Want to upgrade GPU but unsure about my PSU

[Tetras]

Ok thank you. I think the corsair cable which I linked above confused me a little. I was always told to use separate cables when plugging into a GPU. Seeing the corsair cable as 1 cable confused me and thought it was potentially bad due to having risks.

The 16 pin connector has been designed that way. I believe that was part of the point of it, to minimise the number of 8-pin connectors and save PCB space.

Is it a good idea? Anybody who read the tech news about these things would say nope. However, like I said, using the box adapter doesn't change anything in this respect, because you still have the same single cable run to the graphics card's 16 pin connector.

I appreciate the help but it seems as though I've got myself into a complete mess. After looking at the asus 5070 ti for a long time now I just noticed I could get a 5080, specifically the palit or gainward version for the same price. Now I have a hard decision to make lol. I always stayed away from palit gpus but looking at reviews they don't seem bad at all. Why would I not buy the 5080 over the 5070 ti if the price is almost identical. I believe the 5080 requires 850w so a new psu is required for sure, solves that problem too.

The Asus cards (especially premium models) tend to be way overpriced, so that's not surprising.

Do keep in mind the warranty situation, there's a recent post from Gibbo here.

 

[Samhfx]

The 16 pin connector has been designed that way. I believe that was part of the point of it, to minimise the number of 8-pin connectors and save PCB space.

Is it a good idea? Anybody who read the tech news about these things would say nope. However, like I said, using the box adapter doesn't change anything in this respect, because you still have the same single cable run to the graphics card's 16 pin connector.


The Asus cards (especially premium models) tend to be way overpriced, so that's not surprising.

Do keep in mind the warranty situation, there's a recent post from Gibbo here.

Do you have any experience with palit and gainward gpu? Growing up I saw them but I thought since they are cheaper they will die faster etc. So paying extra will be beneficial when buying the asus.

 

[Tetras]

Do you have any experience with palit and gainward gpu? Growing up I saw them but I thought since they are cheaper they will die faster etc. So paying extra will be beneficial when buying the asus.

Nothing recent, no. I would suggest looking at the owner threads here on the forum. You can often find more detailed video reviews/teardowns on the components used in reviews on YouTube.

Edit: I think this is the main thread, there's also a second one here. I can't find a specific owner thread, oddly enough.

 

[Samhfx]

Nothing recent, no. I would suggest looking at the owner threads here on the forum. You can often find more detailed video reviews/teardowns on the components used in reviews on YouTube.

Yeah I'll do that thanks.

 

[Tetras]

Yeah I'll do that thanks.

I linked the main threads I could find in my edit, if you didn't see it.

 

[Samhfx]

I linked the main threads I could find in my edit, if you didn't see it.

Yeah I see it. Actually did some more research and completely forgot about potential bottlenecks. The 5080 might not be possible because I have a 5800x. I don't have the money to replace my motherboard to buy one of those decent CPUs. I know there is 7 5800X3D or something similar which is good for AM4 mobo but I can't justify spending all this money. God why does gaming hobby suck this much, I need to win the lottery.

 

[Tetras]

Yeah I see it. Actually did some more research and completely forgot about potential bottlenecks. The 5080 might not be possible because I have a 5800x. I don't have the money to replace my motherboard to buy one of those decent CPUs. I know there is 7 5800X3D or something similar which is good for AM4 mobo but I can't justify spending all this money. God why does gaming hobby suck this much, I need to win the lottery.

If you're determined to go nvidia, I'd personally be waiting until the Super versions are out, rather than dumping a huge amount of money on a 5070 Ti or 5080 right now.

The bottleneck would depend a lot of things (games, res, settings), but a 5080 is a pretty fast card for a 5800X, yes.

 

[Samhfx]

If you're determined to go nvidia, I'd personally be waiting until the Super versions are out, rather than dumping a huge amount of money on a 5070 Ti or 5080 right now.

The bottleneck would depend a lot of things (games, res, settings), but a 5080 is a pretty fast card for a 5800X, yes.

-snip-

Well ideally the only game I have in mind currently and the whole idea of wanting to upgrade is because of Battlefield 6. The performance during the playtest was awful. I say awful to a normal gamer 85-110 fps is considered good. I want to get higher frames for the 165hz monitor.

I was just watching this video, does a CPU really increase FPS by that much? I have the 5800x right and with the other CPU he's getting extra 20 fps.

I heard about possible super coming out but that could be for a long time right and prices are gonna be insane anyway.

edit: oh i should note, i usually like to play on low settings in games to get more fps. but i think that actually increases bottleneck if I remember correctly, I only learned about that a while ago.

 

[Tetras]

I was just watching this video, does a CPU really increase FPS by that much? I have the 5800x right and with the other CPU he's getting extra 20 fps.

