Super important power supply question
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Have two systems here that I need to decide between keeping, one gets returned.
Totally identical, right down to the power supply, with the single exception of the graphics card
One is a GTX 980, the other a GTX 980TI
Common specs:
i7-5820k proc ( 3.3 stock, overclocked to 4.5 on one system and I'm going to be OC-ing on the other if I keep it, which is where the power supply comes in )
32GB DDR4
Samsung 850 Pro in Rapid ModeMy question is, NVidia recommends 500W for the 980 and a 600W supply for the 980TI. Why HP ships my 980TI config w/ a 500W power supply god only knows ( probably to up their profit ), so my question is:
Will having a 500W power supply affect performance? If so by how much? Will it make it so there's less juice to OC the proc on the 980TI box? If so, is it concievable that the 980 box will actually perform better for all non-graphics tasks because of the lack of power contention? Is that even how power works?
Thank you so much, I'm NOOB to this.
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If the biggest difference is the graphics card, and that is what you want, then it's a pretty simple thing.
Return the one with the lower card, and up the PSU in the other.
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Or just keep both and sell the lower end parts on craigslist as brand new...
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What I want is the best performing system, so basically it comes down to
- If the power supply won't be a factor, keep the 980TI
- If it will be a factor that lowers the performance because there's not enough power for the parts, then I keep the 980 one.
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@gjacobse said:
If the biggest difference is the graphics card, and that is what you want, then it's a pretty simple thing.
Return the one with the lower card, and up the PSU in the other.
These are HP Envy machines which are super small, and I don't think the form factor of the PSU is mainstream or that I could just swap another one out, if I'm wrong please tell me which one to get and that COMPLETELY SOLVES MY PROBLEM THANK YOU!!
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@creayt Dimensions are roughly 5.6 x 6.5 x 3.5 inches.
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@gjacobse said:
@creayt
http://www.amazon.com/HP-star-Power-Supply-633186-002/dp/B00WVNNMU4Maybe.
Nice! I'm going to call them and be like "this is the highest caliber Envy you sell, how did you not put one of these in it?"
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The power supply will only matter when you are running GPU intensive things.
That said, since you are overclocking it, 500 might not be enough for the small video card because you'll be pulling extra power that wasn't accounted for in the original specs.
But without testing you won't really know.
Also, You don't don't to be playing games to hit the GPU... things like Bit coin generators can use the GPU for better performance.
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@Dashrender What did you mean by the small video card? It looks pretty huge to me.
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@creayt said:
@Dashrender What did you mean by the small video card? It looks pretty huge to me.
the one with lower specs (was that the 980?)
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@Dashrender Ah, ok ( yep, the 980 and then the other is the 980 TI ), so you're saying that with overclocking even the lesser-powerful system risks not having enough power. Gotcha, thx.
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@creayt said:
@Dashrender Ah, ok ( yep, the 980 and then the other is the 980 TI ), so you're saying that with overclocking even the lesser-powerful system risks not having enough power. Gotcha, thx.
Exactly. Who knows.. it might have enough power, but until you try, you just don't know.
Also, being underpowered manifests itself in all kinds of strange ways. BSOD, video freakouts, apps crashing, slowness, etc. At least you're thinking about power now, so if you start seeing these behaviors you have an idea of what the problem might be.
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To anyone who's curious, in practice my impression is that it makes a HUGE difference. Processor performance on the 980 box is much MUCH better than on the power-strained TI box, which I'm sending back. When overclocked to the same speed, the TI box with identical settings hovers down below 2 Ghz most of the time while the 980 box is up above 4 most of the time w/ load. The disk performance ( same exact drive, just moved ) w/ rapid mode, which is very proc dependent is also much better on the 980 box, breaking 5 GB/s read/write. So, yeah, question answered. The 980 box is also quieter, which I adore. Good thing I don't play many games and the card difference isn't a huge deal, or at least I keep telling myself that.
