Is my 700W PSU enough?

Forever1337

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Apr 9, 2015
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Ok so I have been trying to figure out why my system crashes when playing really demanding games like GTA 5 or COD AW both game are known for issues. I can play other games like Metro Last Light, Return to Castle Wolfeinstine, Batman Arkham Origins, Saints Row IV all with no issues. Is it just crapy games or is my system under powered. Here are my specs: Intel 4670K i5, ASUS Z87 Plus Motherboard, 2x 8GB DDR3 1600, 2x ASUS DCU2 Radeon HD 7850 2GB, 3 Sata HDD's 7200RPM ranging in sizes, PNY 240GB SSD, Internal Blueray Drive, 4 140mm LED case fans, 140mm LED case fan, Dual LED Fan Corsair H55 water cooler, 1 dual cold cathode lighting system all being powered by a Antec 700W power supply. I have used

http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine & http://support.asus.com/PowerSupply.aspx?SLanguage=en

estimate how many watts it should be. Extreme Outervision says 550W Power Supply which seems really low, then ASUS says 850W Power Supply. So which is it, do I need a more powerful power supply? I have noticed on this system that the +12V is always under 12V not by much usually 11.9 but the other system I have is always above like 12.2 and stuff not sure if this is proof in its self that I need more power or not.
 
Solution
7850 CF requires @600w psu. If you are trying extreme OC, moving up to a 750w would be fine. Your average fan uses @ 3w, so # of fans isn't an issue unless you are running full open water cooling.

What makes a bad psu? Lots of things. Substandard capacitors, lack of over/under voltahe/current protections, badly designed circuitry, ripples on the rails above acceptable standards, inability to output rated voltage/current/power, crappy soldering, poor quality control etc etc etc....

The TR2 has a bunch of the above.


Do you have 4 HDD's, a internal sata disk drive, 7 LED Fans and Cold Cathod Lighting? That all makes a huge difference. On ASUS power supply estimator if I drop down to two hdd's and a cd drive it is now 750W instead of 850W so just because you have a i7 and dual 970's doesn't mean your drawing the same amount. I'm just wondering what else you are running to compare? If you don't have 4 hdd's and stuff you may be in range with 750W and I may not.
 
check my PC @ http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9wpLLk also try putting your parts in the pcpartpicker and see if it will be compatible. I have 2 HDD 1 SSD 1 DVD drive, Sound card zxr, 7 fans but 6 LED fans, H110i Liquid cooling, I7 5960x oc'ed GTX 970 SLI 1440p monitor

Asus tech support told me i needed 1200w psu, when I called in to rma doa motherboard.. I knew they were full of sh$# since my computer is running fine with 750w

I am 100% sure you'd be fine with 750w btw which psu you have? Antec 700W ? can you clarify the model?

You could be overheating your cpu by overclocking it and it crashes to save your cpu, but i dont think you need more than 750w
 


I run dual monitors so I can always watch my temps. My CPU OC is 4.5 and %100 stable while running prime 95 with temps never over 80C which is fine for the Haswell processor. Also I was mistaken on the PSU the Antec is in another tower this one is a Thermaltake TR2 700W. I even put in all my parts in that site you listed and it says like 550W is all I should need. Why would ASUS be so far off? I mean they are the ones designing the motherboard and video cards I have in my system.
 


7870 CrossFire barely brushes 500W of total system power consumption.

power-load.png


7850s use even less power. Even with all your hardware like hard drives and fans, you'd be hard pressed to see 600W under full system load. HOWEVER it's not about the wattage but quality. Thermaltake TR2 sucks. For your rig you want a better quality power supply, not a higher wattage one.
 


What makes this PSU a bad one? Thermaltake is a reputable brand and it has 54A on the 12V rail which is more than the typical 40A you see. Just want to understand why you and danisnotonfire say it sucks. When reading the PSU sticky it is above average and the reviews site people are told to read from says it is a good quality PSU. Just a little confused.
 


I would suggest sticking with tier 3 at least. Also just put in search in tomshardware search bar TR2 Bronze series.. Just a bad PSU.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
 
7850 CF requires @600w psu. If you are trying extreme OC, moving up to a 750w would be fine. Your average fan uses @ 3w, so # of fans isn't an issue unless you are running full open water cooling.

What makes a bad psu? Lots of things. Substandard capacitors, lack of over/under voltahe/current protections, badly designed circuitry, ripples on the rails above acceptable standards, inability to output rated voltage/current/power, crappy soldering, poor quality control etc etc etc....

The TR2 has a bunch of the above.
 
Solution


TR2 are either the FSP version which have mediocre vreg and awful ripple suppression, or the HEC version, which are even worse.