how do I work out how much power I require

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niggles

Senior member
Jan 10, 2002
797
0
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Hi all, thanks for checking my post. I'm looking to find out how much power I require for my new video card. I'm currently using a corsair 850 watt power supply powering an i5 on an 1156 motherboard with a GTX 275 with 1 hard drive, a DVD drive and an SSD. I'm about to swap out the video card with an MSI 6950... I am not sure where to look to research this kind of thing. Can anyone suggest if this is enough power, or where to find info on this?

thanks
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,332
14,743
146
You're fine. That Corsair 850 will power that with tons to spare.

Odds are, your system wont pull more than 450 watts ever...and probably not even that.

34664.png

Note that those numbers are for TOTAL system consumption, not just the video card.
 
lehtv

lehtv

Elite Member
Dec 8, 2010
11,897
74
91
6950 only needs a 500W-550W PSU at minimum. Your PSU could run heavily overclocked 6950 crossfire and it wouldn't be anywhere near its maximum capabilities.

Approx. max theoretical wattage for your system:

160W (6950) + 100W (i5 at stock) + 50W for the rest (+20W if DVD drive is working hard :p) = 330W. In practice you'll never cross 300W if you don't OC. If you OC the CPU and GPU, you could use up to 400W with CPU and GPU in full stress.
 
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mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
5
71
www.mfenn.com
OP, there are two ways to go about it: observation or deduction. Boomer has given you the former and lehtv has given you the latter. As you see, they actually line up quite nicely in this case!
 
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niggles

Senior member
Jan 10, 2002
797
0
0
seriously... coming to Anandtech forums is like going to The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy computer "Deep Thought" and asking it a question... I always get an amazing answer with no derision... thanks so much for the feed back everyone.
 
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piasabird

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
17,168
60
91
Some devices use more energy at powerup, video cards use more power for games. So does the power usage bencmark using a Quad or what? It would make sense that different processors would use differing amounts of energy. Although most Intel processors with Turbo have a min max turbo wattage.
 
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mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
5
71
www.mfenn.com
piasabird said:
Some devices use more energy at powerup, video cards use more power for games. So does the power usage bencmark using a Quad or what? It would make sense that different processors would use differing amounts of energy. Although most Intel processors with Turbo have a min max turbo wattage.
Click to expand...

The benchmark the BoomerD posted is with an overclocked Bloomfield i7. That's almost a worst-case estimate for modern CPUs, only an overclocked Phenom II X6 will be worse.
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,332
14,743
146
mfenn said:
The benchmark the BoomerD posted is with an overclocked Bloomfield i7. That's almost a worst-case estimate for modern CPUs, only an overclocked Phenom II X6 will be worse.
Click to expand...

Plus, that's Furmark which stresses a system and uses much more power than most games ever will.
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,332
14,743
146
niggles said:
To be honest I've never entered that part of this site, and I've been on here almost 10 years.... a quote comes to mind "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." 8)
Click to expand...


Never say "never"...

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=19817513&postcount=50

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=3575520&postcount=137

:biggrin: BUT, it looks like you've wisely avoided the sewer known as P&N...and have been only sparsely in the nuthouse called OT.

:sneaky:
 
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