550w enough for GTX780

[KR_king]

A friend of mine has a sort of gaming system, he has a i5 3570K 8gb ram and all the usual but not a gpu.
We were looking for a GTX 780 but i realized that he had a 550w XFX Pro psu.
Will a 550w psu be able to handle a not (yet) overclocked 3570K, 8gb ram, GTX780 and a hard drive or 2?

 

-edit: It's a 2500K not a 3570K

[joelthezombie15]

It should be ok, but if he plans on adding anything else i would get at least a 600w minimum. but just that should be fine

[ClutchHunter]

Easily. It has similar power draw to a 7970 - my 750W can handle a 7950 & a 7970 in Crossfire, overclocked, as well as an i7-3770k overclocked to 4.4GHz. And that's with about 5 drives too, plus numerous USB devices plugged in. For a single card, 550W is fine. It won't manage SLI though. 

[berianmol]

Yeah it would be able to run all those components quite easily.

[KR_king]

Ok, thanks for the quick replies!
He won't be going SLI so that's not a problem.
We'll be going for a Gigabyte GTX 780.
Thanks guys!

[Leonard]

If you don't overclock anything yes.

[ClutchHunter]

If you don't overclock anything yes.

 

550W is fine for an overclocked CPU and one overclocked video card. 

[Tr3vor]

Make sure that most of the wattage is on the 12v rail. I had a 550w psu that only had 380w on the 12v rail (which is what everything uses pretty much) making it really a 380w psu thats been horribly overrated.

[Leonard]

550W is fine for an overclocked CPU and one overclocked video card. 

Just for your consideration, check at the bottom where it says "Thermal and Power Specs." and look at the minimum recommended system power in watts provided by the company who makes the card and tell me if for overclocking 550w is enough for one cpu and one gpu as you put it........http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-780/specifications

[shirokado]

youll be fine even if you had a 500w psu

[ClutchHunter]

Just for your consideration, check at the bottom where it says "Thermal and Power Specs." and look at the minimum recommended system power in watts provided by the company who makes the card and tell me if for overclocking 550w is enough for one cpu and one gpu as you put it........http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-780/specifications

 

Okay... if the card will only use around 250W what is the purpose of the 600W figure? I must be missing something here. 

[shirokado]

Okay... if the card will only use around 250W what is the purpose of the 600W figure? I must be missing something here. 

the suggested wattage from nvidia and AMD are worthless. so you get the suggested and take about 100 watts off and that should the PSU thats more then enough for that card overclocked or not

[Leonard]

Okay... if the card will only use around 250W what is the purpose of the 600W figure? I must be missing something here. 

The purpose of the 600w figure is for all the parts of the total build which would include the GPU. They take in to consideration the facts that we (the user) will have all sorts of hard ware connected to our system and as a result the put a figure that can achieve a proper allotted head room for stable safe use under load power consumption, weather it be gaming or rendering or what ever else we the user will want to do that is resource demanding of the PC.

It is always good practice for power consumption to have ample over head room. Like i said if he is not overclocking the 550w would be cool according to all his connected hardware but once you start to overclock you system, as we all like to do, 550w would not be a safe power supply.

 

In my personal rig, i use a NZXT P630, 3570k OD'd to 4.5GHz, P8z77-v lx, 16Gb of RAM, one 660TI 3GB version, WIFI pci card, four 1.5 TB HDD, XSPC rs360 with six Xigmatek 120mm XAF-F1255 in push pull, and led lights for the reservoir and waterblock, three 200mm fans, 3 140mm fans all on a 600w PSU. Nvidia's minimum recommended system power requirement is 450W. While i am just surfing the web or doing my spreadsheets or any of my other daily office tasks the power consumtion is below the 450W mark but when i do my virtual machines or streaming or gaming or rendering my bit coining the power wattage consumption goes up passed the 450W mark.

 

All i am saying is that it is a good rule of thumb to always have an ample wattage overhead for any thing electrical which would include a PC. If you however thinks that you can do it and it is safe, well by all means go ahead. I am just giving KR_king my view as a PC builder of nine years, my view, take it for what it is worth.  

[ClutchHunter]

The purpose of the 600w figure is for all the parts of the total build which would include the GPU. They take in to consideration the facts that we (the user) will have all sorts of hard ware connected to our system and as a result the put a figure that can achieve a proper allotted head room for stable safe use under load power consumption, weather it be gaming or rendering or what ever else we the user will want to do that is resource demanding of the PC.

It is always good practice for power consumption to have ample over head room. Like i said if he is not overclocking the 550w would be cool according to all his connected hardware but once you start to overclock you system, as we all like to do, 550w would not be a safe power supply.

 

In my personal rig, i use a NZXT P630, 3570k OD'd to 4.5GHz, P8z77-v lx, 16Gb of RAM, one 660TI 3GB version, WIFI pci card, four 1.5 TB HDD, XSPC rs360 with six Xigmatek 120mm XAF-F1255 in push pull, and led lights for the reservoir and waterblock, three 200mm fans, 3 140mm fans all on a 600w PSU. Nvidia's minimum recommended system power requirement is 450W. While i am just surfing the web or doing my spreadsheets or any of my other daily office tasks the power consumtion is below the 450W mark but when i do my virtual machines or streaming or gaming or rendering my bit coining the power wattage consumption goes up passed the 450W mark.

