Will my little 500 watt PSU be enough?

satindemon4u · Jan 14, 2011

Ok right now i have a 500 watt PS running the following:

6 gigs of ddr2 ram
AMD Phenom II quad core
DVD Drive
Video card that requires at least a 300 watt PS
Couple of usb items

My question is, if i get a new video card that takes a minimum of a 450 watt PS, will my 500 watt be able to handle it? Don't want to HAVE to get a bigger one but, well you all know....

THANKS!

sliderider · Jan 14, 2011

500W is good for up to HD6950 (unlocking and overclocking may increase the power draw) on the AMD side. nVidia recommends a 500W for GTX570. Beyond that you'll need something more powerful.

DanishDevil · Jan 14, 2011

I would personally recommend that anybody running a system with a decently clocked quad core and a high-end GPU should be running a quality 650W+ PSU. I would call high-end GTX 570+, or 6950+. Again, I am not saying you NEED that, but that's what I personally recommend. Better safe than sorry with PSUs in my mind.

satindemon4u · Jan 14, 2011

Well darn. Have been looking on newegg and prices arent great. Well they are i suppose but i hate to drop even more cash. Will look around ebay as well as here i suppose.

[Ion] · Jan 14, 2011

What PSU is it? A quality one would be fine, but if it's a cheap one, I'd say no.

xBruce88x · Jan 14, 2011

hard to say without knowing how the 12v rails are... for example... my 400watt Antec SmartPower had 2 12v rails, 12v 14a, 12v2 15a. whereas my Antec TrueBlue 480watt psu has a single 12v 22A which is less total power than the 400watt as far as the 12v rails go.

for reference... the 400watt wasn't enough to power a GTS450, but I think that was due to the way the rails were set up. I think if it were a single rail it would have been fine.

satindemon4u · Jan 14, 2011

[Ion] said:
What PSU is it? A quality one would be fine, but if it's a cheap one, I'd say no.

Well my friend gave me this psu a while back. He took it from...either his ibuypower pc or his emachines. Either way, its a little dusty.

xBruce88x · Jan 14, 2011

if it was from an emachines i'd say no... the ibuypower... maybe. can you take a pick of its stick that lists the voltages?

[Ion] · Jan 14, 2011

Definitely not if it's from an eMachines...if it's from an iBuyPower, maybe. Either way, I'd still get a new one to be safe

satindemon4u · Jan 14, 2011

i think im just going to get the 650w that new egg is having a sale for right now.

Frick · Jan 14, 2011

satindemon4u said:
i think im just going to get the 650w that new egg is having a sale for right now.

Which 650W? The good ones can do that and more, the really bad ones can put out about 450W before failing, permanently.

satindemon4u · Jan 14, 2011

Its corsair so im pretty sure its good. And with over 1400 reviews for 5 eggs, dont think i can go wrong with this bute.

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready...

Akumos · Jan 14, 2011

Try a PSU Calculator.... Corsair have one!

System Name	Desktop
Processor	Intel Core i5 6600k
Motherboard	Asus Z170-E
Cooling	Cooler Master 212 Evo
Memory	16 GB Ballistix DDR4 2400
Video Card(s)	NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1060
Storage	120GB OCZ Vector SSD & 1TB Western Digital Black
Case	Rosewill
Audio Device(s)	N/A
Power Supply	630w Raidmax Hybrid 2 RX-630SS
Mouse	Logitech G402
Keyboard	Rosewill Mechanical
Software	Windows 10

Processor	AMD Phenom II X4 945
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H
Memory	6gb DDR3-1333
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Radeon HD6870
Storage	Seagate 1tb
Display(s)	Acer AL2216W
Case	Generic
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Ultra LS-550

System Name	Big Devil
Processor	Intel Core i5-2500K
Motherboard	ECS P67H2-A2
Cooling	XSPC Rasa \| Black Ice GT Stealth 240 \| XSPC X2O 750 \| 2x ACF12PWM \| PrimoChill White 7/16"
Memory	2x4GB Corsair Vengeance LP Arctic White 1600MHz CL9
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 780 ACX SC
Storage	Intel 520 Series 180GB + WD 1TB Blue
Display(s)	HP ZR30W 30" 2650x1600 IPS
Case	Corsair 600T SE
Audio Device(s)	Xonar Essence STX \| Sennheisser PC350 "Hero" Modded \| Corsair SP2500
Power Supply	ABS SL 1050W (Enermax Revolution Rebadge)
Software	Windows 8.1 x64 Pro w/ Media Center
Benchmark Scores	Ducky Year of the Snake w/ Cherry MX Browns & Year of the Tiger PBT Keycaps \| Razer Deathadder Black

