What do I need to run a GTX 970

[Bxephos123]

My current PC is a Gateway DX4860-EF22P that i bought in 2011 that has:
i7 2600K
8 GB RAM
NVIDIA GT520
450 watt PSU.
can I just put a GTX 970 in or do i need a better PSU? its supposed to only need 145 watts for the 970. will there be any bottlenecks?

 

[PTOWN GAMER]

Yeah you need a PSU around 650w and you can put in the GTX970 if the motherboard has a PCI E x16 Slot.

 

[SPgamer007]

I suspect there is a cheap 450w PSU there,which won't bother taking the load of GTX 970,although a 450w is capable to run a gtx 970 with 2600k and everything else but a good quality one.
I suggest to put a good quality 550w before the GTX 970,in your system.
Tier list of PSU is in the signature below.
Tier 1,2 PSUs are good in general.

There won't be any bottlenecking in the system.

 

[Bxephos123]

I suspect there is a cheap 450w PSU there,which won't bother taking the load of GTX 970,although a 450w is capable to run a gtx 970 with 2600k and everything else but a good quality one.
I suggest to put a good quality 550w before the GTX 970,in your system.
Tier list of PSU is in the signature below.
Tier 1,2 PSUs are good in general.

There won't be any bottlenecking in the system.

the PSU is 80 plus bronze

 

[bignastyid]

The 80plus is an effciency rating not a quality rating. It could have a gold effciency rating and still be a garbage unit. For a 970 i reccomend a good quality 500w or larger unit. The 2600k wont be a bottleneck.

 

[PTOWN GAMER]

get a Corsair Power supply like this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139054

its good quality and has a good efficiency.

 

[bignastyid]

That corsair is not very good or reliable. CWT cheaped out on the caps. For $106 it is a complete ripoff. The Evga g2 is a superior psu and costs less.

 

[Bxephos123]

That corsair is not very good or reliable. CWT cheaped out on the caps. For $106 it is a complete ripoff. The Evga g2 is a superior psu and costs less.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/39MnNG hows this?

 

[PTOWN GAMER]

Yep go with that then. Ive been using corsair power supplies for like 7 years, never had any problems. But yeah go with that EVGA, pretty decent also

 

[bignastyid]

Thats a g1 and suffers from similar issus as the rm. With Evga its the B2, G2, GS,GQ, and P seires that are the good units the b1 and g1 are not good. This would be a better option
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-220gs0550v1

 

[Eden Tosh]

Both Corsair and EVGA don't have high quality PSUs at this wattage range of 500-600 watts. I would look at Seasonic or XFX for quality power supply at this wattage.

Although all four companies make great quality power supplies 750 watts and up, so if you want to pay a bit more and be ready for a SLI setup down the road, get one of the higher wattage power supply from these companies.

Just stay away from Corsair's CX, CS, RM 650, 750, and 850 units, and EVGA's NEXG and G1 series, as they are built cheaply to make a certain price point, or just plain poorly built.

 

[PTOWN GAMER]

I have a RM i never seen a problem ever.

 

[bignastyid]

^- You should add yet to the end of that. With poor caps the issues aren't always apparent. Its the long term where these units start to have issues. Heat and load are also factors. If you run a low load in a cool environment the caps degrade slower. Under bigger loads or in a warmer environment the degrade faster. Plus in a build quality vs price comparison the RMs are just bad buys, there are usually higher quality psus available for the same price or less.

 

[PTOWN GAMER]

^- You should add yet to the end of that. With poor caps the issues aren't always apparent. Its the long term where these units start to have issues. Heat and load are also factors. If you run a low load in a cool environment the caps degrade slower. Under bigger loads or in a warmer environment the degrade faster. Plus in a build quality vs price comparison the RMs are just bad buys, there are usually higher quality psus available for the same price or less.

I dont know man, like i know what your saying but ever since ive gotten into pc building i went with Corsair PSUs, and you how that goes like, you usually keep getting the same brand then.

Im not saying your wrong, its just im so used to getting Corsair that i dont ever look anywhere else, they always do the job for me. I play games on high/ultra settings with good frames and stuff. So yeah i guess its personal preference.

 

[Eden Tosh]

^- You should add yet to the end of that. With poor caps the issues aren't always apparent. Its the long term where these units start to have issues. Heat and load are also factors. If you run a low load in a cool environment the caps degrade slower. Under bigger loads or in a warmer environment the degrade faster. Plus in a build quality vs price comparison the RMs are just bad buys, there are usually higher quality psus available for the same price or less.

I dont know man, like i know what your saying but ever since ive gotten into pc building i went with Corsair PSUs, and you how that goes like, you usually keep getting the same brand then.

Im not saying your wrong, its just im so used to getting Corsair that i dont ever look anywhere else, they always do the job for me. I play games on high/ultra settings with good frames and stuff. So yeah i guess its personal preference.

Corsair does have great power supplies, so great that when they entered the established PSU market, and they completely rekt a lot of the competition.

It's just their lower end stuff, they have this problem throughout many of their product lines, such as their CX and CS lines (The RM series is higher-end, just poorly priced and built), their low-end keyboards, or their low-end AIO coolers.

As with a lot of stuff, you get what you pay for sadly. No suprises or really good value parts these days.