Antec NEO ECO 520C and GTX780

M

Mabu

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 15, 2009
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I'm considering upgrading to a GTX780, specifically this model, and am looking to know if my current Antec NEO ECO 520C will be enough juice. Full current specs for my main rig are in my sig.

If the Antec won't cut it, do you think a Seasonic G-Series 550 Watt PSU would get the job done? I have the Seasonic running in my secondary rig that I can swap into the main rig if need be.
 
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Should be fine. I am pretty sure that Antec is based on the Seasonic SII12 design. I am using the G Series 550W that you linked without a hiccup, so I know it is more than enough (plus it is Gold rated if that is important).
 
Good to know, thanks. The main thing that I'm worried about is that the 780 recommends at least 42 amps on the 12V+ rail, and the Antec that I've got has only 40. If I do get the card and find out that the Antec isn't enough, what types of issues might I be encountering?
 
Manufacturer recommendations are taking the power draw of an entire system into account to cover their butts if something happens. A lot of devices draw power from the +12V rail. The video card itself will only pull 21 amps at maximum TDP (250W), and my GTX 780 typically uses around 85% TDP while gaming (212W, 18 amps).
 
Just FYI, based on a kill-a-watt meter, 400w is the most I could make my system pull. That is 100% GPU and 2/4 CPU cores 100%.
 
I think the recommended PSU is 600 or 650W. However, you *should* be okay. The thing to keep in mind is that by intentionally lowballing your PSU, that can potentially offset any overclocks; overvolting and overclocking can and will, generally speaking, increase power consumption a fuck-ton. Now Ivy And Haswell aren't so bad, but on the AMD side overclocked FX CPUs tend to REALLY draw a lot of power. On the intel side, I had an i7-920 and several lynnfield systems that had power draw go through the roof with over-volting. CPU is one variable to consider, if you're overclocking or over-volting. This really depends on the type of CPU though. If you're using Ivy or Haswell you should be okay even with an overclock.

So that's the one variable to keep in mind. Depending on how many components you have in total, and how much you are overclocking or overvolting, that can put you in a situation where you may exceed available power. And if that happens, your system will generally shut down in extreme loads. Now this isn't LIKELY, but it's possible. It really really depends on what components you have and whether you're going nuts with over-volting and overclocking.

Personally i'd just sell the old PSU and grab a high spec new one, but that's just me. There's a 98% chance that you will be absolutely fine, especially if you don't over-volt your CPU or GPU. I wouldn't bother with a skynet bios on the 780 or anything like that (which allows over-volting)
 
A 550w is plenty big for most single GPU desktops, even with overclocking. Again the 650W recommendations are blanket statements to cover their butt when a crappy PSU is used.
 
Well I don't disagree, like I said there's a 98% chance probability that he can use his PSU just fine. But over-volting certain CPUs can create a ton of additional power consumption. If he's using fairly recent such as Ivy or Haswell he should be just fine even with overclocking. (and I just now notice the ivy in his sig).

I used the MSI lightning 680 which supported up to 1.4V, and the additional power consumption at that voltage was really shocking to say the least. So OV is a factor to take into account, but this wouldn't apply to his particular GPU or CPU. So yeah I agree with your sentiment.
 
I'll be running the 780 alongside a mildly OCed i5-3570K at 4.2 at stock voltage, so nothing crazy at all to worry about from the CPU side. I'm also not planning on upping the voltage on the 780 either, and OCing it only as far as the stock voltage will take me. Sounds like I should be fine with the Antec that's in there now.
 
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