Should I upgrade my power supply?

[Lord Tony®]

My current power supply is 460w. My graphics card requires 400w.

However if I am to add other features like another computer monitor for a dual screen set up do I really need a new power supply?

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[Refticus]

yes 1200w right now

[Steve5451²]

no, the monitor isn't powered by your computer.

[Tokthree]

I'd still go to 500 - 550 just for the stability, depends on whether or not you can justify spending money on nothing but peace of mind though

[Lord Tony®]

Now I haven't had any issues with my computer recently. When I upgraded the new hardware I had minor issues. Like going to the log out screen on its own (I can't tell if it's me or buggy Fallout 4) or not shutting down at all.

This doesn't happen anymore. For some reason. I think something may have been loose but it seems to have fixed itself.


Now my computer's graphics card requires 400w. That's not counting like RAM, harddrives, etc.

Is 460w enough you guys think? I don't think I am using more than at least 420w.

[Pastrey Crust]

no, the monitor isn't powered by your computer.

That's what multinational companies want you to think!

[Tokthree]

460 should be enough in theory, but like I said:

I'd still go to 500 - 550 just for the stability, depends on whether or not you can justify spending money on nothing but peace of mind though

[Lord Tony®]

Well I've been looking at 500w gold power supplies on newegg that support a 6 pin adapter (3x2) do you got any suggestions?

Now what I am worried about is what if this gold 500w power supply is a malfunctioning piece of stuff, will this fry up my computer?

[Pastrey Crust]

Duh. Malfunctioning PSUs can kill your motherboard and any peripheral.

[Pentium]

Probably not; the PSU requirements that graphics card manufactuers list assume that you have a crappy power supply that can't supply its rated power without blowing up. I doubt your system is going to use more than 350W or so at full load, and even if you do need to upgrade a 450W-ish unit should be fine.

[Lord Tony®]

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03534710

This is my computer. Except now it has a 970 GTX 4GB card and 16GBs of RAM from corsair.

[Tokthree]

Well I've been looking at 500w gold power supplies on newegg that support a 6 pin adapter (3x2) do you got any suggestions?

Now what I am worried about is what if this gold 500w power supply is a malfunctioning piece of stuff, will this fry up my computer?

Depends on the circumstances and the way in which it fails. It can fail and take out everything with it, yeah, but you can usually claim against such damages without too much trouble so I'd say that so long as you buy from a reputable manufacturer you'll be fine. My recommended brands are EVGA, SeaSonic and Corsair (RM-series and up) though EVGA seems to be the go-to these days

Probably not; the PSU requirements that graphics card manufactuers list assume that you have a crappy power supply that can't supply its rated power without blowing up. I doubt your system is going to use more than 350W or so at full load, and even if you do need to upgrade a 450W-ish unit should be fine.

Peace of mind and breathing room up to 600w is never a bad idea

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03534710

This is my computer. Except now it has a 970 GTX 4GB card and 16GBs of RAM from corsair.

Make sure it doesn't use a proprietary PSU form factor before spending money. It probably uses a standard ATX PSU but you can never be sure with these OEMs

[Lord Tony®]

Make sure it doesn't use a proprietary PSU form factor before spending money. It probably uses a standard ATX PSU but you can never be sure with these OEMs

    Form Factor: internal ATX
    Total wattage: 460W
    Nominal input voltage range:
        100-127V/3A (50-60Hz)
        200-240V/2A (50-60Hz)
    Dimensions: 150mm x 140mm x 86mm (5.9 x 5.5 x 3.4 inches)
    * This power supply has an LED to indicate a possible failure condition when LED is off and power is connected.

[Lord Tony®]

So all I need is an internal ATX with a 6 pin cable? 500+ gold edition of course.

[Steve5451²]

It's probably in your best interest to upgrade then. They don't put particularly good PSU's in simple machines like that.