Best PSU for GTX 970?

Forfiet on 06/01/2015 - 03:16

Hi guys, my new Evga GTX 970 (ACX 2.0 BLAH BLAH BLAH) has just arrived from shopping express and I'm hoping to grab a new PSU to power it when I head out tommorow(MSY or PCDIY Adelaide).

The old rig is currently a Dell XPS 8700:

I7-4770
16gb RAM
2TB HDD
BLURAY ODD
OLD PSU 460~ Can't remember but not very strong

Haven't got a great clue on what type I want(650+ I Guess)
- no SLI Present
- may add 1 SSD at a later time

I was looking at the EVGA SuperNOVA 750Watt 80Plus Bronze ($106), But I dunno if EVGA have improved their PSU quality from the days when i last purchased a PSU.

Thanks for the help! :)

Computing

Comments

  • ProjectZero on 06/01/2015 - 08:51
    +1

    Don't get EVGA PSU… all that marketing gimmicks…

    For a single GPU setup, 500W-600W would be enough. GTX 970 has a TDP of 145W. Your CPU would not be anything higher than 100W. Unless your system has a crap tonne of other stuff in there… your old PSU should be enough. BTW these figures are all reference… there may be slight variations to the figures, just not much…

    However, if you want a new PSU I actually recommend going for a silverstone, seasonic or corsair one… They're known for great PSU and usually quiet as well.

  • vinni9284 on 06/01/2015 - 08:52
    +1

    Hi there,

    I reckon your suggestion will be perfect, especially for that price. EVGA i believe has a 5 Year warranty.

    In my view, it's always good to go for a PSU that is higher powered than recommended by Nvidia/AMD (which I think it's 500W for your GPU).

    Cheers

  • cmdwedge on 06/01/2015 - 08:57
    +1

    The PSU is so much more important than most people give it credit for. Invest in a good one and it will last years. Bad ones will give you odd bluescreens that will have you rebuilding Windows, swapping out RAM, etc and scratching your head.

    I have a Corsair HX650 from about 7 years ago. It's still powering along, dead quiet, never a weird bluescreen etc. Running a GTX680 and much of the same you've mentioned.

    If I were you, I'd get a Corsair AX760 or for a few dollars less, HX750. It's modular so you can keep your cables neat - good for airflow in a busy case.

    HX750 is around the $219 mark - http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=corsair+hx7…
    AX760 around $249 - http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=corsair+ax7…

    Good luck.

    • ProjectZero on 06/01/2015 - 09:09

      For those prices… get a fanless 520W

      http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&c…

      This PSU would be noise less as there are no moving parts. aka fanless

      As I said, review for the silverstone, seasonic and corsair are great. Sure it may not have head room as madmouse58 stated… BUT 520W would be enough for SLi of new cards… 600W would have enough headroom for OC. I know this from experience as my watercooled GTX 780 Sli system only runs at 600W… with an OC'd 4820K.

      • scrimshaw on 06/01/2015 - 14:01

        No point going fanless just on the PSU though — the GPU, CPU and case fans still make noise, unless you also aim to minimise the noise of these fans as well, buying a fanless GPU makes for little to no noise reduction (and you're paying a premium for it as well).

        • ProjectZero on 06/01/2015 - 14:09

          My point was, and yeah i should of made it clear, is that for $200 ish… you can get a fanless… plenty of good PSU for under $150

    • Forfiet on 06/01/2015 - 09:29

      had a HX750 in my old pc….sadly not in stock in MSY and my dad nicked when his PSU went bust…..
      edit: also a bit pricier than what im looking for… What about the Corsair CS650M 650Watt 80Plus Gold guys?

  • Paul Atreides on 06/01/2015 - 08:58
    +1

    think your suggestion is good op, 750w will leave you with headroom for a 2nd card incase you want to sli later.

    750w for me powers 2 gtx970s overclocked and 2hdd and 1ssd, although i dont have a odd

    • Forfiet on 06/01/2015 - 09:44

      Wouldn't mind the 750w but im using a stock Dell case and I never SLI (Because I usually upgrade the card or replace the whole PC inn those cases) I'm looking at the Corsair CS650M 650Watt 80Plus Gold which is in stock at one of the MSY's….

      • Paul Atreides on 06/01/2015 - 09:57

        then i'd imagine the corsair would be good for you.

