PSU thoughts

[kfly13]

Good day!

This is my first time posting here since I'm trying a new community as posting and getting a response on Reddit is so hard. I just recently upgraded my GPU to XFX 6700xt, but I didn't upgrade my PSU, which is Gigabyte P650b 80 plus Bronze. It's been a month, but I haven't experienced any issues with the games I played, like MH World, Dota 2, Apex Legends, etc. I didn't customize any settings, and I only turned on AMD SAM.

Now, I'm wondering if I should go and start saving for a better PSU since, as per the XFX website, their minimum requirement is 650, and the recommended is 750. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

[Ottoman420]

if its not crashing and the games you want are playing well then dont bother with a new psu imo

 

You wont get extra performance with a bigger power supply

[kfly13]

I agree with you! Lmao, and to be honest, that's the reason why I'm hesitant.

[Poinkachu]

23 minutes ago, kfly13 said:

I agree with you! Lmao, and to be honest, that's the reason why I'm hesitant.

If your PSU is old enough, it might be a good idea to start saving for a new one anyway.

But if the sole reason for it is what AMD said, if currently you don't have a problem playing with what you have, then I don't really see a reason to change.

Manufacturers often increase the requirement because they have to make sure everybody can run it well despite whatever other power chugging parts user might have in their PC, like CPU. Also because they can't make sure that everybody will use a decent enough quality PSU to run it.

 

And in RTX3000 story, to make sure the PSU can handle the very high transient power spike, which may trip the PSU's overcurrent protection if the PSU isn't good enough.

 

Your GPU alone probably only uses like 250-300w max.

[kitnoman]

Just to add, the psu requirement on those gpu are mostly over spec. It is so that if just in case you also have a high end high wattage cpu. You can always try to calculate the total max wattage your system could use. Like a 6700xt is around 200-250w + your cpu let's say it around 65-120w + all other components(fans,rgb,ssd/ram,etc), just on the safe side let's say 50w. So at max, that's around 250+120+50=420w.

Personally, for PSU, as my own rule of thumb that I've also learned from others, is that I make sure that my system max wattage is only 70-80% or below the PSUs rated wattage.  So using that, the 420w to a 650w PSU is around 65%, so even if there's any spikes, it still covered. So you are good. And if your system is right around that 80% usage, all you really need to do is to overclock and unvolt your gpu and cpu. For most part, this would makes sure that your system won't suck too much power.

However, just a reminder as well. One of the first things that breaks on PSU that uses  close to it's rated wattage is the fans. When it consistently on full load. It also consistently at 80-100% fan speed. If you start hearing weird fan noise(in your pc if it's from the other room, that's different) or if your PC shutdown when gaming. It might not be that the PSU "really" broken, but it's just the fan. But since, fixing PSU fans is kind of difficult and dangerous, your immediate solution is getting a new one(if its out of warranty). 

[leclod]

Your gpu uses max 230W. That leaves 420W for cpu and else. That's a lot.

You're fine.