Posted April 21, 2015 Hi I was wondering if a EVGA 430w 80 plus PSU I currently own is enough for a GTX 970. My system specs: i3 4130 ( I will upgrade this shortly after to an i7 so let's not discuss CPU bottleknecks, limitations ) 8gb ram h81 motherboard r7 260x 1 ssd, 1 hard drive http://imgur.com/ghCEEL3- this is a picture of Linus's holiday build guide recommending a gtx 970 with a 430w PSU and with an fx 6300 I also want to know how much headroom I have with the power supply with this system. NO CPU overclocks, just GPU overclocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted April 21, 2015 without any overclocking you should be ok. but once you upgrade your cpu you may want to upgrade the psu too, just to be safe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted April 21, 2015 Hi I was wondering if a EVGA 430w 80 plus PSU I currently own is enough for a GTX 970. My system specs: i3 4130 ( I will upgrade this shortly after to an i7 so let's not discuss CPU bottleknecks, limitations ) 8gb ram h81 motherboard r7 260x 1 ssd, 1 hard drive http://imgur.com/ghCEEL3- this is a picture of Linus's holiday build guide recommending a gtx 970 with a 430w PSU and with an fx 6300 I also want to know how much headroom I have with the power supply with this system. NO CPU overclocks, just GPU overclocks. You won't have much if any room for a GPU overclock, with a 400W PSU (500W peak) my GTX 970 was maxing it out (they can use up to 300W of power). "We also blind small animals with cosmetics. We do not sell cosmetics. We just blind animals." "Please don't mistake us for Equifax. Those fuckers are evil" This PSA brought to you by Equifacks. PMSL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted April 21, 2015 I definitely wouldnt go under 500 Despite what linus says *GASP* "HERESY!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted April 21, 2015 You should be fine with a small overclock. Doesn't really surprise me he'd recommend a 430w for that GPU. Newer Nvidia GPUs are really good on power. Heck, even a rig with a 680 (which uses similar amount of power) didn't reach 400w in Jayztwocents' video. I wouldn't expect any high overclocks or overvolting to work well though. Previously Trogdor8freebird 5800x | Asus x570 Pro Wifi (barely enough for 64GB apparently given it's 2133 and still crashes sometimes) | 64GB DDR4 | 3070 Ti 8GB | Love that whole weeb shit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted April 21, 2015 snip I don't have any hands on experience, but NVIDIA's website lists 500W as the minimum recommended power supply here: http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-970/specifications If you don't meet minimum specs, you could potentially void your warranty - I don't really know how NVIDIA would handle that situation. Maybe not that extreme, but just something to be aware of. That being said, Maxwell is known for its efficiency. One of Linus and Luke's benchmark videos in particular show the GTX 970 pulling 305W overclocked under heavy load in Far Cry 3 (at 6:39): In another video, they show a single 980 pulling 230W under a different benchmark/load (at 4:44): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnS0xWtoRzk This may be sort of an apples-to-oranges comparison, but it could help you see wattages under different loads. I think it's safe to say your system would be stable under average use, but if you want to go for an aggressive overclock and play very demanding titles with heavy workloads, you might should go ahead and step up to a higher wattage PSU. Plus, you won't have to worry so much about "tipping the power scale" by adding components or any future overclocking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted April 21, 2015 What are you talking about. The i3 will easily handle the r7 260X with no limitations/bottlenecks. (I know I'm not supposed to talk about it but...) I3 are for gaming too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted April 21, 2015 You don't need an i7, just i5. Also 430w is fine n0ah1897, on 05 Mar 2014 - 2:08 PM, said: "Computers are like girls. It's whats in the inside that matters. I don't know about you, but I like my girls like I like my cases. Just as beautiful on the inside as the outside." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted April 21, 2015 You don't need an i7, just i5. Also 430w is fine Well do you think it worth the extra 100 bucks if you do livestream and recording? do think the i7 would be better for that? Magical Pineapples