Will my PSU be enough?

[Optimus18]

Hello


I wanted to ask if my PSU of 350 W will be enough to handle an "MSI GeForce GTX 660 OC 2GB GDDR5" even in extreme conditions (i.e. when gaming and running stuff in background) in combination with the following specs?
I am afraid that something could go wrong :S
What are the maximum watts that are consumed with all the components (including the new gtx 660 OC)?



My specs:

HP Pavilion Elite; Model: E9270F(AU917AA#ABA)

Processor: Intel Core i7-860 2.8GHz

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Memory: 8GB DDR3

Gfx card: At the moment I got a crappy GTX 260 and I will get the:
"MSI N660 TF 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5" tomorrow.


I play a lot of cod (also cod ghosts), l4d2 but also far cry 3 or bf3/bf4.


Best regards!

 

[OCGuy]

You aren't supposed to cross-post, but in the future, the PSU experts hang out in the PSU sub-forum:

http://forums.anandtech.com/forumdisplay.php?f=48

 

[Optimus18]

Oh sorry! I am new here on this forum. Could a mod move this to the mentioned area?

---

Done.

Harvey
Senior AT Mod/Admin

 

[Optimus18]

I think I was wrong. That's a 460W PSU right there isn't it? so will this be enough?



*edit*

I came across this gfx card: MSI R9 270x Hawk. It's a very good card:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/R9_270X_HAWK/26....

It's almost as good as the GTX 660 Ti. I didn't find a comparison to the this card (MSI GeForce GTX 660 Twin Frozr III/OC) though:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...



But I am pretty sure the MSI R9 270x Hawk beats the MSI GeForce GTX 660 Twin Frozr III/OC?

The last question now is if I can use it with my PSU 460 W? I am really not sure about that because the asus site says I need 700 W minimum. Wtf? Thermaltake Power Supply Calculator says about 480 W.

 

[Deders]

Do you have any info as to how exactly the 12v rails are distributed?

 

[Optimus18]

hmm no but what I do know- and which could answer this question is - the following:



After 1 hour research and looking into my PC case with a flashlight, I found out that i own this PSU:

http://www.bitzotech.com/delta-dps-460db-3-a-460-watt-power-supply-hp-pn-570857-001-b146-126-p.asp

and this mainboard (though one to find out):

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02014355&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=4120664#N74


Now would this MSI R9 270x Hawk or MSI GeForce GTX 660 Twin Frozr III OC combined with my specs work along with my 460 W PSU?

 

[nightspydk]

Why don't you give it a try.

http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-660/specifications

I should say to install the complete nvidia driver package. The reson I'm saying this is because some of us get tweaked drivers.

 

[Deders]

My instinct is if it can run a 260 (which almost has the same power draw as a 670), it can run a 660TI. AMD cards do seem to be a little more power hungry so it would be worth doing some research between how much of a difference in power it actually might draw in extreme scenarios.

 

[Optimus18]

Well just "giving a try" and see if my gfx is going to explode is not an option I'm afraid. Can anybody here confirm this:

Now would this MSI R9 270x Hawk or MSI GeForce GTX 660 Twin Frozr III OC combined with my specs work along with my 460 W PSU?


And one more question: my PSU has only one 6 pin PCI-e power connector, but the MSI R9 270x Hawk needs two connectors. can I use this as a solution:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812887001

Is that possible with my PSU?



*edit*

Sorry Deders I didn't even see your answer!

I did the research:


Check this out:

http://www.hwcompare.com/15760/geforce-gtx-260-vs-radeon-r9-270x/

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/R9_270X_HAWK/27.html

It's the same power consumption!

 

[nightspydk]

Not sure what you mean by explode, but lets hope deders can help you out to not have that happen.

Good luck dude.

 

[Deders]

Well just "giving a try" and see if my gfx is going to explode is not an option I'm afraid. Can anybody here confirm this:

Firstly your card won't explode, unless something seriously goes wrong which is unlikely. What is more likely to happen is that your PC will simply shut off during intensive tasks/games if the PSU can't provide enough power, or one of the rail limits kicks in.

