Upgrade 3 year old OCZ 700W PSU?

FlyingPig

FlyingPig

FlyingPig

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Hi,

I've got the upgrade itch for a graphics card and I'm trying to make up my mind about whether I should upgrade the PSU too. My 3 year old system:

i5 2500K CPU
OCZ PSU 700W Stealth Xtreme
8GB RAM
MSI P67A-GD65 motherboard
GTX 570

I was tempted by the AMD R9 PCS+ 290 graphics card going for 200 quid, but then found out it would be prudent to replace my PSU first.

My question: if that is the case, what if I decide to keep this 3 year old PSU, save my money and instead spend some extra cash and get the more efficient GTX 970 instead? Surely the OCZ PSU should be able to handle the 970 and that way I could avoid the hassle of replacing the PSU? (never done this) Or with that kind of non-premium PSU is it really a case of when is it going to fail?

As a sidenote: despite the name of the current PSU, it is actually quite loud and I think it is also what is causing my rig to "whine" a bit sometimes (not coil whine, more like some buzzing, some kind of resonance sometimes that is hard to describe), so perhaps that is an argument in favour of biting the bullet and upgrading it.

Any input appreciated.
 
Well my ocz 600w is still going strong after 5 years and handles my new 970 fine ,until it goes pop cant see why id buy a new one tbh...so why not just get a new gfx card and see how it goes? unless yours being noisey is too annoying for you
 
I ran 2x290's, mining, on a 700W for around a month. It drew 710W at the wall. I certainly wouldn't advise doing what I did, but it goes to show you're going to be WELL within the limits.

Keep it until yours dies.
 
Thanks. I might just keep it and buy a GTX 970 (Galax).
In terms of "how a PSU fails", is it a gradual thing you can foresee or is it sudden and can it take out your motherboard and graphics card?
Main priority is upgrading my graphics but I guess at some point you have to invest a bit in your rig to keep it healthy and happy, just don't want to waste money.
 
I've had a few PSUs fail at work, never once have I seen it take out other components. It just stopped booting the PC.

I thinks it's one of those long standing theories that everyone has heard of but never actually seen. I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Only ever had one fail on me ,and it just refused to load the pc up followed by a burning smell...im sure they have some sort of over volt surge protection to prevent damaging major components when they fail anyway?
 
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