[SOLVED] SFX PSU Upgrade

[rjco]

I have a mini-ITX build in the Silverstone SG05 case utilising the built in PSU that the case shipped with (a non-modular 300W 80 Plus certified Silverstone PSU).

I am now looking at upgrading my graphics card from the GTX 750 Ti I have been using to a newer modal with the AMD/Nvidia cards coming out at the moment. I don't really have a budget more a budget for upgrading my system of approx. £450 (UK based). I'd like to get either a 2060 Super or RX 5700.

To support the higher TDP cards I am looking at upgrading my PSU. Having not been active in the PC hardware space for sometime I've spent some time looking and it appears that the following are the PSUs available on the market at the moment.

1. Seasonic Focus SGX Series. 80 Plus Gold 450-650W models available. 10 year warranty May be too large for my case at the 125x125 mm SFX-L form factor
2. Corsair SF Series. 80 Plus Gold or Plat depending on model chosen. 450-750W. 7 yr warranty
3. Silverstone SX Series. 80 Plus Gold. G models are semi-fanless. 450-700W available. 3 yr warranty.

So a couple of questions:

1. Are there any decent quality PSUs I've missed off and should be keeping an eye out for?
2. Should I just pay extra and get the 750W Corsair model (and downgrade the GPU), or would I be able to get away with a 450W / 500W or 650W PSU? The 100 - 110W increase in TDP for the 2060 Super and RX5700 would seem to indicate that I could get away with a 450W unit based on my current system running fine on the 300W PSU? (Please excuse my ignorance if I am wrong!)

Thanks in advance for your help!

My current system:
CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 (Quad Core 3.3GHz) (TDP 84W)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97N WiFi (mini-ITX)
RAM: 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600 Mz
Hard Drive 1: 120 GB 840 EVO SSD
Hard Drive 2: 500GB 830 SSD
Current GPU: MSI TWIN FROZR GeForce GTX 750Ti (TDP 75W)
Cooling: Noctua NH-L9i CPU fan plus 1 off 120mm case fan.

 

[Eximo]

175W GPU + 84W CPU, you planning on putting a 100% load on both CPU and GPU? Conceivably under most circumstance the 300W would be enough.

If you aren't comfortable with that, then the 450W should be plenty as well. (I tend to agree, that more power would be better in this situation) I prefer the Corsair Platinum, reasonable price for what it is, though the Seasonic Gold is a close second.

I suppose it depends on how quiet you want the system to be.

As for the SFX-L size, I have a similar chassis and I don't recall there being anything that might get in the way for a slightly longer or even wider form factor. Might be worth measuring to be sure.

 

[_shine]

Since gold plus PSU's usually have most efficiency around 50-60% load, I recommend getting something you can use that way. If you assume your system will use 300 watts, go with 500-600W PSU. If you wanna get something smaller, consider platinum +.

 

[Calvin7]

TDP (Thermal Design Power) is the average maximum power a processor can dissipate while running commercially available software. TDP is primarily used as a guideline for manufacturers of thermal solutions (heatsinks/fans, etc) which tells them how much heat their solution should dissipate. TDP is not the measure of power required to run the video card.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super

Grafikkarten und Notebooks der GeForce RTX 20er-Serie

Echtzeit-Raytracing, KI-gestütztes DLSS 2.0 und programmierbares Shading.

www.nvidia.com

Recommended System Power (W) 550
Supplementary Power Connectors - 8 pin

 

[_shine]

TDP (Thermal Design Power) is the average maximum power a processor can dissipate while running commercially available software. TDP is primarily used as a guideline for manufacturers of thermal solutions (heatsinks/fans, etc) which tells them how much heat their solution should dissipate. TDP is not the measure of power required to run the video card.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super

Grafikkarten und Notebooks der GeForce RTX 20er-Serie

Echtzeit-Raytracing, KI-gestütztes DLSS 2.0 und programmierbares Shading.

www.nvidia.com

Recommended System Power (W) 550
Supplementary Power Connectors - 8 pin

TDP for nvidia cards is quite accurate. If it says 175W, it will draw really close to it on max load, regardless of manufacturer. What other metrics should we take into consideration when choosing our PSU ? For me recommended 550W PSU makes no sense. Maybe 550W is not enough to run my system even without a video card. Or 550W is recommended to run only the card with separate PSU ?

 

[Eximo]

On Nvidia they use Total Board Power. I did watch the recent reviews, and measured wattage at stock settings was actually a little lower than the stated value. That might change slightly with ambient temperature though, but it was a room temperature test.

 

[rjco]

Thanks all for your contributions. My current GPU (the 750 Ti) does have a Nvidia recommended PSU of 400W, which has run fine for me up to now. I am currently leaning towards the 450W Corsair 80+ Platinum unit as it only has a £7 premium over the Gold unit and a saving of £35 over the 750W unit.

1. Any experience of AMD and how close the power is to TDP?
2. Any experience of the noise levels between the various PSUs? I'm a little suspicious of the Silverstone unit, only because the SFF case (and it's location in a bookcase) generally runs warmer than other cases I've owned in the past.

Thanks again for your contributions. It's been a while since I've looked at SFX PSUs and they seem to have moved on a long way in that time!

 

[jonnyguru]

Since gold plus PSU's usually have most efficiency around 50-60% load, I recommend getting something you can use that way. If you assume your system will use 300 watts, go with 500-600W PSU. If you wanna get something smaller, consider platinum +.

The ROI for spending more on a larger PSU versus the 1 to 2% efficiency gain is non-existent.

 

[Eximo]

AMD cards use a little bit more, but the RX5700 is listed as 180W, now as I recall they aren't using total board power, so perhaps just the GPU and maybe memory? PCIe still relies on 3.3 volts and there is some load there. Nvidia is known to include it, not sure about AMD.

That said, everything is still based on early reviews of reference designs. Aftermarket reviews might be a while. AMD's blower cooler is to be avoided, as usual.