PSU Advice

[kalniel]

You can't take an "Extreme SFF" system designed for lower power consumption

It's not designed for lower power consumption. They've taken a more power hungry CPU than the OP, a more power hungry GPU than the OP. They've then further increased the voltages and then overclocked both the CPU and the GPU.

That it still only requires a maximum of 320W with a titan should be fairly obvious that computers these days don't need a lot.

But lets look for some others:
Hexus' gigabtye OC 280X review, non SFF:
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphi...ition/?page=10

Total system gaming load draw = 249W at the mains. That's easily covered by a 450W power supply.

[Willzzz]

But as you can see there is variation between cards, there will be variation when subjected to different loads, these are clearly not maximum figures.
When deciding what is safe you need to look at the worst case, not the typical case.

There are 280Xs that exceed 450W and while that may be under an unusual load you cannot guarantee that will not happen, particularly as a system ages or if it develops a fault.

[kalniel]

There are 280Xs that exceed 450W

Where? No working 280X should draw that much. A few watts variation between cards is not going to account for a 300% increase in power draw.

Don't forget the 450W rating is for continuous load - peak load can exceed this safely as long as it's not sustained.

[Willzzz]

I'm very seriously suggesting that a Titan equipped system will never go above 450W unless you do something very stupid.

But it's not down to whether you do something stupid, there are far too many things beyond your control.

Why do think people use Prime95 and Furmark? Because those kinds of loads are possible. They shouldn't happen, they certainly won't happen regularly, but sometimes they do. Maybe it's a buggy driver, maybe it's a badly designed game, maybe it's a hardware fault.

I certainly wouldn't want to be overclocking in that situation, and if you can't overclock, why not buy a cheaper card and overclock that?

[kalniel]

I certainly wouldn't want to be overclocking in that situation, and if you can't overclock, why not buy a cheaper card and overclock that?

I certainly would be happy overclocking the OPs 280X spec on a good 450W supply - as the reviews show, even with a factory overclocked card you are using up to only around 50% of the total power that the PSU can sustain. That's bags and bags of room for further overclocking. Buying a new PSU when it's not needed is NOT the cheaper option here

[Willzzz]

Where? No working 280X should draw that much. A few watts variation between cards is not going to account for a 300% increase in power draw.

Don't forget the 450W rating is for continuous load - peak load can exceed this safely as long as it's not sustained.

If this was a brand new, high end PSU I might agree, but it's not.
As I've already stated it would most probably work, but that still leaves doubt I personally would be uncomfortable with.

[kalniel]

If this was a brand new, high end PSU I might agree, but it's not.
As I've already stated it would most probably work, but that still leaves doubt I personally would be uncomfortable with.

Look at the pic: "total system power consumption". That's not just the 280X and it's at the wall, so would be fine with a 400W rated supply. Don't forget they are testing with a Intel Core i7-4960X @ 4.2GHz on the power hungry x79 platform.

But still, if you're worried then avoid the toxic card, which all reviews agree is unusually high in power draw.

Or avoid furmark - the gaming load test with the above mega system still only draws 339W from the wall.

[barry2811]

Thanks guys. I think I'm happy that I should be ok. I'll see what I get for my old CPU and MB and then decide when I'm going to do it.

Nice to see the topic sparked some discussion too.

[Butuz]

Yeh you should be OK with that PSU, but you won't have much headroom if buying an overvolted 280x or overclocking your CPU much (or both!).

A 280x can draw up to 300w your CPU can draw up to 100w both under unrealistic load - that doesn't leave too much theoretical room for the system (hard drives etc).

Butuz

[pastymuncher]

A HX450 has a total output of 450w but only 396w on the all important 12v rail. A 280x by itself can pull 200w (normal gaming, close to 300w running furmark) without overclocking. By the time you add on the cpu and any overclocking you will be looking at somewhere around the 350-370w mark. Yes the psu probably could manage it but it would be very close to maxxing out meaning it will run hotter and louder. Personally i would buy a new psu.