Upgrade from 850w?

GhengisKhan

GhengisKhan

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
May 16, 2005
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I currently have an 850w KingWin PSU. It runs my MSI 970A system with an FX6300, GTX 460, 4 HDDs, and 1 SSD just fine. For some reason it won't even boot up with a Gigabyte 990FX Gaming mobo, with any combo of any other parts. I've changed out the CPU, the RAM, put in only 1 HDD or 1 SSD. Nothing I do gets this thing to post. I've even returned the mobo twice thinking it may have been DOA. The only thing I haven't swapped out is the PSU because I don't have one larger than 400w.
What size PSU should I be looking for? Could it be there's something that the new mobo is looking for that the older PSU doesn't have? Any recommendations on one around the $150 range that would work?
 
In terms of power, your system really only needs 300 watts at stock. Overclocked, you might hit 450 watts pushing it to the max on air (most likely wouldn't hit 400 watts). Stick one of your 400 watt PSUs in and see if it works, at the very least it should get it to post. Power requirements are fairly low during boot, maybe 20-50% of maximum power draw. You should be drawing under 150 watts when booting.

No, there really has been no change to the standard in the past 10+ years. Just minor tweaks to the specs that don't affect compatibility. Weird issues with certain motherboard/PSU combos are not uncommon though, so I wouldn't rule that out. Certain combinations wouldn't work and there appears to be no logical reason why.

As said, you have a 300 watt system, 450 watt system overclocked. You should be looking for a PSU in the 550 watt range at the most. Plenty of good ones at the $60-80 mark. EVGA G2 and GS series, Seasonic G series, Corsair RM-x series, to name a few.
 
I bought an evga supernova g2 gold 850 and i am very happy wit it. Silent, modular, good looking, nicely cooled, ovekill, not too expensive.
 
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pendragon1 said:
oh thank your deity of choice! glad you finally got 'er goin!
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Yea, it boots up. Now I just need new RAM. It's only showing 1/2 of the real amount installed (same as the last setup).
May take a bit, since it's 32Gb. Have to save up to get that much again. lol
 
You really should consider saving some money and going with a 550 watt version. Your system does not demand that much power.
 
GhengisKhan said:
I just picked up the same PSU from Microcenter this morning. It boots right up without any problem. I'm ecstatic.
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I just bought the same PSU as well 33 days ago for $109 at Microcenter after they pricematched. Make sure you have them price match Newegg or Amazon. Go back and get your $43+ dollars.

Microcenter is $149+ Tax

Newegg is $109 for the same PSU.

Of course, this is up to you.

Microcenter has excellent pricing. But, on SSD's and PSU's, they are always higher than Amazon and Newegg.

They had a LED lighting kit for $30 that I had Microcenter price match for $12,
 
SixFootDuo said:
I just bought the same PSU as well 33 days ago for $109 at Microcenter after they pricematched. Make sure you have them price match Newegg or Amazon. Go back and get your $43+ dollars.

Microcenter is $149+ Tax

Newegg is $109 for the same PSU.

Of course, this is up to you.

Microcenter has excellent pricing. But, on SSD's and PSU's, they are always higher than Amazon and Newegg.

They had a LED lighting kit for $30 that I had Microcenter price match for $12,
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I love the price matching. I had the Newegg page for the PSU loaded on my phone when I walked in the door :D

As for it being too much power for what I need, I always go with >150% of the maximum power draw of the system I'm putting together because running any component at full load for an extended length of time is not good for the life span of that component, and that includes PSUs. And on top of that, I'm running 2 SSDs and 4 HDDs in this system too.
 
