Is changing the powerplay necessary when upgrading the graphics card on your device?

 

You know that PSUs don't last forever, and you need to upgrade to a more efficient unit over time because they are critical infrastructure for your PC. But suppose that the power supply unit in your device is modern, and you do not need to change it, except that you want to upgrade the graphics card and buy another with higher capabilities. The current unit will suffice. The following lines will answer this question, but first let's get to know the power supply unit, and the GPU if you are a newbie.

 

power supply unit

 

A power supply unit is a computer hardware component that supplies power to all other components. A power supply converts 110-115 or 220-230 V AC into constant low-voltage DC (direct current) that can be used by a computer's internal hardware, and power supplies are rated by the number of watts they generate. The power supply unit is located at the back of the computer, usually at the top. However, many modern tower cases have a place to put the powerplay in the lower back of the case.

 

The power supply unit contains:

 

● A rectifier that converts alternating current to direct current.

● A filter that smooths the DC current coming from the rectifier.

● About Controls the incoming voltage by stepping it up or down.

● A voltage regulator that controls DC output, allowing the correct amount of power to be supplied to computers.

 

Everything in the computer chassis is powered by the power supply unit, for example, the motherboard, RAM, CPU, storage units, and video cards. While the computer is running, the fan inside the power supply should always run. If the fan is not working, either the computer is not working or the fan has failed and the power supply must be replaced.

 

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

 

The graphics processing unit (GPU) is one of the most important types of personal and commercial computing technologies. The GPU is designed for parallel processing and is used in a wide range of applications, including graphics and video rendering. Although they are known for their gaming capabilities, GPUs are becoming more and more popular for their use in creative production and artificial intelligence (AI).

 

GPUs were originally designed to accelerate the rendering of 3D graphics. Over time, they became more flexible and programmable, which enhanced their capabilities. This allowed graphics programmers to create more interesting visual effects and realistic scenes using advanced lighting and shading techniques. GPUs come in two basic types: integrated and discrete. The integrated graphics unit is included along with the CPU, and the discrete GPU is a separate processing chip that is installed on the motherboard and usually plugged into a PCI Express slot.

 

Now let's move on to answering our question: Should the power supply unit be upgraded to match the new GPU, or will the current unit do the trick?

 

Find out if you need to upgrade the power supply

 

When upgrading your graphics card, you have to ask yourself, will this upgrade cause the entire system to exceed the recommended level of the current power supply? If the power supply unit is of high capacity, there is no need to replace it, unless it is old and you want to increase safety during operation.

 

So first we need to figure out how to calculate the current power load, so knowing how much current power the power supply is carrying comes by calculating each of the pieces connected to the unit, from the additional drives to the fans, not just the CPU and GPU.

 

To achieve this, you can take a difficult approach by looking up the wattage of each piece of equipment on your own and putting it all into a spreadsheet, and calculating the amount of power, but there are actually much simpler and easier ways. If you want a simple and reasonable estimate of the power that your device requires, you can rely on the OuterVision Power Supply Calculator or PC Builder website where you determine the parts in your current computer, when you have made your selections, you will find the rating of power that the power supply should provide in watts (Estimated Wattage) ).

 

Recalculate with the new GPU

 

Now that you know the load on your current machine, you can replace the choice of GPU with the one you want to have. When you make this change, you will notice a difference in the power rating, and then it will be clear whether you need to change the powerplay or not. If the rating shown to you is higher than the power supply unit in your device, you will definitely need to change it to a higher power supply unit.

 

By the way, it is not always necessary to find a need to replace the powerplay after buying a new graphics card, it may be that the new graphics card consumes about the same amount of power or even slightly less than the old graphics card. But anyway, you'll discover there's a new value to the comparison, especially when upgrading from a very old graphics card like the GTX 1080 to a modern one like the RTX 3060.

 

Comparison of current and future height margins

 

Now you have two numbers: the first for the rated power load of your old hardware, and the second for the hardware after adding the upgraded GPU.

 

Now is the time to talk about margin upside and risk tolerance. Height is the amount of additional power available at a power rating (power supply unit) after you put it under load. Simply put, this height margin is the difference between the power a power supply provides, and the actual amount of power your device needs to function properly.

 

Perhaps in the past, it was smart to use a power supply that meets more than what is required to be saved by 50%. For example, if the device required adding a power supply with an efficiency of 100 watts, some would buy a power supply with an efficiency of 150 watts, that is, 50% more than needed, in order to avoid having to purchase another Power Supply when upgrading any part of the device. However, at the present time, with the proliferation of modern high-quality power units with the appropriate certificate of efficiency, the use of power units with a high margin of 50% is wrong and very expensive, because when Powerplay is running at a height of 50% currently, it increases the efficiency by only 2 to 3% Which is not appropriate for the amount you will pay.