Older PSU with a 50 series

almostgfx · 6 Sep 2025 at 16:10

Hey,

I’ve been thinking about upgrading my 3060 to a 5070. I usually upgrade parts as needed, and I’ve done some research around PSU requirements for the 5070.
At the moment, I’m running a Corsair AX750i. It’s an older unit, but it still works perfectly fine. Since the 50-series GPUs come with an adapter in the box, would it be safe to run the 5070 on my current PSU in the meantime, or is it better to upgrade the PSU first regardless?

Tetras · 6 Sep 2025 at 16:17

It is fine to use the adapter, but you could just get a 9070 instead, which uses the old 8-pins.

hornetstinger · 6 Sep 2025 at 16:42

You could. One of these is included with every Nvidia card

https://images.coplusk.net/project_images/179436/image/medium_104718_2F2014-10-08-193113-bitch2.jpg

almostgfx · 6 Sep 2025 at 16:47

Tetras said:
It is fine to use the adapter, but you could just get a 9070 instead, which uses the old 8-pins.

So no real issues with an older PSU?

I did a bit with chat GPU and it said this.

"old PSUs weren’t designed with the spiky power draw of modern GPUs in mind. The RTX 5070 can spike above its ~250W TGP for milliseconds, and older PSUs sometimes choke or shut down under that stress."

hornetstinger · 6 Sep 2025 at 16:48

almostgfx said:
So no real issues with an older PSU?

I did a bit with chat GPU and it said this.

"old PSUs weren’t designed with the spiky power draw of modern GPUs in mind. The RTX 5070 can spike above its ~250W TGP for milliseconds, and older PSUs sometimes choke or shut down under that stress."

Apart from melting connectors, the 12 pin high power.

If your PSU doesn't have that, you'd need to buy the adapter, £10-£20 ontop.

Then issue of melting what a world what a world

Tetras · 6 Sep 2025 at 16:52

almostgfx said:
So no real issues with an older PSU?

I did a bit with chat GPU and it said this.

"old PSUs weren’t designed with the spiky power draw of modern GPUs in mind. The RTX 5070 can spike above its ~250W TGP for milliseconds, and older PSUs sometimes choke or shut down under that stress."

That doesn't apply to decent quality older PSUs, they can handle modern cards just fine. I believe you can switch the PSU you have from multi to single rail in the event that it trips.

almostgfx · 6 Sep 2025 at 16:54

hornetstinger said:
Apart from melting connectors, the 12 pin high power.

If your PSU doesn't have that, you'd need to buy the adapter, £10-£20 ontop.

Then issue of melting what a world what a world

Thanks, didnt hear about the melting thing! Is it the just the adapter thats melting? if it was a new psu a straight 12 pin is fine?

hornetstinger · 6 Sep 2025 at 16:57

Tetras · 6 Sep 2025 at 18:07

almostgfx said:
Thanks, didnt hear about the melting thing! Is it the just the adapter thats melting? if it was a new psu a straight 12 pin is fine?

It is the part that mates with the card (the 16 pin connector), the adapter doesn't melt, so having a direct cable makes no difference.

almostgfx · 6 Sep 2025 at 19:38

Thanks for the help everyone, Much appreciated

Smffy · 8 Sep 2025 at 19:53

almostgfx said:
Thanks for the help everyone, Much appreciated

I’ve managed to snag an upgrade on my PSU for this reason, my ASU’s Thor was 2019 so no 12 pin and I don’t fancy 3x150w. Bagged a 1200w Strix which means I keep the same pin out on all my existing custom cables but I can have a nice tidy 12+sensor capable of 600w

Worth mentioning I believe the melting issues more in the 5090 as much higher power draw.