Does a GPU require any specific specs?

[osbios]

Can you maybe make out the exact name/type somewhere, after that you can find that information with some google magic.

[Jokerplan]

That's just what it accepts from the wall. All PSU's in your region will have that rating. There should be a sticker of some kind on the side of the PSU stating max wattage, continuous wattage, amps per rail, etc. It will look something like this....

ALRIGHT! As i said the PSU was in the most awkward position imaginable... ever... After a lot of bloodshed, pain and removal of nearly everything i got to the bottom of the PSU, and took this photo:

http://gyazo.com/02d3ab1a87d6e6a670dae7967e362bd0

I hope it helps.. 

(I actually managed to break a little something in the process... But it's just a little holdy-part... No biggie..)

[JamGorby]

ALRIGHT! As i said the PSU was in the most awkward position imaginable... ever... After a lot of bloodshed, pain and removal of nearly everything i got to the bottom of the PSU, and took this photo:

http://gyazo.com/02d3ab1a87d6e6a670dae7967e362bd0

I hope it helps.. 

(I actually managed to break a little something in the process... But it's just a little holdy-part... No biggie..)

Unfortunately, looks like your first upgrade should a new PSU. Your PSU having more amperage on the 3 and 5 volt rails than the 12 suggests an old design in new skin. Pretty common practice with cheap PSU's. If you do the math, you actually only have 264 watts available to play with on the 12 volt rails. Older PC's used to rely more on the 3 and 5 volt rails. Modern PC's need strong 12 volt rails.

Some OEM and cheapo PSU manufacturers will take old projects and slap some new cable harnesses on them like eps12v and sata and sell them as modern PSU's. If you were to try and fanangle a GTX 970 in there this PSU would probably meet a pretty quick death. Hell, it may even take some things with it on the way out if it doesn't have proper protections built in. 

I would consider a good PSU from a reputable company of at least 500watts with a single strong 12v rail of 38amps or better before moving further with ANY future upgrades. 

[JamGorby]

snip

Was this a machine that was built or is it OEM?

[FruitBasketSilex]

An A8-6600K is a bottleneck so try go with a FX processor if you can before you get a 970

Any fx processor would still be a bottleneck.

[7850OC]

the cpu or apu (with 4 cores) is fine 

 

 

 

the psu (+12v 22a 500w) is fine (for me at least)

 

 

 

the gpu need more research

 

how much watts need ?

 

how much amps ?

 

how much is the cost ?

 

 

 

keep in mind that, we are at the line here with the psu, check well what the 970 "need" to "work"

[Guest]

the cpu or apu (with 4 cores) is fine 

 

 

 

the psu (+12v 22a 500w) is fine (for me at least)

 

 

 

the gpu need more research

 

how much watts need ?

 

how much amps ?

 

how much is the cost ?

 

 

 

keep in mind that, we are at the line here with the psu, check well what the 970 "need" to "work"

The refrence 970 has a tdp of 145 and the minimum recomended is 500 so get a 600w powersupply to be on the safe side

[7850OC]

The refrence 970 has a tdp of 145 and the minimum recomended is 500 so get a 600w powersupply to be on the safe side

then he touched the "minimum" here with his 500w and i don't see why he need a new psu (for a 970)

[Guest]

A better PSU is needed if you want some headroom for other upgrades and if you want to overclock, and thats the minimum recomended and you would want a little more than that becuse it can burn out your components if they dont get enough power

 

then he touched the "minimum" here with his 500w and i don't see why he need a new psu (for a 970)

[JamGorby]

.....the psu (+12v 22a 500w) is fine (for me at least)

.....then he touched the "minimum" here with his 500w and i don't see why he need a new psu (for a 970)

Not even close. 22amps on the 12v rail doesn't equal 500watts. Their rating of 500 watts comes from a total of all rails combined. The actual wattage of the 12v rail of his PSU is 264watts. As I said already, his PSU is an old project design that has been hacked to work in a modern system (but just). Basically, they took an old design from the pre-ATX12v/EPS12v era and shoved some new connectors in it. The tell tail sign being much higher amperage on the 3 and 5 volt rails. Modern PC's rely more and 12v rails and modern PSU's reflect that. 

If you look at a modern reputable PSU design you will see that the average 500watt PSU has around 40 amps on the 12 volt rail. 

Notice how the 3 and 5 volt rails are much lower amperage? The 500watts on the PSU above is also combined with one big difference; the 12v rail offers 480watts of that total. 

Clearly, you can see now how the OP's PSU is inadequate. 

[Guest]

So if you want to get a 970 you migh consider to upgrade to a newer PSU and if you want  something cheap i can recomend the CX600M for a modular PSU or an EVGA 600B for non-modular

[7850OC]

Not even close. 22amps on the 12v rail doesn't equal 500watts. Their rating of 500 watts comes from a total of all rails combined. The actual wattage of the 12v rail of his PSU is 264watts. As I said already, his PSU is an old project design that has been hacked to work in a modern system (but just). Basically, they took an old design from the pre-ATX12v/EPS12v era and shoved some new connectors in it. The tell tail sign being much higher amperage on the 3 and 5 volt rails. Modern PC's rely more and 12v rails and modern PSU's reflect that. 