GhengisKhan said:
I love the price matching. I had the Newegg page for the PSU loaded on my phone when I walked in the door :D

As for it being too much power for what I need, I always go with >150% of the maximum power draw of the system I'm putting together because running any component at full load for an extended length of time is not good for the life span of that component, and that includes PSUs. And on top of that, I'm running 2 SSDs and 4 HDDs in this system too.
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Frankly that is a stupid and archaic way of thinking. You are never running at maximum power draw outside of certain scenarios (F@H, SETI, mining, etc). Gaming will most definitely not make you hit maximum power draw, 90% in demanding games, 60-80% in most other games. If your computer is used like most computers, you're idling most of the time, and being at less than 10% power draw will make your PSU extremely inefficient. Additionally, PSUs are rated for their maximum power draw at a certain ambient temperature for a continuous amount of hours. For EVGA G2 PSUs, that's 100,000 hours at 50 degrees C. Heat kills electronics more than being under load does, and I would be extremely worried about your house's inside temps if your PSU was getting 50 degrees C air.

Each SSD adds 5 watts of power draw at most. A hard drive adds 15 watts of spin up power that is only seen during boot, 10 watts if actively being used, and less than 5 watts when idling. Hard drive power draw is irrelevant.
 
I dont see it as being stupid or archaic, if that were the case we would all be driving cars that produce 15hp and we would all be using cpu's in the 500mhz range because that can do basically all that we need doing, its dumb not to plan ahead and have more headroom than you think you will need, even if it may never be used by the OP.

Atleast the psu is there if he feels the need to upgrade to chunkier hardware in the future.

Basically, the op has got himself a new psu and a working pc, be happy for him.
 
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Tsumi said:
Frankly that is a stupid and archaic way of thinking. You are never running at maximum power draw outside of certain scenarios (F@H, SETI, mining, etc). Gaming will most definitely not make you hit maximum power draw, 90% in demanding games, 60-80% in most other games. If your computer is used like most computers, you're idling most of the time, and being at less than 10% power draw will make your PSU extremely inefficient. Additionally, PSUs are rated for their maximum power draw at a certain ambient temperature for a continuous amount of hours. For EVGA G2 PSUs, that's 100,000 hours at 50 degrees C. Heat kills electronics more than being under load does, and I would be extremely worried about your house's inside temps if your PSU was getting 50 degrees C air.

Each SSD adds 5 watts of power draw at most. A hard drive adds 15 watts of spin up power that is only seen during boot, 10 watts if actively being used, and less than 5 watts when idling. Hard drive power draw is irrelevant.
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It's basic electrical system design when it comes to power supplies for motor control systems. It creates less stress on the power supply, and just in case something goes catastrophically wrong with one of the components connected to it, the supply isn't destroyed as well.
Would you drive a 1981 Honda Accord hatchback 4cyl because it still moves forward a little bit when you press the gas pedal, or would you rather drive a 2017 Audi A8? It's more power than you technically need...
 
GhengisKhan said:
It's basic electrical system design when it comes to power supplies for motor control systems. It creates less stress on the power supply, and just in case something goes catastrophically wrong with one of the components connected to it, the supply isn't destroyed as well.
Would you drive a 1981 Honda Accord hatchback 4cyl because it still moves forward a little bit when you press the gas pedal, or would you rather drive a 2017 Audi A8? It's more power than you technically need...
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Hardly the same thing, and car comparisons almost always fail. The continuous load rating on quality PSUs mean that they can typically handle peak loads up to 20% higher than what they're rated for, which means the components are already overbuilt for their rated load.

The far closer analogy would be getting a 200 mph rated tire on a car that can only go 100 mph, when the 110 mph rated tire is half the cost. Sure, technically it is safer, but the 110 tire is already outside the limits of the car, so for all intents and purposes there is no difference except wasted money. And the car is driven almost exclusively on the streets and almost never sees speeds above 80 mph, and lives most of its life in the 20-40 mph range.
 
The EVGA G3 looks nice, is shorter than standard so they'll fit in tight spaces, modular, comes in 550-1000W and it's not too expensive. Has great reviews. Look at the 650, 750W models. They're ~$90-$100 USD.
 
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