GTX 780 indicates 600W min. requirement. My PSU can provide 450W.
January 22nd, 2020
I’m wondering what can actually happen if the PSUs wattage is below the minimum required for the graphics card, in my case a GTX 780. I’ve got a Xilence 450W PSU and a grand old Q6600 CPU from 2007. So far I’ve carried out benchmarking and stress tests with FurMark, BurnInTest (by Passmark), AIDA64 and Valley Benchmark 1.0. I’ve also test-played Crysis 3 and GTA V with the maximum settings. Everything worked like a charm and ran the most smoothly. There were and are still no signs or symptoms at all of any of the issues I’ve read on the net. No quality degradation, abnormal power load, freezing, flickering whatsoever. All components are fully functioning (tested by myself) and healthy according to Dell online PC diagnostics (full, took several hours to complete). I’m absolutely not an active gamer, I’d mainly just like test a few popular (often demanding) games 2-3 times a year. I very seldomly finish a game fully. I plan to complete Mafia 3 next year.
Do you think there’s any risk for any problem(s) to occur in the future (insidiously and gradually)? Should I be worried? How many watts does the GTX 780 need while I’m browsing and when the PC is idling?
Thank you very much for your consideration, expertise and time!
Best regards,
David I wouldn’t be surprised if a short occurred if not worse. If they state 600W minimum it’s kind of a no brainer.
Try it. Sometimes those requirements are overkill. I have used a GTX650Ti card on a 300w PSU, “requirements” were at least 450w.
EDIT: Aha , you already used it. Then it works. It either works or not. If there was not enough power, it would be crashing a lot etc, or simply not turn on and beep. But as you noticed already, it works.
One of the most important parts of a computer is the PSU… Given the specs it may or may not work… If it does, play a game which needs a decent amount of PSU power, and the options are, the PC will turn off which is good, or the PSU will be fried which aint good… Ironically the PSU over compensates due to the lack of power and over does it, or cant do enough… PSU’s are reasonably cheap…
Dear All,
I'm wondering what can actually happen if the PSUs wattage is below the minimum required for the graphics card, in my case a GTX 780. I've got a Xilence 450W PSU and a grand old Q6600 CPU from 2007. So far I've carried out benchmarking and stress tests with FurMark, BurnInTest (by Passmark), AIDA64 and Valley Benchmark 1.0. I've also test-played Crysis 3 and GTA V with the maximum settings. Everything worked like a charm and ran the most smoothly. There were and are still no signs or symptoms at all of any of the issues I've read on the net. No quality degradation, abnormal power load, freezing, flickering whatsoever. All components are fully functioning (tested by myself) and healthy according to Dell online PC diagnostics (full, took several hours to complete). I'm absolutely not an active gamer, I'd mainly just like test a few popular (often demanding) games 2-3 times a year. I very seldomly finish a game fully. I plan to complete Mafia 3 next year.
Do you think there's any risk for any problem(s) to occur in the future (insidiously and gradually)? Should I be worried? How many watts does the GTX 780 need while I'm browsing and when the PC is idling?
Thank you very much for your consideration, expertise and time!
Best regards,
Depending on your mobo and RAM, your PSU is currently close to the full load it can handle. Typically, PSUs are expected to run at about 50-60% of the workload they can handle for better stability and duration. A PSU of about 700-800W would be ideal for your build.
gtx 780 can not use anything beyond 300W even when it is fully overclocked with full voltage. i dunno where it says 600W info but it is totally wrong.
gtx 780 uses average of 200w on load and maybe if there is max load it may raise up a little bit up to 220-230w but it is just a maybe.
on idle gtx 780 uses between 10w-20w , i mean totally idle. if you mean idle when you are browsing or watching movies , it use between 20w to 60w depending on conditions. as a result your psu would be more than enough as you personally experienced it but ofc it would better if you had 600w + psu for some other reasons but it is not essential.
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As a minimum maybe… If you stick to Frogger, Yes…. PSU is actually important… You may not realize till it blows up, but yeah…
completely wrong… Maybe wright playing Frogger…
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_780/24.html
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_780_review,9.html
^-^ Good to see that someone did their homework which probably explains why it actually does work
Running it under full load, it might not last another 10 years, but what the heck!
I would recommend more power. I’ve done crossfire 270x with a 4670k on a Seasonic X-650 with no dramas. Once I stepped into a second gtx 970, the psu will power cycle even playing hardline for 10 minutes.
For a pc of that age, I’d save up for the next upgrade.
I would recommend that you switch out for a better/bigger PSU as soon as you can
As the life of a PSU goes on, it will slowly lose it’s ability to handle its stated value.
So while there may not be problems now, after a few years, they could arise
Note to self; Don’t use peoples real names or they never come back.
Hope you solved your issue.
This post has been reviewed and no action was taken - rodey
I’m really more than grateful for every single response from your guys. I’ve read all of them carefully and definitely got an answer to my questions.
I’d like to add that the PC that is in question is a pre-build Dell XPS 430 from 2010, don’t know if it makes any sense (useful information). It has two HDDs and an SSD.
prebuilt pcs have a common problem of bundled with junk psu but it is not in your case since you have the brand name and wattage. xilence is not the best but not the worst either so it would be enough.
one of the topics i have posted above from guru3d , mentions full system wattage not only gpu during a test where they kicked the hell out of gpu with voltage and heavy stress test which can never be achieved on any game. result was ,
System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 340W
and their test system’s components other than gpu are far more demanding than yours.
as a result 450W wouldnt cause an explosion like you expected even if there is an explosion , it wouldnt be cause psu is 450W but they used junk materials while building it. it can happen on a 1000W psu too.
on the other hand ; having psu higher than 600W may have some other benefits such as ,
1- better efficiency related to gold or higher certificate on them. psu with low wattage generally doesnt have this certification.
2- better response to voltage fluctuations during heavy gaming to improve a few fps , due to better materials used with higher electricity conductivity. low wattage psus are not made from junk materials if you buy from the reliable brand but also their material is not as good as their higher counterparts.
3- less bills to pay , lets say you use 300 Watt on average with 450W psu , load will be %66 but with 600W psu , load will be %50. less load in terms of percentage means less electrical consumption where every other variables are considered the same.