6970 on the way, do i need to upgrade the PSU?

[mrwhite]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150517 on its way, will i need to upgrade my power supply?  its a 500w peak PSU. 

[diabinc141]

Depends on your other components and also what PSU specifically it is. Please post your specs and exactly what PSU you have.

[mrwhite]

this is the power supply  >>http://www.amazon.com/FSP-Certification-FSP450-60GHS-85-R/dp/B005CP07PQ

nothing major on the system, just a base model gaming rig.  i7, generic soundcard, dvrw, 1TB hd and the video card.

[diabinc141]

You'd be maxing out that PSU. The 2 12V rails can only handle 18 amps each and the video card would be very close to that plus the wattage will get close too. Short answer is I would not use that PSU period. Now you could do it, but to safely do it you would want to make sure your CPU is idling and doesn't have CPU bug and you underclock the GPU memory and undervolt slightly. My advice, get a new PSU. You will be much happier that way. You don't want to max that PSU out and have something bad happen

[jake262144]

... its a 500w peak PSU.  

Do not use the PEAK VALUE, ever.
The peak rating is meant to account for transient PSU loads, like when the PC boots up and needs to initialize all the components. From the end-user perspective, it is useless.

That's a 450W PSU you got there, and not a very good one.
Using lousy^Wlow-cost and undersized components (main capacitors rated at just 85°C, bleh) this model suffers from excessive ripple on high loads.
I strongly suggest you upgrade your PSU to something decent and sell the old one on ebay to recover costs.

[dropboxexpander]

You should buy a decent 600 watt PSU in order to be sure.

[diabinc141]

Buy this one if you really don't want to spend much money http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020.

But I'd really get more if I were you for future upgrades. You don't want to get a cheap one then down the road upgrade and have to buy another one. I'd go with something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151108 at the least.

[vmarchuk]

Play safe and go for at least 700+W power supply when using 6970 and higher in computer with modern processor.

Get away with maybe 650W but better to leave room.

[TheOtherGuy]

I would definetly go 750+. The 750 range seems to be a good price point although I haven't shopped psu's in a while.

[kronut]

As a reference point,

I run a 6970 on a 500 Watt OCZ modxstream without any issues, doesn't get above 420 watt draw while gaming/mining for a whole system with quad core amd.

You just need to be sure you have enough amps on the +12v.