Need clarification on power supply requirements

[gioni01]

I'm looking at an EVGA Geforce GTX970 4GB SSC. For the power supply requirements it says "500 watt power supply". Does this mean it will use 500 watts? I have a 500 watt power supply but I'm afraid the GPU and CPU together will be too much.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

It means nothing is what it means, I'd take it with a grain of salt. What is important are things like how well a power supply regulated voltages, how reliable it is, if it has low ripple, if everything is within spec, amperage on the rails, if it suppresses surges well and filters out transients from the power grid, that it is a safe power supply that will not catch fire, and most importantly that it has working protections.

You should really give this article a read, as it'll teach you a lot of important information. Sit down with a cup of tea and spend 15 minutes reading this: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-power-supplies/ Then you will understand everything I just said, and be enlightened. It's well worth the read. 😉

 

[gioni01]

It means nothing is what it means, I'd take it with a grain of salt. What is important are things like how well a power supply regulated voltages, how reliable it is, if it has low ripple, if everything is within spec, amperage on the rails, if it suppresses surges well and filters out transients from the power grid, that it is a safe power supply that will not catch fire, and most importantly that it has working protections.

You should really give this article a read, as it'll teach you a lot of important information. Sit down with a cup of tea and spend 15 minutes reading this: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-power-supplies/ Then you will understand everything I just said, and be enlightened. It's well worth the read. 😉

Based on what the article says here: Power supplies are labeled according to the maximum power they can deliver – at least in theory. The problem is that a lot of power supplies can’t deliver their labeled power, typically because the manufacturer.

Do you think it would be safer to first upgrade to power supply to allow room for inaccurate measurement of it?

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Professional reviewers look at power supplies in detail and because they do we know what power supplies are good and what ones are not good. We even have a list here on Tomshardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

 

[TJ Hooker]

I'm looking at an EVGA Geforce GTX970 4GB SSC. For the power supply requirements it says "500 watt power supply". Does this mean it will use 500 watts? I have a 500 watt power supply but I'm afraid the GPU and CPU together will be too much.

No, the card will not draw nearly that much power. The Nvidia reference GTX 970 is rated for 145 W. Factory overclocked versions may be a little higher. A 500 W PSU will be enough, but you always want to make sure that you have a good quality PSU, rather than just looking at the wattage.