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Upgrade PSU?

R

rack04

n00b
Joined
Nov 10, 2012
Messages
24
I am planning to upgrade my current system which is being powered by a Corsair CMPSU-520HX 520 watt power supply that I have been using since early 2008. My planned upgrade consists of:

Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H
Intel Core i5-3770K Ivy Bridge (Overclocked)
Samsung 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600
EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 660
Western Digital 1TB 7200 RPM SATA
Crucial M4 128GB SSD SATA
LG DVD-RW/DVD+RW SATA
LG BD-ROM SATA
Xbox 360 HD DVD Player USB
ASUS Wireless Adapter PCIe
1 x 120mm CPU Fan
7 x 140mm Case Fans

Will this PSU be adequate or do I need to upgrade?
 
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Yes it will be fine but still wouldn't be a bad idea to grab a new one since your current one is coming up on 5 years old. You can find high quality 500-600 watt power supplies for really good prices these days. If it were me, I'd rather have a nice fresh power supply to go along with my nice fresh gear. But if you just can't spare the cash, you'll be fine with your current one.
 
Get a new PSU because if you use the one you have and put a full load on your computer it are likely to blow up. blow up real good:

look up the reviews and power consumption numbers, numbers I found:
-GPU 300W<--maxed out.
-CPU 80
-MOBO 60W?
Heck one calculator I used said a 394W PS would be OK and we are at 440W already......I wont be using that calculator. You also have all that other stuff in there and sounds like you would be pushing the limit of your PSU.


As mentioned earlier...the PSU is five years old too.
 
A system running a GTX660 at FULL LOAD draws less than 300 watts and thats at the wall. A 520 watt power supply is more than enough. In fact, there is no single video card I wouldnt run on a 520 watt power supply. You have to get into the high end, dual card configurations before you run passed 500 watts draw.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/660
 
Its fine. hardForrest obviously knows nothing about power consumption.

MacLeod is right, You're going to peak under 300 watts.
 
MacLeod said:
A system running a GTX660 at FULL LOAD draws less than 300 watts and thats at the wall. A 520 watt power supply is more than enough. In fact, there is no single video card I wouldnt run on a 520 watt power supply. You have to get into the high end, dual card configurations before you run passed 500 watts draw.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/660
Click to expand...
you are generally right.....I keep forgetting about the amature methods for posting power consumption.....they include the wattage from the whole @%@!! rig. <---a really lazy and inaccurate method for communicating power specs. Hey it is easy though.

Grabbed the specs from here.....it says over 300 watts but that still includes the whole rig:
http://www.bjorn3d.com/2012/09/evga...erclocked-2gb-video-card-review/#.UJ_aB4ZJza4

Tried to get specs form EVGA site and was somewhat surprised they don't have them so I resorted to BS test done by?????.

Maybe that site that stated 200W was more accurate. :p

Jorona said:
Its fine. hardForrest obviously knows nothing about power consumption.
MacLeod is right, You're going to peak under 300 watts.
Click to expand...

Actually, I know A LOT about power consumption. Have you ever built an electronic device? No? I have...several, including a power supply.....Do you have a diploma or degree that includes requirements for calculating transient power....? No? I do. go away newb.

AND you are wrong (so is MacLeod...there is other stuff in the OPs system)......he will go over 300W but I guess your use of a computer only includes overclocking, playing games and looking up stuff for you mom on the internet?

I guess I am going to have to revert to that other site that says power consumption on it was rated at 200W.....so if you are telling me and are right that saying all the other equipment is going to run at less than 100W at max load then I will eat dirt....is that what you are saying....that stuff runs at less than 100W? At least MacLeod gave a reference.


Hey ever think Corsair distorts the truth about their power supply ratings? From what I read they hvae been an big offender when it comes to this. I am not sure any company is 100% accurate when providing these specs but Antec is pretty close. Hey, do you know anything about PSUs and how they perform? Please educate your self (not just on Antec)
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2724/10

So, next time you go to speak up like a little sidekick of someone else (you do want to MacLeod's right?) please, don't you are annoying.


PS...in the end I still say get a new PSU. It is 5 years old and OP is pushing the limits and he certainly risks blowing it up good. Real good. PSU problems can really mess up a persons week.

hardforrest
 
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If it was me I would pop the case on your existing PSU and inspect the condition of the electrolytic capacitors within. If there was no bulging or leaking evident I would cross reference the capacitor brands with the lists at badcaps.net.

