Upgrading to GTX 560, should I get a new PSU?

T

Troskie

Posts: 8   +0
Hi everyone i'm new to this forum and want to say hi first off. I just ordered a new graphics card on Newegg for my system (EVGA GTX 560 TI). It will be here in a couple days, i'm extremely excited. I also have a Phenon II quad core clocked at 3.4ghz and 4 gb ddr3 ram. My old Card is an ATI Radeon HD 5670. That's the main part of my rig. Now, my PSU is a Xion (off-brand!), which is supposedly a 700W power supply. My question is will this PSU be good enough for my new graphics card and the rest of my setup. The card says that it requires 500W power supply. Now, from reading and searching around, I have found alot of people criticizing generic brand PSU's. Alot of these people recommend a brand name, such as Corsair. As a college student I would like to save money where possible, but I don't want to be cheap with this. Should I upgrade my unit to a Corsair or something brand name? Is my Xion REALLY that bad, could it somehow harm my computer or new card? Any help and advice is really appreciated, thanks.

If it will help i'll include the model number, its a Xion XON-700P12N. Seriously thinking of getting a corsair, but gonna wait for a response. Also kinda nervous i've never installed a PSU before.

I'm not trying to have a conversation with myself here I swear, but i'll add my motherboard info as well. It's a ASUS M4A77T/USB3 , It has a pci expresss x16 slot so it should run the gtx560 ti with no problems right?
 
Well first off, welcome to techspot! :)

Now down to the nitty gritty, the PSU I found a review:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=109

It doesn't sound like a very good PSU either :S also it seems that the Amps may not be high enough for one 12v rail (I believe the GTX 560 ti requires 30A but correct me if i'm wrong) and what i'm reading here is that it supplies 28A?

Also your motherboard is fine, I have this Graphics Card (But the pre-overclocked Asus TOP model) and it is actually pretty impressive how well it runs. I think you'll find your CPU may become your bottleneck ;)

https://www.techspot.com/review/467-skyrim-performance/page7.html
 
Thanks im an IT major glad I found a decent tech forum :). Now, you've pretty much convinced me I should upgrade my PSU. My tower is mid-sized, so im thinking of a modular psu.

I am a virgin when it comes to PSU shopping. I'm worried i'll get lost hooking a new one up, haha i'm sure i'll figure it out though. I'm going to order one of those cpu's (or maybe a different recommendation?) as soon as I get a comment.

I only had 4 posts so it wouldnt let me link, but these were the 2 I was thinking of.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012&Tpk=HX650

And if not that the runner up probably:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021
 
You don't need to upgrade the power supply for that rig. You have a nice machine getting better... though the figures on "generic brands" cannot be relied upon for accuracy.

Look elsewhere on TechSpot for some excellent articles or comments on power supplies, quality, and when to change up.
 
It's simple
700W Are enough. (1)
The COMPANY is the most useful information.(2)
From (1) and (2) I can see that no you don't need a new power supply in terms of Wattage, BUT I have never heard this company. If the PC Runs fine and you have good reviews about this "Xion" then no need to buy another PSU ;-)
 
Hey Troskie, wattage isn't the only thing that matters when it comes to power supplies but how many amps you can get on a 12V rail. The XION XON-700P12F has two 12V rails @ 25A which should be more than enough as the 560ti appears to require 30. I however have read mixed reviews regarding that power supply and don't believe it is 80plus certified. If you decide to go ahead anyway with it and experience issues like, poor game performance, freezing, crashing and in worse scenarios reboots and shutdowns your power supply is likely struggling.
 
Yeah thats just the thing, I haven't read any really good reviews. I just got my graphics card im going to hook it up tomorrow to try it with my old psu, if it works i'll just return the new one I bought. Burty said the GTX requires 30A and mine he thinks only supplies 28A. If that's the case, the card wont work right? In other words, if I install it tomorrow and it seems to run smooth, I should be ok.

edit: for some reason I didn't see your post relic when I posted this. Thanks for the info i'll try it out and if it seems twitchy i'll replace it
 
You're an IT Major and you don't know this stuff?

The BTEC I'm on teaches this stuff to 16-year olds in the first term.
 
Troskie said:
Yeah thats just the thing, I haven't read any really good reviews. I just got my graphics card im going to hook it up tomorrow to try it with my old psu, if it works i'll just return the new one I bought. Burty said the GTX requires 30A and mine he thinks only supplies 28A. If that's the case, the card wont work right? In other words, if I install it tomorrow and it seems to run smooth, I should be ok.

edit: for some reason I didn't see your post relic when I posted this. Thanks for the info i'll try it out and if it seems twitchy i'll replace it
Click to expand...

You appear to have had multiple threads on this topic and they were consolidated. I did not see the other one and only posted here in 'Other Hardware'.

In any case, the 560ti from what I've read requires 30A on 12V rail and the specific model number you give [XION XON-700P12F] lists that your PSU has two 12V rails @ 25A. Note that you don't have 50A total but rather a max of 46A which equates to 552W, while unrealistic that should still be sufficient. However as I point out the user reviews seem iffy and the one Burty linked which seems to be an older model (*correct model I misread*) doesn't inspire any real confidence towards this brand so I guesstimate significantly less on top of the already normal efficiency loss.