A CPU in a bottleneck scenario can do more than 20 fps, a lot more. Very situational though, like I said before, depends entirely on the game, resolution and settings. If you had a 5090 and compared a 12100F to a 9800X3D, the difference could be enormous, like 100+ fps.

The performance during the playtest was awful. I say awful to a normal gamer 85-110 fps is considered good. I want to get higher frames for the 165hz monitor.

I see. Well, I never played the game, so without some kind of performance review (which sites like TPU often do for big new games) I really have no idea where the most likely bottleneck is, but you can check that (to some degree) with afterburner.

Every game is different, some are more CPU than others.

Since this is a fairly new game, my guess would be you'd need to be playing at a low resolution (and with low settings) for the 3070 to no longer be a bottleneck. I must say too, AMD usually have a lower driver overhead, so it is possible you'd get both more FPS and save a bunch of money with a 9070 XT (bonus points: no 16-pin connector).

 

[Samhfx]

A CPU in a bottleneck scenario can do more than 20 fps, a lot more. Very situational though, like I said before, depends entirely on the game, resolution and settings. If you had a 5090 and compared a 12100F to a 9800X3D, the difference could be enormous, like 100+ fps.


I see. Well, I never played the game, so without some kind of performance review (which sites like TPU often do for big new games) I really have no idea where the most likely bottleneck is, but you can check that (to some degree) with afterburner.

Every game is different, some are more CPU than others.

Since this is a fairly new game, my guess would be you'd need to be playing at a low resolution (and with low settings) for the 3070 to no longer be a bottleneck. I must say too, AMD usually have a lower driver overhead, so it is possible you'd get both more FPS and save a bunch of money with a 9070 XT (bonus points: no 16-pin connector).

Yeah just unsure what to do right now. Makes me sad because I want to upgrade CPU now too. I've never had a AMD GPU and something tells me I don't want to start either, unsure why. I said the same thing about AMD CPU after having Intel for many years but ended up with 5800x. I just want to play BF6 with smooth FPS which can match my 165hz monitor. I thought the 5070 ti would do that for me but I think CPU could be the issue now.

Thanks for the help

 

[freddie64]

Why would I not buy the 5080 over the 5070 ti if the price is almost identical. I believe the 5080 requires 850w so a new psu is required for sure, solves that problem too.

Just get a cheaper 5070 ti. This will be more of a match for your 5800X and you will not have to get a new PSU. Use the money saved to get a 5700X3D if you feel the need.

As for the cable. The Corsair one is so much neater than the GPU supplied adaptor, plus it will remove the need to use 3 separate pigtailed cables from the PSU. (all that weight on that 16 pin connector can't be good)

EDIT

Just seen the Super cards may be available October or November, so not to long to wait.

 

[Samhfx]

Just get a cheaper 5070 ti. This will be more of a match for your 5800X and you will not have to get a new PSU. Use the money saved to get a 5700X3D if you feel the need.

As for the cable. The Corsair one is so much neater than the GPU supplied adaptor, plus it will remove the need to use 3 separate pigtailed cables from the PSU. (all that weight on that 16 pin connector can't be good)

EDIT

Just seen the Super cards may be available October or November, so not to long to wait.

So there is no major downsides than to use the 3 separate pigtailed compared and the singular corsair one?

Reading online apparently I'm suppose to place a PSU if it's 3-4 years old especially when buying a higher end GPU. Also I'm still kind of sceptical about these cheaper GPUs. I obviously want my GPU to last as long as possible so paying that extra would kind of ensure that right? I know everything can be random but if parts are cheaper for the cheaper GPU might be worse off in the long run?

 

[freddie64]

So there is no major downsides than to use the 3 separate pigtailed compared and the singular corsair one?

Think your PSU only has 2 separate cables any way so you would have to either buy another or use pigtail (not recommended) or buy the Corsair 16 pin cable.

Reading online apparently I'm suppose to place a PSU if it's 3-4 years old especially when buying a higher end GPU. Also I'm still kind of sceptical about these cheaper GPUs. I obviously want my GPU to last as long as possible so paying that extra would kind of ensure that right? I know everything can be random but if parts are cheaper for the cheaper GPU might be worse off in the long run?

The recommended PSU is 750w for a 5070 ti and you have a decent one with a 10 year warranty, they even produced the 16 pin cable so you can carry on using it for newer GPU's. The only reason you should get a new PSU is if you get a 5080 or 5090. (yours may even be enough for a 5080)

It has been a long time since i owned a Asus or Palit GPU, but both was well built with very good coolers. I would not pay over the odds for a Asus now though.

Out of interest, what GPU's are you considering?

Reading online apparently I'm suppose to place a PSU if it's 3-4 years old especially when buying a higher end GPU.

This sounds more like a sales tactic.

 

[Samhfx]

Think your PSU only has 2 separate cables any way so you would have to either buy another or use pigtail (not recommended) or buy the Corsair 16 pin cable.


