ordered) wont work without a 24pin to 6pin power adapter. Because the 600 G1s motherboard doesn't use standard 24pin power, it uses some 6pin power and a 4pin molex.

This solution should work, but theres only one way to find out. Power supply will be here in 4 days. 24pin to 6pin adapter will be here in 2.
 
Actually, from what I'm seeing, there are currently only four EVGA 600w models available on the new market, at least through PCPP. The EVGA BR, BT, B1 and W1, none of which I'd particularly recommend as exemplary examples of what you want to see in a power supply, although maybe the BT models are ok for less demanding systems according to Aris reviews. I don't like them them though. I think they are easily surpassed by far superior models by spending only a little more.

If you're going to look at EVGA models, I'd personally recommend that you stick to the G2, G3, GQ, P2 and T2 models. But, like JG already said, most of those HP systems were highly proprietary, meaning they have their own style of ATX and CPU (EPS/others) power connectors that are not compatible with standard ATX designs. It also means that the physical SIZE of the PSU may be different, and have different mounting hole locations as well. In sum, not interchangeable with anything other than what they intended to be there and usually requiring replacement of the motherboard, case and power supply, all three, to get to a standard configuration. Generally not worth it, but in some cases, possibly, if your CPU and memory are otherwise still capable enough for your needs.

It might be possible to find a similar proprietary unit with higher capacity or some adapters to frankenmod the configuration, but both are probably poor choices. There really aren't any easy or good options in this situation that don't involve a reasonably large expenditure. Knowing EXACTLY what you have, in terms of the prebuilt system and PSU model, would go a long way towards determining what you actually have to do to get where you want to be.

Edit: Read your post, might work, this post still probably applies, so I'll leave it for posterity. :)
 
I have the HP Prodesk 600 G1 Tower with Intel i5-4570 and 8GB Ram.

The power supply I got is the Evga 600w W1 80+ Rating.

Also I just realized that thanks to HPs proprietary power supplies my evga (already ordered) wont work without a 24pin to 6pin power adapter. Because the 600 G1s motherboard doesn't use standard 24pin power, it uses some 6pin power and a 4pin molex.

This solution should work, but theres only one way to find out. Power supply will be here in 4 days. 24pin to 6pin adapter will be here in 2.

You do realize that the EVGA W1 is not a very good PSU, right? https://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/02/19/evga_430w_power_supply_review/9

Why would you order a PSU without asking if it's any good first? Why would you order a PSU without knowing if it's going to work first? I mean.. that's what the forums are for. You ask questions, you become informed, you make the right choices.

HP does tend to use proprietary connectors, but in the pictures I'm seeing online, it seems that the Prodesk 600 G1 tower doesn't even have a standard PSU mounting area. Can you measure the width and height of your current PSU? If the back of the PSU (the part that mounts to the chassis) is 86mm x 150mm, you should be fine with an ATX PSU and just buying an adapter cable.

BTW: Even with the adapter, you're going to get a "515 Failed PSU Fan" error every time you boot up your machine.
 
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Why would you order a PSU without knowing if it's going to work first? I mean.. that's what the forums are for.

For me, this is one of the most valid questions I could ever imagine putting to some of the threads we see here. You do this FIRST, so you don't do THIS later.

2457004-crying2.jpg
 
Jul 2, 2019
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You do realize that the EVGA W1 is not a very good PSU, right? https://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/02/19/evga_430w_power_supply_review/9

Why would you order a PSU without asking if it's any good first? Why would you order a PSU without knowing if it's going to work first? I mean.. that's what the forums are for. You ask questions, you become informed, you make the right choices.

HP does tend to use proprietary connectors, but in the pictures I'm seeing online, it seems that the Prodesk 600 G1 tower doesn't even have a standard PSU mounting area. Can you measure the width and height of your current PSU? If the back of the PSU (the part that mounts to the chassis) is 86mm x 150mm, you should be fine with an ATX PSU and just buying an adapter cable.

BTW: Even with the adapter, you're going to get a "515 Failed PSU Fan" error every time you boot up your machine.
I've seen the Evga 600w W1 in several build guides. It was also recommended to me by a friend. He has a PC that's been running on it for almost 2 years now with no issues. So I doubt that psu is gonna be significantly worse than other options.

Also the 24pin to 6pin adapter I bought has a special wire configuration the shorts the psu fan. It claims to avoid the fan error but I'll have to test that.
 
