Do I have enough watts to keep my PC running?

[HyperHertz]

Deciding to save my money for a Gigabyte GTX970 G1 Gaming. I'm using a 550w Gold rated PSU and I want to do a decent OC with the card. Do you think I have enough watts at 100% load? And maybe idk, some upgrades if I were going to do it.

[slightlyjaded]

Yes...just. I wouldn't want to try overclocking with that much headroom though. You're right on the limit IMO.

[Suffokation]

Seeing as you have a i5 5490, yes you do have enough power.

Overclock it as far as you can. Your current system load is very, very small.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

You're fine. You can overclock as much as you want. 

GTX 970s are very efficient :>

[HyperHertz]

Yes...just. I wouldn't want to try overclocking with that much headroom though. You're right on the limit IMO.

 

Just went to the CM wattage calculator advance, I'm not sure if it's accurate but it says with my upgrade to the GTX970 I approx. need 430w. How much watts does an overclock take?

[Suffokation]

Just went to the CM wattage calculator advance, I'm not sure if it's accurate but it says with my upgrade to the GTX970 I approx. need 430w. How much watts does an overclock take?

It depends on how intensive the overclock is.

I'd say around 30 watts maybe?

[slightlyjaded]

Just went to the CM wattage calculator advance, I'm not sure if it's accurate but it says with my upgrade to the GTX970 I approx. need 430w. How much watts does an overclock take?

Variable. but they tend to build a certain level of overhead into those calculators. Yes you can probably overclock a fair bit. but it really sucks when  you realise you've hit the limit, and your computer turns off.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Just went to the CM wattage calculator advance, I'm not sure if it's accurate but it says with my upgrade to the GTX970 I approx. need 430w. How much watts does an overclock take?

 

Not much more. Your total system draw wouldn't hit 300w anyway. 

Overclock all you want. 

[slightlyjaded]

It depends on how intensive the overclock is.

I'd say around 30 watts maybe?

(cough) my idle is 50W. My overclock balls to the wall is 500W....Just FYI

 

Edit: take that with a grain of salt. I've got way to much headroom, on both temperature, and voltage.

[HyperHertz]

It depends on how intensive the overclock is.

I'd say around 30 watts maybe?

 

well, guess I will see when I get it.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

(cough) my idle is 50W. My overclock balls to the wall is 500W....Just FYI

 

You're running a 5960X, OP has a locked i5 4950. 

[s3ns3]

if the 550W psu is good,you can run 2x 970`s in SLI on it. your pc uses around 250w(even less in gaming) so you can preety much OC as much as you want.

[slightlyjaded]

You're running a 5960X, OP has a locked i5 4950. 

Yeah, but most people have the knowhow nowadays to push a graphics card as well. As i said earlier. Non overclocked, no problems. When you start pushing however you find out how efficient your components are. It's a gold rated PSU which means it's really delivering a stable 450W. a 970 isn't that hungry, but will demand up to 150W under load. (more for some aftermarket cards) depending on other componentry....

[NicekillBG]

you have all the watts

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Yeah, but most people have the knowhow nowadays to push a graphics card as well. As i said earlier. Non overclocked, no problems. When you start pushing however you find out how efficient your components are. It's a gold rated PSU which means it's really delivering a stable 450W. a 970 isn't that hungry, but will demand up to 150W under load. (more for some aftermarket cards) depending on other componentry....

 

True, but even in Guru3D's benchmark with a 3960x only reached 280w under full load. When it comes to a point that the card needs another 100w, the cooler on the G1 will have to go anyway.

[slightlyjaded]

True, but even in Guru3D's benchmark with a 3960x only reached 280w under full load. When it comes to a point that the card needs another 100w, the cooler on the G1 will have to go anyway.

280+150....That's coming awful close to that 450W stability limit. It is only a gold power supply. Yes it will supply 550W, but most of them have issues at that level. As I've stated. It should perform with some overhead. It will probably overclock safely. It will even do it 99% of the time. Personally I would prefer that extra 100W overhead. and honestly 650W power supplies are frickin cheap as. OP's call.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

280+150....That's coming awful close to that 450W stability limit. It is only a gold power supply. Yes it will supply 550W, but most of them have issues at that level. As I've stated. It should perform with some overhead. It will probably overclock safely. It will even do it 99% of the time. Personally I would prefer that extra 100W overhead. and honestly 650W power supplies are frickin cheap as. OP's call.

 

Woah now where did that 150w come from? 280w is the total system draw (3960x + 970 G1)

[slightlyjaded]

Woah now where did that 150w come from? 280w is the total system draw (3960x + 970 G1)

Ah, okay, misread. in that case they're safe.

I am far more used to a cpu that can push 250W by itself.