My PSU vs New Video Card RANT

D

DEX1

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
129
:mad: Since it's holiday and video card war time, I've been researching a DX11 upgrade for my signature gaming PC and decided on either a GTX 470 or AMD 6870 as the best bang for the buck with roughly the same performance. Since I have a GTX 260, I'm partial to the 470 (less driver hassle to install and an easy backup in case of a DOA, etc). Well Newegg has a Gigabyte 470 for $220 and I went to bite, -- when it hit me. I'll PROBABLY HAVE TO UPGRADE MY PSU THAT's KILLING ME HERE.

My PSU is a Corsair HX-620 with 54 total Amps on 3 12v rails which makes it barely adequate for the 470. (Kyle's nice article on minimum PSU recommends a Corsair 650 for the 470 which would be 60 Amps on one 12v rail.) Now like most of you, I have taken great pains to neatly wire my rig. Replacing a PSU for me is almost as time consuming as building a new PC. Upgrade a video card, RAM, any drive -- piece of cake. But replace a neatly cabled PSU?

So now I'm thinking I'd be better off keeping my PSU and buying a 6870 with it's lower power requirements. I'm interested in hearing what you would do ...
 
DEX1 said:
:mad: Since it's holiday and video card war time, I've been researching a DX11 upgrade for my signature gaming PC and decided on either a GTX 470 or AMD 6870 as the best bang for the buck with roughly the same performance. Since I have a GTX 260, I'm partial to the 470 (less driver hassle to install and an easy backup in case of a DOA, etc). Well Newegg has a Gigabyte 470 for $220 and I went to bite, -- when it hit me. I'll PROBABLY HAVE TO UPGRADE MY PSU THAT's KILLING ME HERE.

My PSU is a Corsair HX-620 with 54 total Amps on 3 12v rails which makes it barely adequate for the 470. (Kyle's nice article on minimum PSU recommends a Corsair 650 for the 470 which would be 60 Amps on one 12v rail.) Now like most of you, I have taken great pains to neatly wire my rig. Replacing a PSU for me is almost as time consuming as building a new PC. Upgrade a video card, RAM, any drive -- piece of cake. But replace a neatly cabled PSU?

So now I'm thinking I'd be better off keeping my PSU and buying a 6870 with it's lower power requirements. I'm interested in hearing what you would do ...
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You might be fine, The 470 doesn't need that much amperage on the +12v rail.

Most manufacturers list this

Minimum 550W or greater system power supply (with a minimum 12V current rating of 38A)****

That's for a whole system running off of a 550W, I'd reckon the Card need a good 18-20A unless you plan to overclock

Your psu output specs are;

+3.3@24A,+5V@30A,+12V1@18A,+12V2@18A,+12V3@18A,[email protected],+5VSB@3A

You might be fine at stock speeds but this will hold you back from going much further.
 
OK -- but would you be comfortable with the 6870 on a Corsair 620w?
 
DEX1 said:
OK -- but would you be comfortable with the 6870 on a Corsair 620w?
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Yes, either one would be fine. You have a quality Corsair PSU that can easily handle the load, plus the 6870 uses less power than the 470.

I really don't understand why you are whining. If you test your system right now, it probably uses 250w at full load. The GTX 470 would add about 50w more, and the 6870 uses about the same amount of power as the GTX 260 (and thus would be no change). See these test results:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6870/27.html

EDIT: if I may suggest, the next time you have a question, don't waste your time getting all worked-up and then post a RANT thread WITH PORTIONS IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE YOU'RE REALLY UPSET. Instead, just ask a question, get an answer, and lower your blood pressure :D It's a lot easier for us to help you when we don't have to wade our way through pointless emotional trauma that you've manufactured out of thin air.
 
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I agree the HX620 will be fine with the GTX470. The same psu ran my rig for a couple years without a hiccup.
 
lodingi said:
I agree the HX620 will be fine with the GTX470. The same psu ran my rig for a couple years without a hiccup.
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There you go OP (end rant) BTW lodingi, were you able to overclock your 470 to high levels?
 