Now would this MSI R9 270x Hawk or MSI GeForce GTX 660 Twin Frozr III OC combined with my specs work along with my 460 W PSU?

It can already run the 260 and has been doing so for some time I presume it should be stable, although these charts (get Chrome to translate it) do prove that different cards draw varying amounts from different sources, including up to 75W via the same rail that power the motherboard

And one more question: my PSU has only one 6 pin PCI-e power connector, but the MSI R9 270x Hawk needs two connectors. can I use this as a solution:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812887001

Is that possible with my PSU?

If you were to use an adapter you should definitely make sure that each molex you connect comes from a different cable chain, otherwise you might end up heating up the wires too much and possibly melting them. It might also give you a better chance for rail load distribution.

Most of the wires from a PSU are only thick enough to carry a certain amount of current. The wires for 6/8 pin graphics card connectors are thicker so they can carry more load without melting, making sure that both the molexes are drawing from 2 separate thinner wires will stop that happening

You may find that you may need to balance the load by experimenting with which way you connect the wires. for instance I found that one of my 6 pin sockets on my old 9800GTX+ drew more current than the other one, so if you do find your computer powers down, it may just be a case of swapping the two 6 pins over so that the dedicated 6 pin that comes directly from the PSU takes most of the load and the molex converter the least, as the rail it comes from will also have to power the rest of your system.

I am presuming that the 8A 12Vc is for the 6 pin built into the PSU, as that is a sensible amount to run 75W through (75W/12V=6.25A), leaving a little overhead. Unless you can find any more detailed specifications as to what the other rails power specifically then it might just be a case of experimenting until you can keep it stable.

I'm guessing that the 12Vb (15A/180W) is for the CPU and 12Va (18A/216W) is for everything else, including up to 75W of the graphics card's draw via the PCIe slot.

 

[nightspydk]

See some of that man is amazing and that is precisely why adaptors is generally a no-go. Thank you deders you confirmed it and few have.

 

[Deders]

I did a lot of experimenting back in the days when I didn't realise how important a good PSU was, and I did manage to get the load balance right for a dual 9800GTX+ system, even though it involved having 3 dual molex to 6 pin adapters.

I learned a lot from this and wouldn't use them again if I could possibly help it but they do work in a pinch if you know what you are doing and take all these factors into consideration.

I think you will be able to run either card, even if it means a little experimentation, but I would be cautious about overclocking the CPU or GPU purely because the limits each rail gives you.

 

[nightspydk]

that's kind of the way I learned too but keep that thing with the molex in mind like said, because it's true and truth is a rare commodity.

 

[Meghan54]

See some of that man is amazing and that is precisely why adaptors is generally a no-go. Thank you deders you confirmed it and few have.

Wrong. Adapters are quite useful, provided you know what rail the Molex chain is powered from and if there's anything else plugged into/connected to that chain. Deders gave the caveats to using an adapter, but never said it was a no-go. Actually quite useful for older power supplies of sufficient output but lacking proper connectors.

 

[john3850]

Years back I bought the first blue storm with two 12v lines a 13a and 15a and my first XTPE.
Pc started up and shut right off 3x then no power.
Got a single 12v line OCZ.adj 520 ps while waiting for BS rma.
In few days the new XTPE dies.
I dont know if the blue storm lead to the death of my first xtpe but I switched to single 12v lines ps after that.

 

[Optimus18]

First of all, thanks for the detailed answers I am new to those power supply matters.

I am presuming that the 8A 12Vc is for the 6 pin built into the PSU, as that is a sensible amount to run 75W through (75W/12V=6.25A), leaving a little overhead. Unless you can find any more detailed specifications as to what the other rails power specifically then it might just be a case of experimenting until you can keep it stable.

I'm guessing that the 12Vb (15A/180W) is for the CPU and 12Va (18A/216W) is for everything else, including up to 75W of the graphics card's draw via the PCIe slot.

