700W PSU - what's the graphics card limit?

q974739 · 1 Nov 2020 at 15:18

Evening all.

I might have screwed up, as I ordered a 700W bequiet a few weeks ago, but the new graphics cards appear to be significantly more powerful than I expected.

AMD claim the 6800xt requires a 750W PSU - is this likely an over estimate? On the other hand, the 6900xt claims it needs a 850W PSU!

Given a 100W CPU, a 300W graphics card... surely we don't actually need a 100% margin?! What's actually realistic?

EsaT · 1 Nov 2020 at 16:21

Those recommendations are for low quality PSUs.

Though BeQuiet isn't exactly the best PSU brand with lots of brand overpriced basic PSUs... And poor 5 year warranty in actually good PSUs.
Basing on wattage I guess it's this:
https://www.kitguru.net/components/...os/be-quiet-pure-power-11-700w-psu-review/12/
(if Pure Power 9 that's completely substandard for the price of GPU's you're looking at)

What CPU you have?

Grimley · 1 Nov 2020 at 16:40

I'd sit tight & wait for reviews to come out. Most of them will show total system power draw under load & that will give you a better idea of what you need. If AMD announced lower powered PSU recommendations & that didn't work, there would be a riot in the PC Gaming community. Hence the overspec of PSU wattage as some gamers cheap out on PSU quality, which isnt recommended if you ask here & on other reputable discussion forums on the internet.

q974739 · 1 Nov 2020 at 17:23

EsaT said:
Those recommendations are for low quality PSUs.

Though BeQuiet isn't exactly the best PSU brand with lots of brand overpriced basic PSUs... And poor 5 year warranty in actually good PSUs.
Basing on wattage I guess it's this:
https://www.kitguru.net/components/...os/be-quiet-pure-power-11-700w-psu-review/12/
(if Pure Power 9 that's completely substandard for the price of GPU's you're looking at)

What CPU you have?

Will be (probably) something 5x00 flavoured, likely a 5900x, once reviews are out and I beat the sticker shock!

q974739 · 1 Nov 2020 at 17:24

Grimley said:
I'd sit tight & wait for reviews to come out. Most of them will show total system power draw under load & that will give you a better idea of what you need. If AMD announced lower powered PSU recommendations & that didn't work, there would be a riot in the PC Gaming community. Hence the overspec of PSU wattage as some gamers cheap out on PSU quality, which isnt recommended if you ask here & on other reputable discussion forums on the internet.

Wait, why would their be a riot??

Also, what order would you rate the brand's in?

Gray2233 · 1 Nov 2020 at 17:31

q974739 said:
Wait, why would their be a riot??

Also, what order would you rate the brand's in?

You can't really judge by brand, a lot of companies don't even make their own PSU's while having several OEM's for different product lines. Even the companies that do make decent PSU's are known to release rubbish from time to time.

Judge on a case by case basis for individual units.

q974739 · 1 Nov 2020 at 18:00

Gray2233 said:
You can't really judge by brand, a lot of companies don't even make their own PSU's while having several OEM's for different product lines. Even the companies that do make decent PSU's are known to release rubbish from time to time.

Judge on a case by case basis for individual units.

Fair enough. And, if it'll run the rig, I do particularly prefer near silent components. Actual silence not required, but near is good enough?

Grimley · 1 Nov 2020 at 18:07

q974739 said:
Wait, why would their be a riot??

Well not quite a riot, a backlash against AMD for not getting the PSU spec right in the first place. There is nothing more annoying than buying a new GFX card thinking your cheap no name 850W PSU is up to the task because it says so, then when you fit said card & you begin gaming with it and you have issues because said cheap PSU manufacturer has quoted peak power spec rather than continuous for 850W, when in reality it cant.

I've lost count of threads on here over the years from new members who have asked about PSU power for their rig only to be told yes or no. A lot do buy a new PSU based on the advice here, one or two on my advice. Very few others do not, then face the consequences of PC problems or hardware failure as a result.

As I said sit tight. Too early to tell if the PSU you have bought will be up to the task, I have no idea until I read reviews myself.

q974739 · 1 Nov 2020 at 18:28

Grimley said:
As I said sit tight. Too early to tell if the PSU you have bought will be up to the task, I have no idea until I read reviews myself.

I will do, but it's hard. PC was fried by lightning a month ago. It's been....a long, long month.

Grimley · 1 Nov 2020 at 18:41

Sorry to hear that. I don't think you've bought a bad PSU, contrary to someone else's comment

but there are better ones out there. Rule of thumb for me & most of the regulars here are to never skimp on the PSU & to buy the best you can afford. Thing is a lot of people don't do their homework, buy blind then regret it. It's also been tough to buy a decent quality high power PSU in the last 6 months & stocks are only just starting to return to normal, this is due to a bug that still doing the rounds as everyone knows.

q974739 · 1 Nov 2020 at 21:46

Grimley said:
Sorry to hear that. I don't think you've bought a bad PSU, contrary to someone else's comment but there are better ones out there. Rule of thumb for me & most of the regulars here are to never skimp on the PSU & to buy the best you can afford. Thing is a lot of people don't do their homework, buy blind then regret it. It's also been tough to buy a decent quality high power PSU in the last 6 months & stocks are only just starting to return to normal, this is due to a bug that still doing the rounds as everyone knows.

One option I'm considering is just living with it. Currently only have 1080p 60hz screens anyway. Extremely unlikely that any modern graphics card will be more than 50% used anyway - in a year when I replace the screens, upgrade the PSU, if it shows signs of struggling.

Might be easier than getting a new PSU right now

Grimley · 2 Nov 2020 at 16:17

If 1080p 60 is what you have now, why stress yourself by buying into the hype of recently released GFX cards, that the PC gaming world and his dog want right now, and can't get due to overdemand?
AFAIK the game that is most demanding of hardware right now is RDR2, you can play that on a 4 year old 1080/1080ti/5700/vega64 at your resolution, those cards will run on a half decent 700watter no problem.

Someone told me years ago, buy what you need, not what you want and you'll save yourself a lot of stress.

EsaT · 2 Nov 2020 at 17:48

q974739 said:
One option I'm considering is just living with it. Currently only have 1080p 60hz screens anyway. Extremely unlikely that any modern graphics card will be more than 50% used anyway

Any above really low end GPU is definitely wasted with that monitor.

q974739 · 2 Nov 2020 at 18:59

Grimley said:
If 1080p 60 is what you have now, why stress yourself by buying into the hype of recently released GFX cards, that the PC gaming world and his dog want right now, and can't get due to overdemand?.

EsaT said:
Any above really low end GPU is definitely wasted with that monitor.

I'm likely to replace the screen in 6-12 months, for a 1440p 60+ Hz display. Do you both think it would be cost efficient to get a 5700xt/1080 now and upgrade later? Or do you think that it would remain good enough?

Grimley · 2 Nov 2020 at 19:23

q974739 said:
Do you both think it would be cost efficient to get a 5700xt/1080 now and upgrade later? Or do you think that it would remain good enough?

2nd hand 1080 not a bad idea. 5700xt = I'd wait for the New AMD cards then the 'early adopters' will be selling off their 5700xt to offset the cost. You could get a bargain, but there will be some that will hold out for top £££'s. Cheap ones could have been used for mining but less likely than RX4/5 series cards.

Up to you at the end of the day.