DEX1 said:
(Kyle's nice article on minimum PSU recommends a Corsair 650 for the 470 which would be 60 Amps on one 12v rail.)
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You got yourself worked-up here over nothing because you jumped to conclusions. You failed to note the target system for the recommendations from that article, which was a heavily-overclocked Socket 1366 Core i7 quad-core:

We are using this range following our personal experiences and because this power supply will not only have to power our GTX 470 but also a high-end build based around the X58 chipset and Intel’s high-end Core i7 processor. Such a system would be similar to that which we used in our Fermi evaluation that included a Gigabyte EX58-UD5 motherboard, an Intel Core i7 920 Overclocked to 3.6GHz, and 6GB of Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D Dominator DDR3.
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The test system they use includes a notoriously power-hungry Core i7 920, overclocked. You, on the other hand, are using a stock E8500 dual-core that's known for sipping power. At stock, the difference between your two processor is 75w (use the E8600 for your comparisons - it's very close to your processor):

http://techreport.com/articles.x/15818/14

But with the overclock, the i7 920 could use up to 150w more than your system. And THAT is what they are targeting in their PSU recommendations.
 
I'll mimic everyone else and also say that you should be just fine with a GTX470 on that PSU. That being said there isn't any down side to going with a 6870 if you would prefer less power draw and heat.

Heebs said:
This is why I will always get a modular PSU.
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.. What?
 
I love a good rant. But, complaining about your puny powersupply designed for the system you have, not the one you want, is not a rant.
 
Stone Cold said:
I love a good rant. But, complaining about your puny powersupply designed for the system you have, not the one you want, is not a rant.
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+1
we can't all pick a powersupply and get dumbstruck when manufacturers put out these power leeches
 
Here is what I used to run on an HX620W
Q6600 @3.94GHz with 1.375V
4850 Crossfire OC'd to 700/1050
8GB RAM
X38 board
4HDD's in a hot swap enclosure
2ODD's
H2O setup that utilized 7 low RPM fans.

Oh and there were 4 cold cathodes.

The PSU never broke a sweat even at full load benchmarks... I think you will be fine...
 
DEX1 said:
My PSU is a Corsair HX-620 with 54 total Amps on 3 12v rails which makes it barely adequate for the 470. (Kyle's nice article on minimum PSU recommends a Corsair 650 for the 470 which would be 60 Amps on one 12v rail.)
Click to expand...

You really over-reacted based on false facts:
- Corsair 620HX has 50A on the +12V rail, not 54A. It is a single rail PSU. That triple rail item was basically an incorrect label that was caught waay too late for a cost-effective fix. Anyway, for intents and purposes you have a single rail Corsair 620HX with 50A on the +12V rail.

- The Corsair 650TX recommended in that HardOCP review had 52A on the +12V rail.

- The GTX 470 and HD 6870 will work just fine with the Corsair 620HX and your setup.. Note that the HD 6870 uses less power than the GTX 470.

So calm down. Clear your mind and look at the facts again.
 
I think there is a huge understanding of what your actual powersupply requirements are.
I have a an overclocked i7 [email protected], with 7 hdds, a 20 watt watercooling pump, with a 5870 to boot.
At full load, my batter backup provides.. wait for it... 412 watts.
Full load for me is furmark+prime95, a load that my computer will never see in normal usage.
My psu, is probably 87 percent efficient at that wattage, (hx850).
Which means, it's actually delivering about 360 watts, take out the 6 extra hdds, and the pump. I'm down to 300-315 watts.
You are so beyond fine... I wouldn't worry about it.

You could easily run 6870's in CF, or use a gtx580, or a 5970.

When you look at total wattage drawn chart on most websites, that's wattage measured at the wall. You have to factor in powersupplies inefficiencies, reviewers who run their i7s at 1.45v and above, a scenario that is probably not yours.
Gpu manufactures have to give inflated psu requirements, b/c alot of psus are over rated, your corsair manufactured by seasonic if i remember correctly isn't overrated, if anything it's probably capable of delivering more than 620 watts.
 
I am building a new system myself and have this exact PSU laying around unopened in a box from years ago (620HX).

Do you think it is sufficient to run a GTX580 with only basic components otherwise? (1 HDD etc..)

Thanks.
 
Thanks everyone, especially to defaultuser and huddy. I totally missed the CPU power draw. Although the 6780 is a great design, I'm going for the Gigabyte 470 at $220 for the reasons stated in my original post.
 
Changing a decision on GPU based on having to re-cable a PSU is crazy, re-cabling will take at most an hour, and the card will last for months maybe years.
 
:confused: No it is not when both cards perform about the same and I don't have to replace the PSU that, as I said, I neatly rewire, a time consuming task to do nicely. Anyway the case is closed, the card is bought and I appreciate the helpful advise given.
 
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