I am determined to find that out. Would it help if I provided you with detailed screenshots of my case?


I got an other question: I heard that a PSU looses some of its potetnial through aging. Is this a lot loss of wattage?

 

[Deders]

First of all, thanks for the detailed answers I am new to those power supply matters.


I am determined to find that out. Would it help if I provided you with detailed screenshots of my case?

Unfortunately not. this kind of information is usually supplied in a PSU manual, something I doubt HP felt the need to create. There may be a whitepaper somewhere, you could try googling the model number but even so It may not be necessary.

I got an other question: I heard that a PSU looses some of its potetnial through aging. Is this a lot loss of wattage?

It's more likely to lose efficiency. It will still be able to supply what it was able to when it was new, it will just take more power from the wall to do so.

 

[Optimus18]

I see.


So where would I best connect the two power 6 pin connectors from the R9 270x:


This is my case:

And this here is the cable that connects my current GTX 260 with my PSU. So that would be the first 6 pin PCI-e connector from the new new card to the PSU.

Now where would the two female molexes of this adapter:

best be connected to?


Either here:

(Btw this cable connects on the left my CD/DVD/BluRay/RW drive and on the right my ASUS Xonar DX soundcard).

On those bottom free female moles ^

or here:

This cable connects my 2 seagate 750 GB HDD with my PSU. But you see this free thing there which I am hoding. Maybe there could be a second adapter installed that connects one of the female molexes or even both?



And just for additional info. My CPU:

On the white cable - which you can see - it says "300 V VW-1 16 AWG" if that helps (though I don't think so).


And I also got 4 occupied usb slots (mouse, keyboard, second keyboard [Logitech cordless] and some other USB stick I can't make out what it is).

One fan in my case and I got a PC360 GAME from Sennheiser and a 2.1 sound system which is only used when I am not gaming.

 

[Deders]

The AWG stands for American wire gauge, the lower the number the thicker the wire, most will be 18, the CPU and PCIe connectors will be 16, therefore thicker and able to handle more current.

Despite your many photos it is still unclear to me exactly which wires go where, I think it may be best to start again, unplug everything except the 20+4 pin and the 4 pin CPU.

I would also start out by putting the 6 pin in the socket that is towards the back of the case, i.e. not on the very end of the card. This is how it worked with my card but yours may differ. It's a good starting point.

Then work out which leads are going to physically have to lead to which components, keeping in mind that you will need to use a molex from 2 separate 'strands' to power the 2nd graphics card socket.

When I say strand I mean each separate group of wires that leads from your PSU, one might have a few molex's and a floppy connector, another might have Sata power connectors.

In your first picture the 2 molex's at the bottom would be unsuitable for the adapter as they are on the same strand. you could use one of those and a molex from a different strand.

 

[lehtv]

It's more likely to lose efficiency. It will still be able to supply what it was able to when it was new, it will just take more power from the wall to do so.

Not quite... capacitor aging is a well known phenomenon, it decreases the capacity of the capacitor, thus decreasing the overall capacity of the unit. Higher quality caps are less prone to aging

 

[Optimus18]

In your first picture the 2 molex's at the bottom would be unsuitable for the adapter as they are on the same strand. you could use one of those and a molex from a different strand.

I know what you mean. but there aren't any free molexes left I am afraid. or could this be the solution:

I might put this into that on the right:

then I would have the power to my new gfx card from TWO DIFFERENT STRANDS.

 

[Deders]

That cable should give you additional molex's to connect drives, and possibly one of the gpu adapter molex's.

 

[Optimus18]

the gfx card comes with this:

I don't need an adapter then?


*edit*

and what's the difference between this besides the 30$ difference?:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127760

and this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127761

 

[Optimus18]

Damn I just wanted to order that card and then I realised that the cable from my gtx260 to the PSU looks as following:

and the cable I need to connect the new card to looks like that:

I dont really see how I can connect my 6 pin cable (the one in the first picture) which goes directly to the PSU to the new gfx card? There is no way is there? Because I am sure I need this power supply cable...