Want to upgrade my old system into i7 platform. Need PSU advice.

[alth0triplemadang]

Hi.

Now, I want to upgrade my PC into i7 system.

I found a i7 930 and gigabyte x58 mobo deal for $225 on local auction site. Its a good deal for me as a student so i can save my money for school need. Or a i7 2600k and gigabyte z77 mobo for $329. I can't afford a newest skylake or haswell platform because in Indonesia PC parts are SOOOOO... EXPENSIVE.

My question is:
I currently use a good 400w PSU to power my 7yr old rig.
Current rig specs:
-q9400 @ stock
-GTX 960
-4sticks DDR2 ram (2x2 and 1x2)
-ASUS P5Q PRO TURBO
-1 3.5" HDD, 1 2.5" HDD, and a SSD
-FSP HEXA+ 400w PSU

There are no fancy or special parts in my PC. And I don't planning to OC my CPU.
Can my 400w PSU handle a 130w i7 CPU and a 120w GTX 960?
Or it's better to spend more $104 to buy a 95w CPU and get better performance without worrying my PSU will explode and destroy all my parts.

~If I go with the first option, do I need to upgrade my PSU (at least 500/650w) ?
~If I go with the second option, is $100 more worth the money?
~And will it run modern games at 900p or 1080p, max settings with smooth 35-60 FPS?

Thanks for advice and solution.

 

[xFeaRDom]

You could probably get away with a good quality 500w-550w PSU which will yield a nice headroom aswell.

But you could probably run off of the current setup, as the 2600K has a TDP of 95W, and probably under load will use around 150W, your GPU uses aroud 120W and probably around 150-160W under load, which is around 300W, with other components it may add another 30-40 watts (this is guesstimating 😛)

So you could get away with something like the Seasonic S12ii 520W, although it may be 'overkill' but it will yield a nice threadshold for any future upgrades. And people always like extra headroom on PSUs due it technically being less stress on it.

What is your budget for this upgrade.

If I was you, i'd go for the 2600K, it boasts a lot more performance in benchmarks due to it being a somewhat newer chip and it will probably allow much higher overclocking.

 

[BradleyJames]

go for the i7 2600, it is pretty old now A) still newer than the 930 and first gen i7 didnt really impress me/ they seemed slow to me, draw more power and never had much luck overclock. a few of my customers have been finding its bottlenecking. 960 is a good choice have one in my kids machine.. you will have to get ddr3 ram too tho. so if u can afford it go with the 2600 and 8 gb ram which is cheap now.

 

[alth0triplemadang]

You could probably get away with a good quality 500w-550w PSU which will yield a nice headroom aswell.

as the 2600K has a TDP of 95W, and probably under load will use around 150W, your GPU uses aroud 120W and probably around 150-160W under load, which is around 300W, with other components it may add another 30-40 watts

What is your budget for this upgrade.

If I was you, i'd go for the 2600K, it boasts a lot more performance in benchmarks due to it being a somewhat newer chip and it will probably allow much higher overclocking.

The i7 2600 has the same TDP as my current q9400, right?
On Intel's ARK website it says 95w TDP for q9400. I think I will be fine to keep my 400w PSU to power this build. IMO.

My budget is around $100 to $250. The i7 2600k setup is little bit out of my budget. So how about i7 930 power consumption? Will my 400w PSU handle it?

Yes I know that i7 2600k massively outperforms the old i7 930 and more power efficient. But I need to save my money by buying the cheaper parts. And I don't plan to OC my CPU and my GPU as well. But at least, hey I have an i7 system with 12gigs of ram that better than my q9400 and pay $200 for it.

go for the i7 2600, it is pretty old now still newer than the 930 and first gen i7 didnt really impress me/ they seemed slow to me, draw more power and never had much luck overclock. a few of my customers have been finding its bottlenecking. 960 is a good choice have one in my kids machine.. you will have to get ddr3 ram too tho. so if u can afford it go with the 2600 and 8 gb ram which is cheap now.

Yeah, it's pretty old now. Its launched at 2011 but its still a beast in 2016.
I will go with 12gb or 24gb DDR3 1600 in 2x6gb triple channel mode if i get the x58 system
But with z77 system i probably stuck at 8gigs. I can't buy 16gb kit because 4x4 DDR3 are ridiculously expensive here.