Antec Earthwatt 500W, 5+ years old, can it power a Haswell ?

[crockman]

I'm building a 'Budget' Gaming PC, Thread can be found here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2378553

I plan to reuse my Earthwatt in my new Budget-Build.
Main Parts of the Build:
i5-4670k
MSI Z87-G41 MB
16GB Crucial Ballistic RAM
HD 7850 VGA

Question is, will this Older Technology Earthwatt safely power a new 4670k Haswell ?

Thanks

PS: Specs of this Antec EA 500 Watt, Links below:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371007
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/526

 

[DownTheSky]

Yes it's enough.

 

[crockman]

Yes it's enough.

Thanks, I don't think I worded my Question properly, sorry. It's not really the wattage/power I'm concerned about, actually the 4670k i5 is only 84Watt compared to my present Phenom I that's 95Watt.

My concern is, my Antec is 6 years old technology. A lot of this new Stuff available will say "Haswell Compatible or Haswell Ready, etc.."

Do Haswell's require any specific newer Technology from a PSU that my Older PSU doesn't have ?, such as it needs to be 2.3v not just 2.2v etc... ? or is that "Haswell Compatible' comment just a Marketing Gimmick ?

Thanks

 

[dave_the_nerd]

No, they don't require anything the older gen i3/i5/i7s didn't. That's just marketing.

My only complaint about older PSUs is that they always have too many Molex and not enough sata power connectors.

 

[crockman]

No, they don't require anything the older gen i3/i5/i7s didn't. That's just marketing

Thanks, wasn't sure so figured I'd ask to be on the safe side.

My only complaint about older PSUs is that they always have too many Molex and not enough sata power connectors.

I normally only use 1 maybe 2 hard drives, so sata connectors are not a big concern. The molex do come in handy for cheapy case fans, but with this new build i think ill use as many pwm fan's that my MB will support.

 

[lehtv]

Thanks, wasn't sure so figured I'd ask to be on the safe side.



I normally only use 1 maybe 2 hard drives, so sata connectors are not a big concern. The molex do come in handy for cheapy case fans, but with this new build i think ill use as many pwm fan's that my MB will support.

Typically, motherboards support PWM only for the CPU fan. But here's a tip: you can connect five PWM fans to the same CPU fan header using a splitter cable that gets its power from the PSU. Then all your case fans will be regulated according to CPU temperature

 

[ch33zw1z]

No, they don't require anything the older gen i3/i5/i7s didn't. That's just marketing.

My only complaint about older PSUs is that they always have too many Molex and not enough sata power connectors.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=molex+to+sata+power+connector

I have a few of these in case it's needed. They come with PSU's and mobo's, and pile up over the years. But if you need one, they're out there.

 

[coffeejunkee]

Do Haswell's require any specific newer Technology from a PSU that my Older PSU doesn't have ?, such as it needs to be 2.3v not just 2.2v etc... ? or is that "Haswell Compatible' comment just a Marketing Gimmick ?

Haswell cpu's have a new low powerstate called 'C7'. Before launch the warning was that this new C7 state uses so little power that it might cause the psu to activate its undercurrent protection and shut down the pc*

There have been examples of people using Haswell and old psu's but not experiencing any trouble. If you by any form of chance do experience this, turn off C7 state in bios.

* it's a bit more complicated than that but I'll spare you the details, unless you really want to know.

 

[lehtv]

There have been examples of people using Haswell and old psu's but not experiencing any trouble.

From what I know, this is as a result of having some load on the +12V while in sleep mode, e.g. from a fan connected directly to the PSU or from a graphics card.

 

[crockman]

Typically, motherboards support PWM only for the CPU fan. But here's a tip: you can connect five PWM fans to the same CPU fan header using a splitter cable that gets its power from the PSU

Thanks, I didn't know that splitter existed. Will have to pick one up

Haswell cpu's have a new low powerstate called 'C7'. Before launch the warning was that this new C7 state uses so little power that it might cause the psu to activate its undercurrent protection and shut down the pc*

Thanks, that was the Info I was looking for. I had read something was unique about the Haswell but couldn't remember what it was.

From what I know, this is as a result of having some load on the +12V while in sleep mode, e.g. from a fan connected directly to the PSU or from a graphics card.

My Graphics has a 6-pin connector, so hopefully my older Earthwatt wont have any trouble with C7 mode

 

[_Rick_]

I've had systems shut down (probably due to a bad PSU) when putting a low load, just above idle on a C6-enabled CPU.

These low power states, and the quick cycling in and out of them puts a stress on the PSU, where it's sometimes not able to keep up with the fluctuation in power draw, and gets "caught out" unable to stabilize the voltage.

But, usually you should be able to test the PSU in a variety of scenarios, and if it's stable, there's no problem. If the PC shuts off unexpectedly, the prime suspect should be the PSU.

Problematic loads are often things like watching movies, browsing the web, and similar low intensity workloads, probably more so, when the load is spread across multiple cores, which get power gated on-and-off in sub-millisecond intervals.

But, as previous posters pointed out, there's no a priori indication, that the PSU shouldn't work.