If they were from a good manufacturer I would run with the supply.
 
If you are wanting to get a new one, I HIGHLY suggest the Seasonic Platinum 660. If you want to go a bit cheaper the Rosewill CAPSTONE 550W (Gold) would be a good choice.
 
hardForrest said:
you are generally right.....I keep forgetting about the amature methods for posting power consumption.....they include the wattage from the whole @%@!! rig. <---a really lazy and inaccurate method for communicating power specs. Hey it is easy though.

Grabbed the specs from here.....it says over 300 watts but that still includes the whole rig:
http://www.bjorn3d.com/2012/09/evga...erclocked-2gb-video-card-review/#.UJ_aB4ZJza4

Tried to get specs form EVGA site and was somewhat surprised they don't have them so I resorted to BS test done by?????.

Maybe that site that stated 200W was more accurate. :p


Actually, I know A LOT about power consumption. Have you ever built an electronic device? No? I have...several, including a power supply.....Do you have a diploma or degree that includes requirements for calculating transient power....? No? I do. go away newb.

AND you are wrong (so is MacLeod...there is other stuff in the OPs system)......he will go over 300W but I guess your use of a computer only includes overclocking, playing games and looking up stuff for you mom on the internet?

I guess I am going to have to revert to that other site that says power consumption on it was rated at 200W.....so if you are telling me and are right that saying all the other equipment is going to run at less than 100W at max load then I will eat dirt....is that what you are saying....that stuff runs at less than 100W? At least MacLeod gave a reference.


Hey ever think Corsair distorts the truth about their power supply ratings? From what I read they hvae been an big offender when it comes to this. I am not sure any company is 100% accurate when providing these specs but Antec is pretty close. Hey, do you know anything about PSUs and how they perform? Please educate your self (not just on Antec)
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2724/10

So, next time you go to speak up like a little sidekick of someone else (you do want to MacLeod's right?) please, don't you are annoying.


PS...in the end I still say get a new PSU. It is 5 years old and OP is pushing the limits and he certainly risks blowing it up good. Real good. PSU problems can really mess up a persons week.

hardforrest
Click to expand...

A Geforce 660 pulls 135w MAX.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_660/25.html
A 3570K pulls 75w-150w depending on OC. The mobo will pull maybe 30-40w. The remaining equipment is nearly inconsequential. Couple watts here and there, the most being his HDD and thats only at spin up.

By my calculations, that puts him at... LOOKIE THERE! ~300w!

Not to mention that the HX520 is a solid unit.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=18

So we have a system that will only use ~75% of that PSU at max load, and a PSU that easily does its rated wattage.

OP, everything will be peachy keen.
 
So you are no longer going by the links that MacLeod posted (275W) and going by new ones?

looky looky? Your calculations? Your calculations suck.
Did you know that 325 is NOT less than 300??? The 300 you said it would peak out at?
AND your other numbers are WRONG too.


You are saying: 2x DVD burner + USB devices + HDDs running are nearly inconsequential?
Care to renege on that statement too? really DVD burners use almost no power?


I did find a site that pegged the actual GPU at 118w (not some other namebrand like you did), max is rated at 150W according to an EVGA spec (not the 135w you posted):
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/evga_geforce_gtx_660_sc_review,7.html

I also found that the mobo uses AT LEAST 40W and 60W (my guess is closer than yours): See the diff between the lowest consumption mxd3h and the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H the DIFFERENCE is 30W. now if you are telling me the low consumption board is running at about 10 Watts....well you know where you can stick that.:
http://www2.anandtech.com/show/6108...iew-functionality-meets-competitive-pricing/6


so
150W cpu(your number, overclocking is for kids so you can set that for me)
60W mobo
135W GPU (it is between 150W and 118W)
wow...390W....your math sucks......no where near your number
so if the PSU is at 75% your number it means we are sitting at 520W already!!! Add a couple of DVD burners and HDDs and pow.

I am not going to bother splitting up the rails for you. You can make those numbers up in your head yourself.


OP:
New PSU = less heartbreak. check the caps at least like a previous poster said. If you find any poor ones you just saved yourself a lot of heart ache.
Leave the old cpu with your old system if it works.
 