Jul 2, 2019
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I've seen the Evga 600w W1 in several build guides. It was also recommended to me by a friend. He has a PC that's been running on it for almost 2 years now with no issues. So I doubt that psu is gonna be significantly worse than other options.

Also the 24pin to 6pin adapter I bought has a special wire configuration the shorts the psu fan. It claims to avoid the fan error but I'll have to test that.
You do realize that the EVGA W1 is not a very good PSU, right? https://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/02/19/evga_430w_power_supply_review/9

Why would you order a PSU without asking if it's any good first? Why would you order a PSU without knowing if it's going to work first? I mean.. that's what the forums are for. You ask questions, you become informed, you make the right choices.

HP does tend to use proprietary connectors, but in the pictures I'm seeing online, it seems that the Prodesk 600 G1 tower doesn't even have a standard PSU mounting area. Can you measure the width and height of your current PSU? If the back of the PSU (the part that mounts to the chassis) is 86mm x 150mm, you should be fine with an ATX PSU and just buying an adapter cable.

BTW: Even with the adapter, you're going to get a "515 Failed PSU Fan" error every time you boot up your machine.
As for mounting the psu, your right it. The case doesn't have standard mounting points. But the evga 600w w1 does fit in the psu spot in terms of dimensions. So I'll probably end up using some strong double sided adhesive or drilling new mounting points into the case.
 
Done properly, making new mounting holes is the better option, the only option really.

As far as there being build guides using the W1, well there are build guides out there that recommend using the older Thermaltake TR2, a variety of Raidmax power supplies and Aerocool Strike-X units, among others, none of which would be used by a smart builder or one who was concerned about the quality and reliability of the unit they were installing in their system.

Certainly that unit will work, but for how long, and what might it damage during the time it does last? Other units using the same HEC platform have plainly failed testing during reviews and we've seen much higher than normal failure rates or problems with those W1 units when paired with anything more demanding than an internet browsing or basic office system that won't see much continuous high demand power usage.

This thread tells you about all you really need to know about that unit, in lieu of the fact that nobody has ever felt like it made any sense to do an actual review of that model and the manufacturer was not inclined to send out review samples, most likely because they KNEW there would be bad feedback as a result.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/sho...c6dd296939f1e339849c45d19&p=120250#post120250
 
Jul 2, 2019
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Done properly, making new mounting holes is the better option, the only option really.

As far as there being build guides using the W1, well there are build guides out there that recommend using the older Thermaltake TR2, a variety of Raidmax power supplies and Aerocool Strike-X units, among others, none of which would be used by a smart builder or one who was concerned about the quality and reliability of the unit they were installing in their system.

Certainly that unit will work, but for how long, and what might it damage during the time it does last? Other units using the same HEC platform have plainly failed testing during reviews and we've seen much higher than normal failure rates or problems with those W1 units when paired with anything more demanding than an internet browsing or basic office system that won't see much continuous high demand power usage.

This thread tells you about all you really need to know about that unit, in lieu of the fact that nobody has ever felt like it made any sense to do an actual review of that model and the manufacturer was not inclined to send out review samples, most likely because they KNEW there would be bad feedback as a result.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/sho...c6dd296939f1e339849c45d19&p=120250#post120250
Alright thanks for the feedback. I'm relatively new to PC building and your feedback helps. As for the 600W Evga, I can easily return. I got it from Amazon and their return policy is very lenient. So what would you recommend as a replacement. I need at least 550W for under $60-65.

Thanks!
 
This would work, and would a lot better than that W1 unit.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $59.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-12 16:50 EDT-0400



But this, for an extra ten bucks, if you can figure a way to swing it, would be a LOT better than that. And I'd recommend it being worth the effort to figure out a way to budget for it.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($69.90 @ Amazon)
Total: $69.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-12 16:52 EDT-0400
 
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Solution
Jul 2, 2019
18
0
10
This would work, and would a lot better than that W1 unit.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $59.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-12 16:50 EDT-0400



But this, for an extra ten bucks, if you can figure a way to swing it, would be a LOT better than that. And I'd recommend it being worth the effort to figure out a way to budget for it.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($69.90 @ Amazon)
Total: $69.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-12 16:52 EDT-0400
Those seem like good options. But previously you mentioned that you'd recommend the Evga GQ series. I just found a great deal on a 500w GQ. Only $44.99. You think that would be good?