# Can my PSU handle a GTX 480 or 580?



## dhdude (Nov 11, 2010)

Hey Guys,
I know people often post these kinda questions, normally I wouldn't ask this, but as my PSU (in System Specs) is just over 2 years old now, will it still be able to handle something like a 480 or 580 with the rest of the hardware in my system?
I'm also hoping to get a mild OC outta my CPU once my DDR3 finally turns up  (somewhere between 3.2 & 3.6Ghz) so I don't have a bottleneck if I get one of these cards...

Let me know your thoughts people!


----------



## BarbaricSoul (Nov 11, 2010)

your PSU only has 18 amps per 12 volt rail, you might have problems, not sure though. I don't know how much amperage the 480 or 580 requires.


----------



## dhdude (Nov 11, 2010)

Thanks BarbaricSoul, will look into that one now 

If I have to buy another PSU, I was looking into getting this:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...Bronze+Certified+Single+Rail+?productId=41848

But it means I will have to wait quite a while longer before I can upgrade my graphics card, but that can't be helped if my current one simply isn't up to scratch :/


----------



## Tatty_One (Nov 11, 2010)

Recommended amperage for a GTX 580 on the 12V lines is 42A, that XFX PSU should be more than adequate, however I prefer this one and it also has a single 12V rail which I like.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...aster+GX750+80Plus+Certified+?productId=41772

and it will save you £10.


----------



## (FIH) The Don (Nov 11, 2010)

i cannot vouch for the gx series from coolermaster

the fan is the worst thing ever made, and the psu is quite noisy

i would go with the xfx one


----------



## Tatty_One (Nov 11, 2010)

(FIH) The Don said:


> i cannot vouch for the gx series from coolermaster
> 
> the fan is the worst thing ever made, and the psu is quite noisy
> 
> i would go with the xfx one



My neighbour has the 750W coolermaster and he says it is fantastic and he has owned 4 Corsair's of varying ratings, where as last year I had an XFX and it failed me in 3 weeks of use..... although I appreciate we all have different experiences.


----------



## dhdude (Nov 11, 2010)

Thanks for the alternative suggestion Tatty, I initially chose the XFX because I've read 4 different reviews from major tech websites, all praising it highly. I'm also drawn to it because of its higher power output, leaving breathing space for future upgrades (I'm a student with a normally limited upgrade budget, so cant afford to replace things like PSUs & Graphics Cards often, but I'm considering the GTX 580 as I've got a birthday and Christmas in close proximity).

EDIT: and any graphics card and PSU I choose right now, I'd like to last the next 2-3 years @ 1080p if possible. Any future upgrade money for the next couple of years will go towards something like Sandy Bridge or Bulldozer.


----------



## yogurt_21 (Nov 11, 2010)

dhdude said:


> Thanks for the alternative suggestion Tatty, I initially chose the XFX because I've read 4 different reviews from major tech websites, all praising it highly. I'm also drawn to it because of its higher power output, leaving breathing space for future upgrades (I'm a student with a normally limited upgrade budget, so cant afford to replace things like PSUs & Graphics Cards often, but I'm considering the GTX 580 as I've got a birthday and Christmas in close proximity).
> 
> EDIT: and any graphics card and PSU I choose right now, I'd like to last the next 2-3 years @ 1080p if possible. Any future upgrade money for the next couple of years will go towards something like Sandy Bridge or Bulldozer.



for a psu to last the next 2-3 years look for high effciency and high amperage 12v rails. (and of course look at reviews as you have been doing)

for a gpu it's really hard to say, obviously dx11 is starting to be come more relevant and will likely be mainstream over the next year or so. But we don't exactly know how relevant current DX11 benchmarks are to what future games will require. The 580 is a good card with great performance to be sure, but if metro 2033 is any indication of what games can require it won't be able to hold up at 1080P over the next few years. 

imo, if you want guranteed 1080p performance for the next few years, get a gtx470 now and keep the 250$ stowed away for an upgrade in a year - year and a half when the 470 is no longer capable of handling 1080p on the latest games.


