PSU upgrade question.

[Robby]

Here I am back with another topic similar to an older one, but w/e.

So I looked through some PC upgrading options, and found a quad-core CPU that'll pretty much suit me for now. First things first, need to change the motherboard since AM3 is pretty dead nowadays, so an FM2 will hold me for now. An Athlon II x4 740 (3.2GHZ, pretty much the cheapest quad-core in my area AFAIK, better than what I use nowadays, wouldn't be able to go higher than that).

But the thing that worries me, like the title says, is if a PSU upgrade might be necessary. I'm guessing so, considering I have a 450W PSU, with the following specs:

Spoiler below!

AMD Athlon II x2 250 (3GHZ DC)
AMD Radeon HD 6670 1GB DDR3
4GB DDR3 1666MHZ
1 DVD-RW drive
1 Case fan
1 fan on the CPU and another for the GPU
6 USB slots on the back of the PC.

There might be some things missing from ^, so lemme know if I missed anything.

But yea, is a PSU upgrade necessary, and if so, how much would I need to go for? Planned for a 600W PSU which is less than $30 over here.

[Googolplex]

You only need a powerful PSU when you have a high-end graphics card installed. Otherwise your system works more efficient on lower PSU's.

And get the Athlon II X4 750K (3,4 GHz) for only 2 euros more!

Which additional components do you want to buy? When you want a cheap and powerul system I recommend the following:

- AMD A10-7850K (4,0 GHz quad-core with integrated Radeon R7)
- 8 GB DDR3-2133 dual channel
- 120 GB SSD & 1 TB HDD
- FM2+ mainboard
- 300W PSU (enough for this system)

For only 450 euros!
You can play all modern games on high details. The integrated graphics is powerful like a GeForce GT 640. Better than the HD 6670.

[Robby]

I understand the suggestion here, but I'm not intending to upgrade the whole rig here. Just taking it slowly, component by component, otherwise I'll never be able to cover up the costs for that. Quite "broke", may I say.

[Googolplex]

Okay, then don't upgrade your PSU. 450W are enough for your system. Spend the money in further 4 GB RAM.

[Robby]

I'll be doing that when I can sell the 2GB RAM that I previously used. RAM is quite cheap, not more than around $50 or $60.

[Googolplex]

Good. I only would upgrade the PSU when it's defect or too weak. When your system runs stable then there's no sense to upgrade. You won't have a performance plus when having more watts.

[Robby]

The main reason I wanted the PSU upgrade is just to be safe in case the CPU upgrade turns out to be a bit too strong for the 450W. Never hurts to be safe.

The GPU is fine for now, right now I wanted to get this dual-core off my back to make 720p-renders happen. This DC CPU can't render 720p for prolonged periods. Freezes and/or crashes after a while.

[Googolplex]

The CPU should have the same power consumption as your old one. A CPU will use something between 75 and 100W at 100% load. 450W is enough for the complete system!

And I doubt that the Athlon X4 will be much faster. Of course it's only faster when an application can handle all 4 cores! But only some modern games are using multiple tasks. Your current CPU should be fast enough for 720p video rendering.

When you want to convert movies etc. I recommend to upgrade to an Intel Core i5-4570. It's a lot faster.

[Wooderson]

450w seems enough I think, but bare in mind that when purchasing a PSU, don't pick the cheapest, you want one that has a good rep.

[Red]

Normally when psu bottlenecks, it's GPU question. Nowadays they require lot more than cpus.
I had to change for 800W to handle dual gpu sli, which required 400W combined.
So I believe 450W fairly enough, for a one or maybe even two quad core cpus of that invidual model.