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PSU for GTX 970

Y

Yaemish

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
69
I just picked up a Gigabyte GTX 970 and it uses a 6-pin and an 8-pin for power. My PSU is a Thermaltake W0070 430 watt. It has dual 12V rails. Both PCI-E connections are 6-pin though.

I used the dual 4-pin molex connector to connect the 8-pin power. I was wondering if I should be going that route, use the unused 6-pin, or if I should buy a new PSU. I haven't really used the card much yet so I don't know if there are problems. If the suggestion is to get a new PSU, haven dual 12V rails fallen out of favor? I saw people recommend Corsair but those are all single rail PSUs.
 
It doesn't really matter whether the PSU has a single rail or even eight rails. It just matters whether or not the PSU is good quality.

In this case, even if your system had nothing but onboard video, I would not recommend using that shit quality TR2 PSU with ANY PC that you care about. Especially one with a good video card.

Get this PSU and you'll be ok:
$61 - XFX TS Series XFX TS 550W PSU
 
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You can use this master list from OCN to see what PSUs are available at the wattage you want.

If you want to know why an el cheapo PSU is a bad idea, well just read up on any of the death of a gutless wonder reviews on JohnnyGuru.

No seriously they are entertaining as hell to read so why not?

As for your specific PSU in question, it's a 350W unit disguised as 430W. So yeah please junk that worthless pos of a PSU right away and buy something with more quality.
 
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You need to list ALL your specs when asking for power supply advice as the gpu is only part of the equation. A system with a highly oced 920 would use vastly more power than with a 4670.
 
OP, your GTX 970 is rated for ~30a of power on a 12v rail @ roughly 170w. It's the amps that are important, and not simply the outright wattage number.

As such, you'll want a PSU than can do at least 40a or more on the 12v lines when factoring in the rest of the system. That amount of amps on the 12v rails is usually only found in 500w+ units. One or multiple rails don't matter. I personally like the single rail units, but that's just personal preference. It really doesn't matter. Corsair, Enermax, Seasonic, XFX, and Antec would be brands i would trust and recommend.
 
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atp1916 said:
OP, your GTX 970 is rated for ~30a of power on a 12v rail @ roughly 170w. It's the amps that are important, and not simply the outright wattage number.

As such, you'll want a PSU than can do at least 40a or more on the 12v lines when factoring in the rest of the system. That amount of amps on the 12v rails is usually only found in 500w+ units. One or multiple rails don't matter. I personally like the single rail units, but that's just personal preference. It really doesn't matter. Corsair, Enermax, Seasonic, XFX, and Antec would be brands i would trust and recommend.
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That 30 amp number is taking into account other parts that use the +12V rail, like the CPU. Manufacturer power recommendations always consider the demands of what they consider a "typical" system with some head room. 170W over 12V is approximately 15 amps.
 
Armenius, you're right. This link i use states what you mentioned, but up top. Good catch!
 
Making do with questionable PSU capacity is always dicey. People run systems with lower than the recommended PSU all the time, and if it's a quality unit and the rest of the system has sufficiently low power usage it can work just fine. The real problem however is that it will most likely SEEM to work fine regardless. Use an underpowered PSU and you're setting yourself up for brown-outs with aggravating unpredictable problems at best, and catastrophic failure with collateral damage at worst.

Best to avoid the situation if you can and shop for an upgrade in my opinion. Minimum recommendation for the 970 is 500 watt but I'd go ahead and shoot for a 550W or 600W if it was me. Corsair makes good PSUs but they're not the only show in town. I'd just try and find something with a HardOCP Gold or Silver award if you can, otherwise look at customer feedback on Newegg/TigerDirect/Amazon.

Tiger's "Ultra" store brand PSUs have been surprisingly good in my experience if you need something on the (relatively) cheap. On more than one occasion I've picked up an open-box unit for next to nothing while shopping a store. Got one of the 1600W chrome plated beauties for $20 a while back. Not too shabby.

Always, always, always read the reviews though.
 
The master list posted above is great. I would go for a minimum 550W.
 
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