If you look at a modern reputable PSU design you will see that the average 500watt PSU has around 40 amps on the 12 volt rail. 

Notice how the 3 and 5 volt rails are much lower amperage? The 500watts on the PSU above is also combined with one big difference; the 12v rail offers 480watts of that total. 

Clearly, you can see now how the OP's PSU is inadequate. 

apples to apples, you are comparing a EVGA "bronze" 80 plus (that cost like a zillion dollars) 

 

with his crap psu (1$ lol) 

 

 

 

really bad psu have 10 amps

 

this one "is not that bad" (with 22 amps)

 

 

 

and the true question (that all people in the entire planet avoid) is...

 

how much "amps" the 970 "need" to "work" ?

[Guest]

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-970/specifications

 

Do you have 2 6-pins on your PSU? otherwise you need to upgrade

 

Btw that EVGA PSU is pretty cheap

[JamGorby]

apples to apples, you are comparing a EVGA "bronze" 80 plus (that cost like a zillion dollars) 

 

with his crap psu (1$ lol) 

 

 

 

really bad psu have 10 amps

 

this one "is not that bad" (with 22 amps)

 

 

 

and the true question (that all people in the entire planet avoid) is...

 

how much "amps" thr 970 "need" to "work" ?

22 amps + 12 volts = 264 watts. It has nothing to do with apples. His PSU is inadequate. nVidia recommends a minumum of a 500watt psu. They're basing their recommendations on modern PSU's you can buy right now, not a hacked PSU with a 264watt 12v rail. 

Look at the numbers on both his PSU and the EVGA and read what I typed again. Maybe you'll learn something. 

[JamGorby]

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-970/specifications

 

Do you have 2 6-pins on your PSU? otherwise you need to upgrade

 

Btw that EVGA PSU is like 33$ on newegg right now

No, he doesn't. But with his PSU, even adapters are out of the question. 

[Guest]

No, he doesn't. But with his PSU, even adapters are out of the question. 

Then i recomend someting like the EVGA 600B or the Corsair CX600M, both are pretty desent PSU's

[JamGorby]

300 watts load on that Chinese PSU would be a lot of fun to watch. Maybe not so much fun if you're the one that has to pay for the smoking pile that used to be your rig though.

[Guest]

300 watts load on that Chinese PSU would be a lot of fun to watch. Maybe not so much fun if you're the one that has to pay for the smoking pile that used to be your rig though.

He would need to buy a new computer after that

[7850OC]

300 watts load on that Chinese PSU would be a lot of fun to watch. Maybe not so much fun if you're the one that has to pay for the smoking pile that used to be your rig though.

then, we can say that the 970 "need" only 25 amps to work ?

 

300w / 12v = 25 amps (for a 970)

 

so... we don't really "need" a 40 amps psu, is it ?

[Guest]

 

then, we can say that the 970 "need" only 25 amps to work ?

 

300w / 12v = 25 amps (for a 970)

 

so... we don't really "need" a 40 amps psu, is it ?

 

Maybe not but you sure need to upgrade that powersuply

[JamGorby]

 

then, we can say that the 970 "need" only 25 amps to work ?

 

300w / 12v = 25 amps (for a 970)

 

so... we don't really "need" a 40 amps psu, is it ?

 

So nothing else in his PC uses power? 

[7850OC]

So nothing else in his PC uses power? 

your benchmarks numbers come from the watts use in a full pc (and not just the graphics card), is it ?

[Guest]

your benchmarks numbers come from the watts use in a full pc (and not just the graphics card), is it ?

Im pretty sure MSI Afterburner can show how much power just the GPU uses

[JamGorby]

your benchmarks numbers come from the watts use in a full pc (and not just the graphics card), is it ?

Yes. But still the 6600K is also a 100watt tdp chip which makes it likely more power hungry than the Intel chip being used in the benches. And there's hard drives, ssd's, he might even want to use USB sometime. 

And even if that all came out to be exactly 500 watts, you don't then buy a 500watt PSU. Running a PSU at it's max capacity 24/7 is inefficient at best, a house fire at worst. 

I really don't understand your need to try and make his PSU work. It simply just doesn't and there isn't really much arguing left to do. It's become redundant. 

[7850OC]

Yes. But still the 6600K is also a 100watt tdp chip which makes it likely more power hungry than the Intel chip being used in the benches. And there's hard drives, ssd's, he might even want to use USB sometime. 

And even if that all came out to be exactly 500 watts, you don't then buy a 500watt PSU. Running a PSU at it's max capacity 24/7 is inefficient at best, a house fire at worst. 

I really don't understand your need to try and make his PSU work. It simply just doesn't and there isn't really much arguing left to do. It's become redundant. 

and i really don't understand your need to try and make him buy a 40 amps psu