    • rodinthink on 06/04/2015 - 22:23

      I'm not sure if 750w will be enough for SLI. Many people said that at least 850w PSU should be used instead.
      Anyway do you think 750w 80 PLUS BRONZE is ok for SLI GTX 970 ? Many people always try to make a rumour that you have to get 80 PLUS GOLD for High End GPU especially if you SLI both of them

      • Paul Atreides on 06/04/2015 - 22:31

        if the cost between 750w and 850w isnt too big, then id go for the 850w for the peace of mind. with that being said, as mentioned, i am running 2x msi 4g gaming gtx970 in sli on a 750w psu 80plus gold if that helps.

        • rodinthink on 07/04/2015 - 15:38

          I guess 750w GOLD is allrite but BRONZE maybe too risky because of heat & cheap capacitor issue I guess.(perhaps 850w for bronze at least)
          But how about the great-reviewed PSU like Corsair CX PLUS Bronze, will it be a different story? Looks like it's have a terrific review, but not so sure if i am right

        • matabuntu on 07/04/2015 - 18:37

          @rodinthink:
          I believe gold/bronze certification means efficiency and does not directly imply reliability or the quality of components. There are bronze certified PSUs which are considered as high quality. This PSU tier list is a good place to start and you can check reputable site like jonnyguru for more in depth review.

  • ethereal88 on 06/01/2015 - 14:43

    Can that case even fit a 970? Are you sure it isn't a custom XPS?

    • Forfiet on 06/01/2015 - 15:12

      been reading up on the problems people had getting the card to work….. around the 15th December Dell finally released a BIOS(A10) fixing this…..now plenty of XPS 8700 users are upgrading to this and the gtx 980… Iv'e been watching the dell forums intently. :)
      Edit: not how sizes compare but it already has a R9 270 inside it already…

  • Forfiet on 08/01/2015 - 16:53

    Well the PC is up and running….seems fine tho that HCG-750M power supply barely fit….. I'll see how it goes :) thanks guys

  • rodinthink on 06/04/2015 - 22:27

    BTW guys, just wondering about the compability between AMD FX-8350 /6300 with GTX 970 (bottleneck or not). Been doing some research & Most people in tomshardware said that you need to get Intel CPU to prevent bottlenecking. They said that i5-4xxx processor is the most compatible for gtx 970 but I think this is a fan-boyish & biased comment….

    Any answer will be helpful

    • scrimshaw on 07/04/2015 - 02:00
      +2

      The problem is not so much 'compatibility', but cost efficiency. Basically, if you're going to spend $250 on a processor, you're going to want the best processor you can get with that money.

      Looking at CPU benchmark results:

      Core i5 4460 ($250 AUD)
      http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/search?utf8=%E2%9C…

      Average single core score: 3100
      Average multi core score: 9800

      FX-8350 ($245 AUD)
      http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/search?q=FX-8350

      Average single core score: 2100
      Average multi core score: 11500

      Going by the above results:

      The FX-8350 may hold it's own against a Core i5 if the game is well optimised for multi-core procesors.
      However the majority of titles released today, and most likely the majority of games in your game library aren't actually well coded to support multi-core CPU's and as such the Core i5 usually takes the lead in most situations.

      Hell, even a Core i3 overtakes the 8350 in a lot of games as well…

      See also
      http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/1qs2ku/discussion_…

      That being said the FX-8350 is terrible when it comes to single core CPU performance (i.e., the cores are individually, very inefficient) — it is making up for it's deficiencies with 4 extra cores. However, this isn't always an efficient way of increasing performance (heat being an issue), and 8 core support isn't all that common.

      I think, if you're going to be spending $450+ for card, surely an increase of say $50 on the CPU+Mobo isn't going to make much of a difference when you consider the overall cost.

      TLDR don't skimp on a processor when you're buying such an awesome card. It's going to bottleneck.

      • rodinthink on 07/04/2015 - 15:35

        wow, very thorough & detailed answer. +1 for the effort and time given for research.
        Yes , you're right , what you write does make sense actually. But how about i7 3770k or Intel xeon e-1230?

        I think Intel Xeon e-1230 is sufficient enough for game which required lods of PSU power like BF4 and GTA V compared to i7-3770k, am I right?

        PS: I guess I'm bias with intel since I'm AMD Fan Boy :p

  • Hksmaso69 on 15/04/2015 - 16:13

    im running gigabyte g1 970 with a 600walt evga power supply and it is perfect

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