Would an I7 need more than a 400w PSU using onboard graphics?

cymatty · 21 Feb 2011 at 20:04

I am looking at getting an I7 and using the onbaord graphics of the chip as I am not using it to game.

Now I am aware that one of the biggest wattage users are high performance GFXs, so if I got an I7 would my 400w enermax psu be enough.

Second question, would I be limited to a H7 mobo? Would this also affect the overclocking potential.

Thanks.

stulid · 21 Feb 2011 at 20:07

Should be fine.

And yes you need a H67 to pass the signal through to the outputs on the back of the board.

H67 offers zero cpu overclocking function,

cymatty · 21 Feb 2011 at 20:12

stulid said:
Should be fine.

And yes you need a H67 to pass the signal through to the outputs on the back of the board.

H67 offers zero cpu overclocking function,

Cheers for that, the first bit is good news, the second part, not so good.

JonJ678 · 21 Feb 2011 at 20:29

Aye. There's X68 due at some point which does onboard gpu and overclocking, I'd be waiting for that one.

My i7 920 running at 4.4ghz drew 250W (measured fairly carefully using a current clamp, though that figure includes the motherboard). The new 32nm parts should be lower. Motherboard and misc will be comfortably under 100W, probably under 50W. So a decent 400W will be fine.

Unless your enermax is particularly old (and no longer performs as specified) you'll have no problems.

pingu666 · 21 Feb 2011 at 20:39

theres a couple of psu calculators about, notsure how acurate they are, but should give you a ballpark figure.

i think my dads 430watt corsair isnt coping well with his sandybridge system, 4 hds, 2 dvd drives and a 6950 @6970, voltages dip pretty low :/

JonJ678 · 21 Feb 2011 at 20:40

^How are you measuring the voltage? If it's software, it's notoriously unreliable. If it's with a multimeter I'd be interested to hear how much it decreases by.

stulid · 21 Feb 2011 at 20:40

pingu666 said:
theres a couple of psu calculators about, notsure how acurate they are, but should give you a ballpark figure.

i think my dads 430watt corsair isnt coping well with his sandybridge system, 4 hds, 2 dvd drives and a 6950 @6970, voltages dip pretty low :/

highlighted the issue.