430W Sufficient for GTX 970?

[Kaga]

Linus' buyers' guide 2014 pairs a CX430 with a GTX 970 although in its tech specs, the 970 has a minimum power requirement of 500W (even 550W on the Gigabyte G1 Gaming card). Yet PSU calculators give a wattage of around 380-400W for the 970 (w/ fx-6300 as cpu). 

 

Is the ~500W min for the 970 just an overcompsenation then?

[tobben]

yes, any estimate provided by the manufacturer doesn't make sense anyway.

They have no idea what else you have in the system, so they overcompensate 

to cover themselves. 430w should be adequate for a normal system housing

a 970.

 

When it comes to psu's i prefer to overcompensate by default though, less noise

less stress, especially if you are running it 24/7.

[Graviityy]

Its better to get more than you would need than to have just enough it get by. But if you cant get your hands on say like a 600w psu or higher for some reason then make sure you getting a nice quality 450w so youre getting the best power possible out of it.

[Mooshi]

970 uses like what, 140w? It's very power efficient. Keep in mind that many SFF enthusiast built powerful rigs using Silverstone SFX 450w PSUs no problem. What matters is if you have enough amps on the 12V rail for the 970.

[Graviityy]

yes, any estimate provided by the manufacturer doesn't make sense anyway.

They have no idea what else you have in the system, so they overcompensate 

to cover themselves. 430w should be adequate for a normal system housing

a 970.

Thats probably why i read somewhere that for 2 970s in sli you need like an 850w. Which isnt necessarily true.  

[DavidTheWin]

You'd be fine, but on the edge. I'd say 500/550W to be on the safe side and to allow for overclocking headroom. Also since your PSU will likely outlast this build, it would be wise to have a little extra headroom because you don't know what build that PSU will go into next.

[tobben]

Thats probably why i read somewhere that for 2 970s in sli you need like an 850w. Which isnt necessarily true.  

Possibly, i don't know where you read that. 

But that isn't true at all.

[SuperPug]

It will work with the cx430 but theres really no point in getting such a weak psu... even the cx 600 is only a few bucks more

[Aniallation]

Linus' buyers' guide 2014 pairs a CX430 with a GTX 970 although in its tech specs, the 970 has a minimum power requirement of 500W (even 550W on the Gigabyte G1 Gaming card). Yet PSU calculators give a wattage of around 380-400W for the 970 (w/ fx-6300 as cpu). 

If you don't overclock then a CX430 will be perfectly fine. 500W is an overestimation for a system with a 970, however keep in mind there's a difference between low-end PSUs like the CX430, and PSUs like the 450W Seasonic G.

[Aniallation]

Thats probably why i read somewhere that for 2 970s in sli you need like an 850w. Which isnt necessarily true.  

A system wih two 970s in SLI won't even pull 600W.