----------



## GSquadron (Nov 11, 2010)

Tatty_One said:


> My neighbour has the 750W coolermaster and he says it is fantastic and he has owned 4 Corsair's of varying ratings, where as last year I had an XFX and it failed me in 3 weeks of use..... although I appreciate we all have different experiences.



Even though i do not have experiences with the PSU you are talking about, i guess that the cooler master does not have the 80+ bronze. So if you care about the efficiency, take the XFX.
Although i know that in America, the PSU's are very delicate because of the current tension.


----------



## dhdude (Nov 11, 2010)

yogurt_21 said:


> imo, if you want guranteed 1080p performance for the next few years, get a gtx470 now and keep the 250$ stowed away for an upgrade in a year - year and a half when the 470 is no longer capable of handling 1080p on the latest games.



So maybe instead of spending ~£400 on a GTX 580, maybe it would be more prudent to instead get:
a GTX 470 at around £180-200
+
the XFX 850w or equivalent PSU for ~£90 

Additionally I've been wanting an Sandforce- based SSD for a while (60GB OCZ Vertex 2E) so one of those too (~£100) for a total of ~£370-390?
Saving some that would be spent on a 580 + overall system speed benefit (SSD)?

Then buy another graphics card another couple of years down the line?

What do you guys think about that alternative? Sorry for throwing the SSD in the mix, I forgot to mention I've wanted one of those for a while... 

I guess what I'm asking is my budget is ~£400, whats the best way to spend it on my PC in my System Specs??

EDIT: I Just thought, if I were to buy a 470 instead, would my current PSU be enough in that scenario?


----------



## Sihastru (Nov 11, 2010)

I'm not sure how all you guys came to the conclusion that a quad 18A rail PSU will not work with a GTX580...

My math is 18A * 12V = 216W. Two PCIe connectors, each connected to one 18A rail can give you up to 432W. Add the 75W of power from the 16x PCIe slot, you get a total of 507W possible for your card. WAAAAY more then you actually need for one GTX580.

*Of course this true ONLY if you do not have a lot of things on the other two 12V rails.* So make sure you choose don't overload any of the rails. The manufacturer usually makes sure of that if your PSU is not modular.

*So YES, you can use a GTX580 with a 650W PSU. Just don't do any OVERCLOCKING.*


----------



## dhdude (Nov 11, 2010)

Sihastru said:


> So YES, you can use a GTX580 with a 650W PSU. Just don't do any OVERCLOCKING.[/B]



Thanks for the info man, but I think if i didn't do any overclocking, Id have quite a CPU bottleneck on my hands, wouldn't I? Tell me if I'm wrong?


----------



## yogurt_21 (Nov 11, 2010)

dhdude said:


> So maybe instead of spending ~£400 on a GTX 580, maybe it would be more prudent to instead get:
> a GTX 470 at around £180-200
> +
> the XFX 850w or equivalent PSU for ~£90
> ...



yeah that'd be about what I'd recommend, and I think your current psu might be enough for a gtx 470 but I'd take a look at its efficiency and see if a newer psu could actually save you money when comparing your power bill vs the cost of the new psu. (granting you could always sell your old one)


----------



## Sihastru (Nov 11, 2010)

dhdude said:


> Thanks for the info man, but I think if i didn't do any overclocking, Id have quite a CPU bottleneck on my hands, wouldn't I? Tell me if I'm wrong?



I was thinking more about the GTX580 overclocking. Fermi based cards will consume a lot more power for just the tiniest of overclocks.

If you think about a 3.2GHz OC (Q9450 has x8 multi, so FSB 1600 would be my recommendation, so you can have a divider for 800MHz memory) then that will also be fine...

Look at my PC specs. I run an overclocked i7 CPU (more then 130W), an overclocked GTX295 (300W?) and a multitude of hard drives and optical drives. I also have 8 fans in my machine. Do you think that my 750W PSU should handle it? During Prime95 + Furmark I only go up to 610W at the wall (tested with a power meter). Considering an 80Plus compliant PSU, my system consumes just ~500W of power TOTAL while being overclocked and tested at full load.

My Corsair TX750W is also a CWT PSU design at it's origins, just like yours.

I am telling you. If you manage to break 550W with your system after you put in a GTX580 your system would be an anomaly. A black hole.