 

All i am saying is that it is a good rule of thumb to always have an ample wattage overhead for any thing electrical which would include a PC. If you however thinks that you can do it and it is safe, well by all means go ahead. I am just giving KR_king my view as a PC builder of nine years, my view, take it for what it is worth.  

 

That's exactly what's so stupid about that 'requirement'. It doesn't and obviously can't take into account specific circumstances. I have...

 

i7-3770k @ 4.4 GHz, 16GB memory, sound card, multiple drives, an overclocked 7950 and an overclocked 7970 all running on a 750W power supply and I have done for a few weeks. It's fine. Zero issues. Granted it is quite a nice quality PSU though. Granted also that before I add anything else at all I'll be buying something to monitor wattage use from the wall as I'm likely very close to the 750W limit. 

[Leonard]

 

That's exactly what's so stupid about that 'requirement'. It doesn't and obviously can't take into account specific circumstances. I have...

 

i7-3770k @ 4.4 GHz, 16GB memory, sound card, multiple drives, an overclocked 7950 and an overclocked 7970 all running on a 750W power supply and I have done for a few weeks. It's fine. Zero issues. Granted it is quite a nice quality PSU though. Granted also that before I add anything else at all I'll be buying something to monitor wattage use from the wall as I'm likely very close to the 750W limit. 

Maybe you should run your system as is on a 550W PSU and check the difference of performance of your system to see why i trust the recommended power requirements by the vendor. You on the other hand use a 750W PSU, therefore, it has sufficient head room for hardware so you won't have any issues. It is not a stupid requirement, they (Nvidia/AMD/whoever makes a product for public), needs to put minimum and recommended specifications for any product they make to sell as good business practice. It would be wise for anyone buying their product/s to use their specifications as a guide so as to not encounter any issues with the relevant product/s or be able to quickly assess where a problem can come from in a PC build. 

[Giac]

Yeah it would be able to run all those components quite easily.

are you for real? the guy has a 2500K not a 1090T @1.6V.

 

I really hate it when people completely overestimate the wattage needed in a system. I see so many people with single GPU's running 800W PSUs.....whats the point????

 

I measured how much my system pulls from the wall (3770K @1.25V + OC'd 780) and I pull less than 350W.

 

EDIT: hate is a strong word...

 

youll be fine even if you had a 500w psu

 

 

A quality 400W PSU would be sufficient.

[orangecat]

Should be ok if your dont overclock.

[berianmol]

are you for real? the guy has a 2500K not a 1090T @1.6V.

 

I really hate it when people completely overestimate the wattage needed in a system. I see so many people with single GPU's running 800W PSUs.....whats the point????

 

I measured how much my system pulls from the wall (3770K @1.25V + OC'd 780) and I pull less than 350W.

 

 

 

 

 

A quality 400W PSU would be sufficient.

Dude it is always good to leave a good amount of legroom of about +/-75w 

And technically 450watt would be enough but not advisable, go see duncan's video on youtube, 

but going with 550watt is to ensure that you are on the safe side. 

[W-Junk]

550W will work just fine. my 850W broke 2 weeks ago and im currently running my system on a cosair 430W (specs down below)

[Giac]

Dude it is always good to leave a good amount of legroom of about +/-75w 

And technically 450watt would be enough but not advisable, go see duncan's video on youtube, 

but going with 550watt is to ensure that you are on the safe side. 

The only reason you would want to have more than 400W is so that at maximum load, the PSU is at peak efficiency. Otherwise there is absolutely no reason to go higher (unless you plan on upgrading). and LOL duncan3303 put a 500W PSU in a core i3 + 7770. That guy literally has no idea what he's doing.

 

 

 

550W will work just fine. my 850W broke 2 weeks ago and im currently running my system on a cosair 430W (specs down below)

 

 

Note this guys specs....2500K + 7970. Again absolutely no reason in getting a super high wattage PSU. With 550W you could even go CF/SLI at stock. However that would be cutting it really close.

[brownninja97]

Seems risky, push it up to 650w or above. Pushing a psu to the max all the time isnt great for long life.

[Lays]

Ok, thanks for the quick replies!

He won't be going SLI so that's not a problem.

We'll be going for a Gigabyte GTX 780.

Thanks guys!

 

 

If you haven't bought your 780 yet, look into evga acx 780, I have 1, and the second on it's way, idle temps are 27 celsius, load are around 64-67. Card is amazing and dead quiet. No complaints yet

[8521546]

Nvidia does say you shuld have around 600wats. but linus made a haswell build that did draw ca 450 wats under insane load

[Quaker]

Will a 550w psu be able to handle a not (yet) overclocked 3570K, 8gb ram, GTX780 and a hard drive or 2?

 

nVidia recommends a 600watt PSU for the GTX-780. That recommendation includes a fair amount of headroom, so a 550watt would do, if you weren't overclocking the CPU. But, since you are OC'ing, I'd suggest you get at least a 600watt PSU, with 650-750watt being even better.

 

Or, since OC'ing the CPU doesn't really do all that much, just stick with stock clocks and the 550watt.

[Tr3vor]

The only reason you would want to have more than 400W is so that at maximum load, the PSU is at peak efficiency. Otherwise there is absolutely no reason to go higher (unless you plan on upgrading). and LOL duncan3303 put a 500W PSU in a core i3 + 7770. That guy literally has no idea what he's doing.

 

 

 

But the question is, It works, so Does it matter at all?

I have a i5-2400 and a 550TI (soon to be 7970ghz) with a TX650. Does that mean I have no idea what I'm doing?