Would you have sufficient strength?
Would you have sufficient strength?
I was considering an upgrade for my PC this year, but financial constraints have made it difficult. In the meantime, I’m planning to upgrade my graphics card instead—changing from a 2060 gigabyte to an AMD 7700xt. This would give me some time to evaluate whether the upcoming releases (such as the 9000 AMD CPUs and new GPUs) are still worthwhile. I hope next year prices will drop, especially during sales.
My main concern is whether replacing the 2060 with the 7700xt would leave me with sufficient power for my current 650-watt PSU. Would I need a more powerful supply, perhaps around 850 watts? (I’m also planning a full system upgrade next year, so I’m wondering if it’s better to invest in a new power supply as well.)
Regarding the 7700xt, I’d likely only keep it for two years before moving to a 5000-series NVIDIA card or an AMD equivalent. Here are my current specs:
CPU: Ryzen 7 2700X
Graphics: Gigabyte 2060 OC
Motherboard: ROG Strix X370-F Gaming
RAM: G-Skill 4x8GB (32GB total)
HDD: 2x4TB WD Blue
SSD: One WD Blue 250GB SATA drive
NVMe M.2: One EVO Plus 2TB Samsung
PSU: Corsair TX 650M Gold 80 Plus (7-year warranty)
Case Fans: 5
Case: Master Cooler H500
Thank you for your time, Muddy.
You'd be pushing it on paper, though being a gold unit, even if older, I'd run it—just don't overclock, keep things at stock. The PSU should shut down if it's too much, which I don't think you'd encounter. But yeah, I wouldn't run it long term, but it could get you through until you build a new rig next year. If it was a bad cheap PSU, I'd say otherwise. Good luck!
Yes, I wouldn't try to run a 7800xt on that PSU, although it might work temporarily and some people have done it even with more demanding CPUs. Personally, I'd stick to a 7700xt. If the OCP doesn't trip, it could damage the whole system; if it does trip but the PSU fails afterward, you'd need a new PSU to restart it. A PSU isn't built to repeatedly trip its OCP protection. That's a risk I wouldn't accept.
If you're planning to build a system next year, are you replacing your GPU entirely or just transferring it? If you decide to move it, hold onto the 2060 until then, or keep the 7800xt until you're ready. But if you need the GPU immediately, I wouldn't risk using the 7800xt on that PSU—just too much for my confidence.
The plan is to use the 7700xt at the moment, wait roughly a year before upgrading the PC with the 7700xt for about two-thirds of its lifespan, then switch to an AMD 8000 series when they become available. Everything will eventually be fully upgraded. Thanks for your reply, muddy.
I believe the 5700x3d would be a better upgrade for you. Your current CPU and heatsink have worth on eBay. I think your 2700x can support the 7700xt.