Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Serenity on December 31, 2014, 09:54:40 AM
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Question for you folks.
I'm currently running a 600W power supply. I get this "feeling" that it's not really enough, but I'm not seeing any signs of it i.e. all of my lights and fans work just fine, nothing seems to be out of place. However, I was wondering if there was a program I could run to monitor how much power my computer as a whole is drawing vs how much is actually being supplied by the PSU (As I have heard that they don't always put out the full rated power).
Also, when the time comes for an upgrade, this is the PSU I'm looking at. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182239
Admittedly, I picked this one for the pretty-pretty-lights. (I have a thing for lights...) The reviews seem mostly positive, but I'm still fairly new to the whole legitimate gaming computer thing, so I wanted to make sure I wouldn't be throwing away money.
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Based on posts in this forum, I only buy Seasonic...
http://kenshelby.us/docs/pc-parts.htm (http://kenshelby.us/docs/pc-parts.htm)
YMMV :salute
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Question for you folks.
I'm currently running a 600W power supply. I get this "feeling" that it's not really enough, but I'm not seeing any signs of it i.e. all of my lights and fans work just fine, nothing seems to be out of place. However, I was wondering if there was a program I could run to monitor how much power my computer as a whole is drawing vs how much is actually being supplied by the PSU (As I have heard that they don't always put out the full rated power).
Also, when the time comes for an upgrade, this is the PSU I'm looking at. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182239
Admittedly, I picked this one for the pretty-pretty-lights. (I have a thing for lights...) The reviews seem mostly positive, but I'm still fairly new to the whole legitimate gaming computer thing, so I wanted to make sure I wouldn't be throwing away money.
I have the 1300 watt version of that PSU for the last 2 years and have had no problem whatsoever.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182063 So for 30 dollars more you can get 300 wats more for those purdy lights you will be installing..LOL
The best part of that PSU ... you use only what you want for the cables and your case is not cluttered.
LawnDart
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I have the 1300 watt version of that PSU for the last 2 years and have had no problem whatsoever.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182063 So for 30 dollars more you can get 300 wats more for those purdy lights you will be installing..LOL
The best part of that PSU ... you use only what you want for the cables and your case is not cluttered.
LawnDart
Would it be worth going higher? I've already got a bunch of case and fan lights running on a 600W PSU. Would I NEED 1300?
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One thing you you can do is enter your components into the system build section of the pcpartpicker website. It'll calculate the power draw of your components, I suppose under some typical or average load. At least it would give you an idea of what your power requirements are.
I would think if your system drew more power than your PSU could provide comfortably, you'd be noticing errors or shut downs, your PSU would be excessively hot and maybe even blow its fuse.
Case fans and lights don't draw much power compared to the CPU and GPU.
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Would it be worth going higher? I've already got a bunch of case and fan lights running on a 600W PSU. Would I NEED 1300?
Case lights and fans take maybe 30 watts total lol. If you run a single display card a 600W quality PSU is enough. It's not even good to have too big a PSU you want to run your PSU at around 50-60% load.
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Thanks for the input guys! I haven't seen any errors, I just see so many recommendations for bigger PSUs on (what I believe are) comparable computers to mine, so I was concerned.
One thing you you can do is enter your components into the system build section of the pcpartpicker website. It'll calculate the power draw of your components, I suppose under some typical or average load. At least it would give you an idea of what your power requirements are.
I would think if your system drew more power than your PSU could provide comfortably, you'd be noticing errors or shut downs, your PSU would be excessively hot and maybe even blow its fuse.
Case fans and lights don't draw much power compared to the CPU and GPU.
Fantastic! I'll give this a go!
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If it ain't broke don't fix it :aok
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think it's been posted here that either not enough or too much power is not really good for your system. 1000 power supply was kindda needed a few years back but now from video cards to cpu's they're requiring less and less power to run.
semp
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600W is all you need for a single CPU system, and yes seasonic
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Power you say...