The recommended PSU is 750w for a 5070 ti and you have a decent one with a 10 year warranty, they even produced the 16 pin cable so you can carry on using it for newer GPU's. The only reason you should get a new PSU is if you get a 5080 or 5090. (yours may even be enough for a 5080)

It has been a long time since i owned a Asus or Palit GPU, but both was well built with very good coolers. I would not pay over the odds for a Asus now though.

Out of interest, what GPU's are you considering?


This sounds more like a sales tactic.

I was considering the asus 5070 ti. but then i was looking at the 5080 like palit version since the prices are similar. i've been watching videos and stuff it they recommend to stay away from using the corsair adapter you can buy for older psu. instead the best way to do it is to use the cables directly from psu to gpu which obviously requires a new psu.

i was watching this video, kind of helped me a little to understand (if it's all true)

 

[freddie64]

they recommend to stay away from using the corsair adapter you can buy for older psu. instead the best way to do it is to use the cables directly from psu to gpu which obviously requires a new psu.

The cable you linked to is not a adaptor, it does plug directly into the PSU.
It just uses 2 x 8 pin for the PSU side instead of a 16 pin connector.

 

[Samhfx]

The cable you linked to is not a adaptor, it does plug directly into the PSU.
It just uses 2 x 8 pin for the PSU side instead of a 16 pin connector.

Yeah that is why I got confused. I always had in my head I need seperate cables from psu to gpu. seeing the cable as one unit put me off thinking it's unsafe practice.

 

[Tetras]

Reading online apparently I'm suppose to place a PSU if it's 3-4 years old especially when buying a higher end GPU.

Where are you reading all this stuff That's just rubbish. A PSU that's 10 years old, sure, but 3-4? Hah, that's daft. PSUs of that age are perfectly capable of handling recent high-end cards.

seeing the cable as one unit put me off thinking it's unsafe practice.

That's old news, it does not apply to the 16 pin. That said, the 16 pin is a bad connector, so in that sense yeah, it does apply, but you want nvidia so

I would however, buy a 12v2x6 cable for your PSU rather than the 12vHPWR, there's supposed to be no technical difference between the cables themselves, but other manufacturers have said they did make improvements to it regardless of the spec changes.

 

[Samhfx]

Where are you reading all this stuff That's just rubbish. A PSU that's 10 years old, sure, but 3-4? Hah, that's daft. PSUs of that age are perfectly capable of handling recent high-end cards.


That's old news, it does not apply to the 16 pin. That said, the 16 pin is a bad connector, so in that sense yeah, it does apply, but you want nvidia so

I would however, buy a 12v2x6 cable for your PSU rather than the 12vHPWR, there's supposed to be no technical difference between the cables themselves, but other manufacturers have said they did make improvements to it regardless of the spec changes.

Yeah maybe the stuff I'm searching is AI generated or something. I suffer with anxiety and I just think of the worst always. I noticed when I built my PC 3-4 years ago my bios version is from 2021. Checking the mobo site it has a earlier version in 2023 ""Support new Ryzen 5000 CPU." Since in some games I've noticed high CPU usage would this possibly fix performance issues with the 5800x? Or am I just digging into something which is unnecessary?

I'm kind of worried about attempting the BIOS update due to bricking the PC or something.

 

[Tetras]

Yeah maybe the stuff I'm searching is AI generated or something. I suffer with anxiety and I just think of the worst always. I noticed when I built my PC 3-4 years ago my bios version is from 2021. Checking the mobo site it has a earlier version in 2023 ""Support new Ryzen 5000 CPU." Since in some games I've noticed high CPU usage would this possibly fix performance issues with the 5800x? Or am I just digging into something which is unnecessary?

I'm kind of worried about attempting the BIOS update due to bricking the PC or something.

Unlikely, if your BIOS recognises the CPU and isn't super early, it should get you most of the performance. There have been some improvements in later AGESA versions, but I'm not aware of anything that adds a bunch of extra FPS/performance (that's rare with BIOS updates).

 

[freddie64]

I would however, buy a 12v2x6 cable for your PSU rather than the 12vHPWR, there's supposed to be no technical difference between the cables themselves, but other manufacturers have said they did make improvements to it regardless of the spec changes.

Going by Corsair, it is the socket on the GPU and PSU that was updated to 12V2x6.

https://www.corsair.com/uk/en/explo...units/evolving-standards-12vhpwr-and-12v-2x6/

Corsair has their cable listed as a 12v2x6 (not sure i can link to it).

You could get a Cablemod cable with 3 x PSU connectors if that makes you feel better/safer.
It looks better than the Corsair and think the wires are thicker.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x CableMod C-Series Pro ModMesh Sleeved 12VHPWR PCI-e Cable for Corsair (Black, 16-pin to Triple 8-pin, 600mm) (SKU: CB-015-CM) = £24.95

Total: £28.94 (includes delivery: £3.99)​