Is 650 watt enough for a GTX 690?

Solution
Wattage of a PSU is irrelevant and wattage recommendations are given for people who don't understand this yet. What matters is having enough +12V power delivery to safely handle it because that is the voltage that is almost purely used by modern graphics cards and CPUs.

For example, a PSU that can reliably deliver at least around 50 amps on the +12V rail (or rails if there are more than one for +12V for a given unit) can cover the 690 along with the rest of a proper system for it. That means most moderate to high quality 600W to 750W and some great around 550W models, but there are many units within that wattage range of inferior quality that are organized more for the 3.3V and especially 5V rails (mostly very old models, but there are...
Wattage of a PSU is irrelevant and wattage recommendations are given for people who don't understand this yet. What matters is having enough +12V power delivery to safely handle it because that is the voltage that is almost purely used by modern graphics cards and CPUs.

For example, a PSU that can reliably deliver at least around 50 amps on the +12V rail (or rails if there are more than one for +12V for a given unit) can cover the 690 along with the rest of a proper system for it. That means most moderate to high quality 600W to 750W and some great around 550W models, but there are many units within that wattage range of inferior quality that are organized more for the 3.3V and especially 5V rails (mostly very old models, but there are still some newer ones like this) that could not even come close to handling it because they only output like 20 to 30 (max) amps on their +12V rail.
 
Solution

dusR

Honorable
Feb 3, 2013
12
0
10,510
i have the gtx 690 and its a very powerful and energy angry card, in my opinion you need atleast 800W for this card to work good and keep the other parts work fine aswell, so if i were you i would of taken a new power supply since this card is a beast and i fully recommand it, or you just have to go on a little less powerfull card i think even the gtx 680 will work with 650W, but still its all depending if you power supply is from good manufacture or not.
 


No offense, but you are wrong. Once again, wattage of the PSU is not really important these days. Furthermore, the 690 is an extremely efficient card. It really doesn't suck as much power as you might think.

For example, the GTX 670 uses a little over 150W or 160W on average in gaming. The 690 only uses a little under double that. You can easily power it with a decent 650W. Heck, with a low power CPU such as an Ivy Bridge i5, there are several 550W models that you can get away with and have room to spare.

The 690 uses only about 50% more power than the 680 and the 680 is fine on most 520W-550W PSUs that aren't junk. For example, the Antec Neo Eco 520W and up are plenty. You just have to get the right model.


Also, being from a good manufacturer doesn't mean it's a great unit. For example, some Seasonic-built units (for different companies of course, Seasonic designs all of their own units and does an excellent job) suck because they have crappy, non-Seasonic designs that were merely manufactured in Seasonic plants. Then there are companies such as XFX that use both Seasonic designs and Seasonic manufacturing and pretty much all of their models are among the best in their class.