(http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk234/Nessa619_bucket/flashing.gif) (http://media.photobucket.com/user/Nessa619_bucket/media/flashing.gif.html)
Coogan
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This one is a good power supply calculator since it knows all components from the past till today: http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp (http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp). Pcpartpicker is a good site but they only show components currently available.
A little headroom is always good to have, but I recommend considering a couple of things:
First, current components use much less power than their previous generations. Also the efficiency of the power supplies has improved, they produce more power instead of heat.
Second, if your power supply is too powerful, it may cause all kinds of problems. Remember the law of conservation of energy! Although there are mechanisms to adjust both intake and output, power supplies aren't intelligent devices. It's like with shoes: A couple of sizes bigger is good if you have to stand all day, but you don't need clown shoes unless you're Bigfoot.
As SirNuke said, a good quality 600W is all you need for a single GPU system (typo corrected).
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Thanks for the input guys. Even if I went up to card like a 970, 600W would have me covered?
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Thanks for the input guys. Even if I went up to card like a 970, 600W would have me covered?
Yes, according to geforce.com (http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-970/specifications) the required minimum for a 970 is 500W.
As has been previously told, quality matters. Putting a sticker on a cheap PSU saying "Ultra Power, Ultimate Efficiency" doesn't cost more than a cent but it can fry your computer. By the way, do you know the quality of your current PSU?
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Thanks for the input guys. Even if I went up to card like a 970, 600W would have me covered?
If it's a quality PSU less than five years old, probably. If it's a no-name/budget PSU, or older than five years, it's iffy. This assumes everything else you have is decently power hungry. If it's not, then you're probably good to go.
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Thanks for the input guys. Even if I went up to card like a 970, 600W would have me covered?
That depends on the amperage output. Video cards draw a lot of amps.
I always prefer a single rail PSU with enough amps to cover my system. That way I know that as the draw increases due to surge the rail will be able to provide what's needed.
Some say multiple rail PSU's are better because they isolate power surges from the rest of the system but, each rail produces fewer amps, therefore you need to make sure you can provide enough power including surges. Some video cards allow for multiple plugs allowing you to utilize more than one rail to supply this.
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By the way, do you know the quality of your current PSU?
Unfortunately not. This is the basic build I have, (I upgraded a few things, but not the PSU). I just got it a month ago, so it's new, but they don't specify the manufacturer.
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Year_End_AMD_8-Core/
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that's where I bought mine at too. I put a 750w power supply in it from evga for like 18 dollars more.
just do it and you don't have to worry
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Unfortunately not. This is the basic build I have, (I upgraded a few things, but not the PSU). I just got it a month ago, so it's new, but they don't specify the manufacturer.
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Year_End_AMD_8-Core/
For what I could find it seems to have two 12 volt rails 24 amps each. Source: http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/spec/getspec.aspx?n=POWERSUPPLY&v=600%20Watts%20-%20Standard%2080%20Plus%20Certified%20Power%20Supply%20-%20SLI%2FCrossFireX%20Ready (http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/spec/getspec.aspx?n=POWERSUPPLY&v=600%20Watts%20-%20Standard%2080%20Plus%20Certified%20Power%20Supply%20-%20SLI%2FCrossFireX%20Ready)
At least the PSU has a 80+ certification and claims to be Crossfire/SLI ready which means it should be capable to run a decent video card. A GTX 970 has two 6-pin power inputs and the requirements include 500 W and 28 A of the power supply. As I said, your PSU gives 2 x 24 A, so if there's any logic those two rails should feed the two inputs without any problems. As Tom's hardware says In short, it's the total capacity of the 12V source that matters, how the rails are laid out does not affect you much.
Of course you can open the side panel of your computer to find out the brand and model of your psu, it's not a bad idea at all, but IMO you don't have to hurry to the shop for a new PSU until the current one has run out of warranty.