You can go ahead and give it a try, just remember if you are experiencing poor game performance, freezing, crashing and in some cases reboots and shutdowns the power supply is the likely cause. Stress testing might not be a bad idea to see if your power supply can handle it, just remember there may be risks involved when pushing 'questionable' brands.
 
thanks for all the info guys. I've plugged my graphics card into my original psu and well. For instance I started playing the new star wars mmo today and I can play on full graphics (it looks great!) but I notice very very faint horizontal black lines across my screen, almost flickering. Do you guys think this relates to not enough power getting to the card? I look in my case and I would install my new psu myself, except theres one cable that's being blocked by a "metal case" inside my tower that I cant figure out how to remove. Im considering paying geek squad $50 to just do it for me, I wish I could do it but i feel like i'd screw it up somehow. Anyways, do you guys think the "flickering" is because of the power supply?
 
Ok that's good to know. I won't be able to have this new power supply installed for a couple days, its not dangerous to my card if i play with the flickering is it?
 
Doubt it. Could be anything anywhere. Look elsewhere first. Video card. Loose connection someplace. Case or cooling fan that is junkie... bad install of Windows. :Loose install of almost any item. Based upon your previous posts, I would be surprised to learn that the flickering could be tied to the power supply in normal use. Only when you are over-driving the system.
Look carefully elsewhere... Remove and reinstall all components. Incordrect screw-down on the system board...

Yes, it could be a power supply that is defective, but that would be one of my last suspects for cause of flickering.
 
^ I unhooked/rehooked the graphics card in, and all the connecting cables. still having the problem. Im going to delete and redownload the drivers. If that doesn't work i'll try the new power supply. Do you guys think Geek Squad is good, as in if they hook up my PSU they're not going to blow my computer up right? They charge $50, I found this other knowledgeable local guy that charges $55, he seems more reliable. Idk I don't like the idea of handing my computer over to a stranger.
 
Also I don't know if it's a big deal but I've always used a VGA connector. This card only has DVI connectors, but it included an DVI to VGA adaptor, so thats what im using. I tried the DVI connector straight to my pc and it didn't work for some reason. Not real sure if that matters.

The 12v rail only having 28A and the card needing 30A might be the problem too? I think someone above said that since I have 2 12v rails both doing 28A, it's like I have 56A total?
 
Troskie said:
Also I don't know if it's a big deal but I've always used a VGA connector. This card only has DVI connectors, but it included an DVI to VGA adaptor, so thats what im using. I tried the DVI connector straight to my pc and it didn't work for some reason. Not real sure if that matters.

The 12v rail only having 28A and the card needing 30A might be the problem too? I think someone above said that since I have 2 12v rails both doing 28A, it's like I have 56A total?
Click to expand...

NEVER FAIL in something that has to do with PSUs. Like what you said with 28A and 30A. Poor PSU (Or GOOD PSU BUT insufficient for your needs) can damage your system.
For your question I don't know how to answer, google is your friend :D
 
Sorry for the late reply Troskie, been busy this week with Christmas and all :) .

In any case, I still think you should give a new power supply a shot and see if that resolves your issues. I would recommend you try and install it yourself as it's not really that hard just intimating if it's your first time. If you are just too uncomfortable with it and don't know anyone who can do it for free, paying looks to be the only way. I personally wouldn't recommend the Geek Squad, as I've seen way to many dumb things happen with them. Local PC shops should have no issues with it, but for precautions sake, back up anything critical like work files, taxes, billing, etc. pretty much anything that can't be replaced/reinstalled.

Troskie said:
Also I don't know if it's a big deal but I've always used a VGA connector. This card only has DVI connectors, but it included an DVI to VGA adaptor, so thats what im using. I tried the DVI connector straight to my pc and it didn't work for some reason. Not real sure if that matters.
Click to expand...

Did the monitor 'flicker' before the card switch? Maybe the adapter is cause of it, but I can't say for sure. Hopefully someone else can chime in here if they know more.

Troskie said:
The 12v rail only having 28A and the card needing 30A might be the problem too? I think someone above said that since I have 2 12v rails both doing 28A, it's like I have 56A total?
Click to expand...

No, the power supply you linked which I mixed up as P12F instead of P12N has according to the review Burty linked 50A total. However that being achieved or even coming close is highly unlikely, but it should still run which as you've seen is the case. But if you are experiencing issues and rule out other factors, trying a new power supply seems like the best step.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, i've been busy with christmas myself, just now getting a chance to respond. You've been a big help Relic. I decided to just swap out my PSU for relief sake, and i'm happy that I did. I also went to a local PC shop to get it done, because the research i've done on geek squad makes them look pretty bad. The New PSU runs great, and now I can run a DVI cable directly to my monitor and it works fine. Im getting great fps now, crystal clear! Thanks again for everyones input, it was very informative.
 
Go for a Corsair PSU there Grrrrrrrrate. 80-90% efficient, and most have 40A on the 12v rail(most newish GFX cards require 40amps)
 
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