System Name	Desktop
Processor	Intel Core i5 6600k
Motherboard	Asus Z170-E
Cooling	Cooler Master 212 Evo
Memory	16 GB Ballistix DDR4 2400
Video Card(s)	NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1060
Storage	120GB OCZ Vector SSD & 1TB Western Digital Black
Case	Rosewill
Audio Device(s)	N/A
Power Supply	630w Raidmax Hybrid 2 RX-630SS
Mouse	Logitech G402
Keyboard	Rosewill Mechanical
Software	Windows 10

System Name	Niedersachsen / Ribe / Minsk
Processor	i3 3240 / i7-3520M / 4x Opteron 6376 @ 2.86GHz
Motherboard	BIOSTAR H61M / HP Q77 / Supermicro H8QG7
Cooling	Stock / Stock / 4x 1U G34
Memory	1x8GB / 2x4GB / 4x4GB
Video Card(s)	GTX260 / Intel HD 4000 / nVidia GT310
Storage	80GB Intel SSD / 256GB Intel SSD / 2x 60GB SSD (RAID1)
Display(s)	Dell 3007 + HP 2245w / 12.1" 1366x768 / None
Case	Antec NSK3480 / HP / Supermicro 1U
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Enermax 500W / HP 130W / Supermicro Gold 1400W
Keyboard	IBM Model M
Software	Windows 7 (Niedersachsen/Ribe) / Linux Mint 17.2 (Minsk)

Will my little 500 watt PSU be enough?

satindemon4u

sliderider

DanishDevil

satindemon4u

[Ion]

WCG Team Assistant

xBruce88x

satindemon4u

xBruce88x

[Ion]

WCG Team Assistant

satindemon4u

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop

satindemon4u

Akumos

System Name	Old Gateway / Steam Deck OLED LE
Processor	i5 4440 3.1ghz / Jupiter 4c 8t
Motherboard	Gateway / Valve
Cooling	Eh it doesn't thermal throttle
Memory	2x 8GB JEDEC 1600mhz DDR3 / 16gb DDR5 6400
Video Card(s)	RX 560D 4GB / Navi II 8CU
Storage	240gb 2.5 SSD / 1TB nvme
Display(s)	Dell @ 1280*1024 75hz / 800p OLED
Case	Gateway / Valve LE
Audio Device(s)	Gateway Diamond Audio EMC2.0-USB 5375U ($15 a long ass time ago), Valve
Power Supply	380w oem / 65w valve USB-C
Mouse	Purple Walmart special, 1600dpi. Black desk mat
Keyboard	SteelSeries Apex 100 / virtual
VR HMD	Lmao
Software	Windows 10 / Steam OS
Benchmark Scores	It can run Crysis (Original), Doom 2016, and Halo MCC. SD LE 45fps

System Name	Black MC in Tokyo
Processor	Ryzen 5 5600
Motherboard	Asrock B450M-HDV
Cooling	Be Quiet! Pure Rock 2
Memory	2 x 16GB Kingston Fury 3400mhz
Video Card(s)	XFX 6950XT Speedster MERC 319
Storage	Kingston A400 240GB \| WD Black SN750 2TB \|WD Blue 1TB x 2 \| Toshiba P300 2TB \| Seagate Expansion 8TB
Display(s)	Samsung U32J590U 4K + BenQ GL2450HT 1080p
Case	Fractal Design Define R4
Audio Device(s)	Line6 UX1 + some headphones, Nektar SE61 keyboard
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x v3
Mouse	Logitech G602
Keyboard	Cherry MX Board 1.0 TKL Brown
VR HMD	Acer Mixed Reality Headset
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	Rimworld 4K ready!

Processor	Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.8GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte X48T-DQ6
Cooling	Zalman 9500 LED CPU Cooler
Memory	2x 2GB Corsair DDR3 XMS3 DHX - 1600MH/PC3-12800
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte HD4870 1GB
Storage	2x Seagate 320GB Barracuda (RAID 0) 3x 1TB Samsung F3, 140GB WD Maxtor (10,000rpm)
Display(s)	2x 20" LG Flatron L204WS
Power Supply	Powercool 850W
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate x64