7970 Will blow up my PC?

[millz]

Hey guys

I want to upgrade the graphics card in my computer. I was thinking, instead of buying a new graphics card (budget about $150 CAD), that I would get a used card.

With $150 CAD I can get a 750ti if it's new.

However there's quite a bit of used 7970's in my area that are also about $150. I was thinking to pick up a Ghz edition............ and then I went and checked the power consumption on the card and realized my power supply probably can't handle the power draw on the card.

Can you guys advise if it's doable or if I need to look for a different GPU with a smaller power consumption.

Current Setup


CPU = i5 2500k - (stock clockspeed)
Ram = 8gb ram - don't remember the speed (is it important?)
PSU = Corsair 600W - Bronze certified
Motherboard = MSI P67A-G43B3
Current GPU - Radeon 6870
Proposed replacement GPU - Radeon 7970 GHZ edition
Optical Drive
7200 rpm 500 gb HD
NO SSD
There's a shitty wireless network card also attached.

The 7970 says it pulls like 315 watts!

Is this card a definite no-no with this setup? I would imagine you don't want to be drawing 99.9% of what your PSU can offer, or is it okay?

 

[beers]

600w is fine for a single card.

Also check out R9 290s on eBay too, not sure about CDN but it's pretty easy to pick up a used one for ~$180-190ish

 

[millz]

Any other information required? I'll have it set up to 2 or 3 monitors at once. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Is that 7970 for sure within safe limits with my above setup?

The r9 290 is out of my budget in this case. I don't really want to spend more than $150 and there aren't any r9 290s for under $200 in my local listing.

 

[beers]

Maybe the specific PSU model just for reference, but there aren't any known horrific Corsair models in that range that sucked. Monitor quantity doesn't make a noticeable impact on consumption.

Also keep in mind usually with a used card you're boned as far as warranty. There are a few vendors such as Gigabyte that honor a warranty for users other than the first purchaser though.

 

[Darren]

Maybe the specific PSU model just for reference, but there aren't any known horrific Corsair models in that range that sucked. Monitor quantity doesn't make a noticeable impact on consumption.

Also keep in mind usually with a used card you're boned as far as warranty. There are a few vendors such as Gigabyte that honor a warranty for users other than the first purchaser though.

Can confirm that Sapphire will as well. They'll honor an RMA, but they won't answer a direct question about it even though I asked about it and told them many times that I bought the card on Ebay. Still took it, never acknowledged it was second hand except a 20 dollar fee for no receipt.

Running a 7970 on a Corsair CX600. It's fine and my CPU pulls more juice than yours.

 

[millz]

Can confirm that Sapphire will as well. They'll honor an RMA, but they won't answer a direct question about it even though I asked about it and told them many times that I bought the card on Ebay. Still took it, never acknowledged it was second hand except a 20 dollar fee for no receipt.

Running a 7970 on a Corsair CX600. It's fine and my CPU pulls more juice than yours.

Well then... It's a done deal. I'm going to pick up the 7970 for 150.

Again, just making sure... it doesn't matter if i have speakers hooked up to it, network card, multi monitors because it's definitley the best bang for my buck video card I can get right now...

I'm a little weary in purchasing a used video card though =

 

[Darren]

There's a risk involved. Most of the time, you'll be fine. If you're not, you just better hope the manufacturer you have will honor an RMA request. Kind of unlikely as even if they would, there's a good chance it's out of the warranty window by now.

The two main component that's determine your power requirements are your CPU and GPU. Adding extra drives, fans, network cards, sound cards, or whatever else is going to have a pretty negligible difference. 600 watts is plenty. You could run it on a 550 watt even without any trouble. Also anything that isn't directly pulling power from your computer tower is irrelevant. Monitors and speakers also plug in to the wall so they have no impact on power consumption through your power supply.

 

[millz]

Another thing I forgot to mention is my existing corsair cx600 is 3 years old with pretty heavy use. Do they somehow degrade with usage?

 

[C4C]

Another thing I forgot to mention is my existing corsair cx600 is 3 years old with pretty heavy use. Do they somehow degrade with usage?

Yes but you arent running a high load and Corsair is a great brand.