----------



## dhdude (Nov 11, 2010)

Sihastru said:


> I was thinking more about the GTX580 overclocking. Fermi based cards will consume a lot more power for just the tiniest of overclocks.
> 
> If you think about a 3.2GHz OC (Q9450 has x8 multi, so FSB 1600 would be my recommendation, so you can have a divider for 800MHz memory) then that will also be fine...



Sweet man, yeah I was thinking 400-450 fsb, as the RAM I'm getting will be underclocked anyway (1:1 fsb/mem divider) ... just gotta wait for that to turn up, but that's another story...

Yeah if I bought a 580, not sure Id wanna OC it right now anyway... but I think getting a new PSU in that scenario would be the best thing to do, just to play it safe, so in summary I either

A) Get a 470, SSD & possibly PSU

or

B)Wait a while, save some more & get a PSU & 580...


----------



## dhdude (Nov 11, 2010)

Sihastru said:


> Look at my PC specs. I run an overclocked i7 CPU (more then 130W), an overclocked GTX295 (300W?) and a multitude of hard drives and optical drives. I also have 8 fans in my machine. Do you think that my 750W PSU should handle it? During Prime95 + Furmark I only go up to 610W at the wall (tested with a power meter). Considering an 80Plus compliant PSU, my system consumes just ~500W of power TOTAL while being overclocked and tested at full load.
> 
> My Corsair TX750W is also a CWT PSU design at it's origins, just like yours.



That is interesting... maybe I wont need a new PSU straight away then? How old is your Corsair?


----------



## newtekie1 (Nov 11, 2010)

The XFX PSU will handled a GTX480/580 without a problem.

The design of your PSU is actually a single rail design, the PSU actually has a single 52A 12v rail.  It just devides it into 4 seperate "rails" with OCP circuit set to trip at 18A, basically done to stay within the saftey specs of the wires used.

Usually the CPU is on its own circuit, leaving it with 216w all to itself if it needed it, but it is likely using under 150w.  The Molex and SATA connectors are usually on another circuit.  And usually at least 2 circuit are dedicated to the PCI-E connectors.  So you will be fine.


----------



## Sihastru (Nov 11, 2010)

My PSU is 2 years old. The GTX470 is not that power efficient either. The GTX580 sits between the GTX470 and the GTX480, a bit closer to the 480 when it comes to power consumption.

If you want games to run faster, you need a faster video card. The SSD will not increase your FPS. Trust me, I have two of them in RAID0. It makes the system more responsive, but unless you're not doing very specific tasks, then I wouldn't buy an SSD.

There is a very large performance difference between the 470 and the 580. Of course a 470 costs half as much (even less), making the 580 a hard sell... If you get the 470 then a PSU upgrade is not needed AT ALL.

The only GTX470 that I would buy is the Gigabyte GTX470 Super Over Clock (SOC edition). The one with 3 fans. It is the quietest GTX470 on the market. Also it is overclocked and yet still manages to consume less power then a stock GTX470.

Either way, you don't need a new PSU. The one you have is fine whatever card you end up buying.


----------



## dhdude (Nov 11, 2010)

Cool, thanks for the detailed info Sihastru & newtekie1  I understand an SSD wont improve FPS, I only want it for better overall system responsiveness, and I think a graphics upgrade will satisfy the desire for FPS... guess I just need to think about which card I should go for? and if it's worth waiting and getting more money behind me before upgrading my graphics (better/more for money)?


----------



## Sihastru (Nov 11, 2010)

If you think you can wait a little more then you should, at least to see what the new HD6970 and HD6950 can bring to the table. By the end of the year we should have them even with the delays.

After that you'll have to wait 6 more months for the 6990 and after that another 6 more months for the 28nm cards. Those will rock your world.


----------



## dhdude (Nov 11, 2010)

Yeah that is a good point, but as always we can wait forever for what's around the corner, I guess I should put a time-frame on when I wanna purchase by...
But yeah I think I'll wait to see what the 6950 & 6970 are like, I have no qualms about going AMD, most of my previous cards were ATi. Then Ill make my choice and purchase, but I do want a new card soon, my 260 doesnt cut it at reasonable frame rates at 1080p for me anymore.


----------