Your HX is a good PSU, keep it unless you are building fresh and want to circumvent the rewiring headache later.
 
Oy vey. Never went along with his links. I simply agreed with him. Take a look around, everyone is saying he'll be fine except for you.

I'm still willing to bet that once everything is said and done, he will still end up under that 300w ceiling. Its practically impossible to get 100% utilization unless your folding.

Also, yes, I'm telling you idle ODDs and idle HDDs consume negligable amounts of power. You're also still looking at full system load numbers. A mobo, unless its some monster ROG board with 8 extra drive controllers isn't gonna exceed 30-40w. Those Anandtech benchs have video cards and water coolers. You're arguing over 100watts in a situation that it doesn't even friggan matter.

At the end of the day, that high quality Seasonic made Corsair HX520 that is not over rated as you tried to say, will power the OPs rig just fine.

PS: Alot of people OC here. You may be in the wrong place if you think OCing is for children.
 
Jorona said:
Oy vey. Never went along with his links. I simply agreed with him. Take a look around, everyone is saying he'll be fine except for you.
Click to expand...
Everyone? WRONG
people are telling him to check the caps. People are telling him the PSU is getting up their in age.

Jorona said:
I'm still willing to bet that once everything is said and done, he will still end up under that 300w ceiling. Its practically impossible to get 100% utilization unless your folding.
Click to expand...
Do you know what the poster is using the machine for? Then stop being presumptuous. Stop making stuff up. You (and I) don't even know what they are OCing too but I took your number 150W....are you backing out of that too now?

Jorona said:
Also, yes, I'm telling you idle ODDs and idle HDDs consume negligable amounts of power. You're also still looking at full system load numbers. A mobo, unless its some monster ROG board with 8 extra drive controllers isn't gonna exceed 30-40w. Those Anandtech benchs have video cards and water coolers. You're arguing over 100watts in a situation that it doesn't even friggan matter.
Click to expand...
idle? who gives a @$#%@#!!! about idle with the measurement? The guy may as well take the ODDs out of their system and replace them with non-burning units and leave his computer in sleep mode 24/7 by your logic. How do you know what they are going to use them for? You don't and you are making stuff up.

Jorona said:
At the end of the day, that high quality Seasonic made Corsair HX520 that is not over rated as you tried to say, will power the OPs rig just fine.

PS: Alot of people OC here. You may be in the wrong place if you think OCing is for children.
Click to expand...

All PSUs are overrated it is not possible to put a simple wattage on a PSU that provides the characteristics....all drop off in performance at some point above 50%
I was an original OCer.......when I was a kid. The only thing that got me to do it was saving a few bucks and bragging rights over something silly. I guess there are a few people that are adults and do it but the vast majority are kids.......because even for adults it is a kid thing to do (heck I play with Lego.....not a very adult thing).


5 years old PSU is due for a swap out....risk it is a new system unless you are hard up for cash? Let it sit with the old system.



you first say it will max below 300
then you say 325 is the number and that is the same as 300
now you are saying your numbers are based on less than max power and mostly based on the components being idle????
Pleeeease make up your mind instead of making up facts.
 
I'm done. I'm gonna go fuck my wife.

OP, Buy a 1.5kw Platnium and never have to buy another PSU again.
 
I hooked a KillAWatt up to my system and pulled like 350-360 at the most. My CPU unlocked is rated @ 125 watts OP has an IB those are like 77 watts, OC'd whut like 100 watts MAX?? I have a 560ti he has a gen 6 so more efficient also.

Anyhow 335 watts tops power consumption from his rig for him. He has a 520 watt PSU so that's a 185 watt clearance. I believe if his PSU is 80 + Gold he would have to use 416 watts to be in the danger zone. I'm no PSU expert though, but I'm confident in my assumption. :)

Unless PSU's weaken substantially in just 5 years?
 
teletran8 said:
I hooked a KillAWatt up to my system and pulled like 350-360 at the most. My CPU unlocked is rated @ 125 watts OP has an IB those are like 77 watts, OC'd whut like 100 watts MAX?? I have a 560ti he has a gen 6 so more efficient also.

Anyhow 335 watts tops power consumption from his rig for him. He has a 520 watt PSU so that's a 185 watt clearance. I believe if his PSU is 80 + Gold he would have to use 416 watts to be in the danger zone. I'm no PSU expert though, but I'm confident in my assumption. :)

Unless PSU's weaken substantially in just 5 years?
Click to expand...

