Question about PSU and GPU

mycah

Honorable
Apr 2, 2012
18
0
10,510
Hello!

I recently (5-6 months ago) purchased a GTX 670, and have been fairly disappointed in its performance... Pretty much every game runs a lot worse than expected. I did have an issue with my GPU usage skyrocketing to 100 percent, and my FPS going to 0 for a few seconds and the recovering. I changed out my power connector for my GPU from 2 Molex connectors to a 6+2 connector. I have not had this issue since (in limited game time). Because I have tried many driver solutions (several different versions, uninstalling and installing), I have narrowed the lackluster performance down to a power issue.

That being said:

My current power supply is an Antec 600w PSU. I have an Ivy Bridge i5, with 1 hard drive and 3-4 fans along with my GTX 670. Could my power supply be the issue with the performance? If so, what would you suggest as an upgrade? I am looking at an 850 Watt PC Power and Cooling PSU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703039

Would this be enough to run my current setup. Would there be a better option?

Please provide me with any advice you can! Thank you!
 
If the 0 FPS problem is really fixed by changing the connectors, then I seem to be maxing out the performance on games that should not be maxing it out.

For example, one of my favorite games recommends a GTX 240 and 3GB of RAM. I exceed (obviously) that GTX 220 requirement and also the RAM (I have 16gb). Even with that, though, I still seem to be running about about 90% GPU performance constantly. In addition to this, reducing the quality settings does not seem to do anything.
 
Generally I'd say that your PSU should be fine. You should have 2 x PCI-e power connectors hooked up to your GPU. Usually you have at least 1 x PCI-e power connector (6 pin) and maybe even a 6 + 2 pin power connector for the other slot on the GPU. If you didn't have both PCI-e power connectors (either 2 x 6 pin or 2 x 6 + 2 pin (only using the 6 pin portion)) than you were not hooking up the PSU to the GPU correctly. If I were you, I would make sure which PSU connections that you do have (or you could give us more detail on which model you have) and make sure you have the PCI-e power connectors hooked up to the GPU. If for some reason you want to buy another PSU, I would consider a quality PSU of at least 500w or more for the GTX 670. Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, PCP&C, & XFX are ones that I'd consider. Your 850w PSU you selected is good, but you can get a PSU around $60-80 that will do the job quite well.

Options below:

$80 - $10 MIRc = $70
XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

$90
SeaSonic M12II 650 SS-650AM 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Semi-modular Power Supply

$76
[/url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151096&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=]SeaSonic S12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply[/url]
 


Thank you for the suggestion. I am more interested in updating my PSU to at least the next step up. If I'm going to spend the money, I'd like to make sure that it's something I can grow into, and not have to upgrade if I ad something new.
 


Well unless your going to SLI or Xfire 2 high end GPU's, the ones I listed above will do the job easily! I don't recommend SLI'ing or Crossfireing, so that is why I listed the 3 above. Now if your concerned with 2 x higher end GPU's than a quality 750w or higher will do.
 


I'm also interested in getting a more efficient PSU, too. I currently have a Silver certified, so Gold or Platinum is what I would want.

Either way -- If my temperatures are fine, would this be a power issue or may it be something else?? I've tried everything I can think of, and no real progress. 🙁
 
I would think that you PSU isn't the issue with what you have posted. If the GPU was at higher temps than it could be cooling or possibly the GPU, but if the temps are okay than I would rule those options out. My next guess would be possibly the mobo or possibly some other part of your system. Could you list your system parts out? Need more detail than just i5, is it i5 3470, 3550p, 3570k, etc.???
 


Sure, here is my current setup:

RAM:
4 x Kingston HyperX 4GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104173

Mobo:
ASRock Z77 Extreme4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293

Processor:
i5-3570k (Not overclocked)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

PSU:
OCZ ModXStream 600w
http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-ModXStream-Modular-Performance-compatible/dp/B001EYV690/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367811657&sr=8-1&keywords=OCZ+600w

GPU:
Galaxy GeForce 670
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Z33SYA/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

HDD:
2TB Seagate 5200RPM
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST2000DM001/dp/B005T3GRN2/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1367811829&sr=1-3&keywords=2tb+seagate+barracuda



 
I would try another GPU slot (PCIE3 - per the Mobo Manual).

Notes on Mobo manual below:

Expansion Slot - 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots (PCIE2/PCIE3: single at x16
(PCIE2) / x8 (PCIE3) or dual at x8/x8 mode)
(see CAUTION 4)
* PCIE 3.0 is only supported with Intel®
Ivy Bridge CPU. With
Intel®
Sandy Bridge CPU, it only supports PCIE 2.0.
- 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x 1 slots
- 2 x PCI slots
- Supports AMD Quad CrossFireXTM and CrossFireXTM
- Supports NVIDIA®
Quad SLITM and SLITM

AsRock Z77 Extreme4 User Manual Link