Not ones with nippon chemi-con caps.
 
teletran8 said:
I hooked a KillAWatt up to my system and pulled like 350-360 at the most. My CPU unlocked is rated @ 125 watts OP has an IB those are like 77 watts, OC'd whut like 100 watts MAX?? I have a 560ti he has a gen 6 so more efficient also.

Anyhow 335 watts tops power consumption from his rig for him. He has a 520 watt PSU so that's a 185 watt clearance. I believe if his PSU is 80 + Gold he would have to use 416 watts to be in the danger zone. I'm no PSU expert though, but I'm confident in my assumption. :)

Unless PSU's weaken substantially in just 5 years?
Click to expand...

The PSU rating is for the output not the input. That means (assuming 82% efficiency) 350w at the wall is only 287w into the PC.

A 520w psu with similar 82% efficiency would draw ~634w from the wall at 100% load.
 
teletran8 said:
I hooked a KillAWatt up to my system and pulled like 350-360 at the most. My CPU unlocked is rated @ 125 watts OP has an IB those are like 77 watts, OC'd whut like 100 watts MAX?? I have a 560ti he has a gen 6 so more efficient also.

Anyhow 335 watts tops power consumption from his rig for him. He has a 520 watt PSU so that's a 185 watt clearance. I believe if his PSU is 80 + Gold he would have to use 416 watts to be in the danger zone. I'm no PSU expert though, but I'm confident in my assumption. :)

Unless PSU's weaken substantially in just 5 years?
Click to expand...

And that 335 is at the wall which will be less than the actual draw on the power supply. So again, the current 520 watt Corsair will be just fine.
 
Thanks for all the information. To be on the safe side I'll probably scour the deals to see if I can find a suitable replacement since it is several years old.
 
rack04 said:
Thanks for all the information. To be on the safe side I'll probably scour the deals to see if I can find a suitable replacement since it is several years old.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a plan. It is getting up in years so I don't see anything wrong with getting a brand spankin' new one for your brand spankin' new gear. Plus you'll have a spare. I ended up building the wife a compy using all the spare parts I had left over from chronic upgrade-itus. All I had to do was buy a copy of Win7 and a DVD drive. :D
 
I'm not so sure about that. It pictures show both the plain cased (Seasonic) and Grill Cased (CWT) versions of the TX650. Regardless though, its a solid PSU in either trim.
 
Jorona said:
I'm not so sure about that. It pictures show both the plain cased (Seasonic) and Grill Cased (CWT) versions of the TX650. Regardless though, its a solid PSU in either trim.
Click to expand...

I assume 650W will be plenty for the system I have outlined in the first post?
 
I have had 0 problems with my Corsair PSU's (520/650) even while folding, sadly power costs ended that. At the age it is with a build coming up, I would go for a new PSU for piece of mind (I keep a spare for my 4 systems) but I never buy a non modular version to keep the wiring mess in control.
 
Jorona said:
I'm done. I'm gonna go fuck my wife.

OP, Buy a 1.5kw Platnium and never have to buy another PSU again.
Click to expand...

He might want to go with a dual power supply setup, just to be safe. I'm thinking a 1.5kw unit with a Corsair AX1250i as backup, replacing every 3 months as needed.
 
Jorona said:
I'm not so sure about that. It pictures show both the plain cased (Seasonic) and Grill Cased (CWT) versions of the TX650. Regardless though, its a solid PSU in either trim.
Click to expand...

Any idea if this is Seasonic or CWT?

C5B803DD-DF4E-4269-8206-BB8B2834891A-3553-000006C4A6E67D94.jpg
 
Bumping this cause my 520HX is also 4 years old, was thinking about transfering it to my new build, which will be a similar 350W draw as the OP.

I also have a Corsair 400W (C series? It doesn't say on it). Bought 3 years ago as a backup but never used.

I'm thinking transfer the 520HX to the new case and use the 400W Corsair for the old one (probably give to a gaming buddy with no money).

It's hard for me to imagine a well built PSU like the 520HX only has 4-5 years of life in it.
 
The 520HX will be fine. They don't degenerate that fast.
Don;t use the 400 W one, the 520 will be much better.
 
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