can my Powersupply handle more?

No definitely not, if you look at PSU reviews you will see that PSUs are typically most efficient from 40% load to about 60%.

 

A good quality unit (not even a great quality one..!) will do 100% load 24/7 at it's rated intake temperature for the whole duration of it's warranty period. It's not that I'm recommending to anyone to keep their PSU loaded down to it's max rating full-time, mind you. I'm just saying that 550W is plenty of power, much more so than is widely considered.

As for efficiency, it's a simple measure of expected actual consumption (i.e. expected impact on the monthly power bill), and to a degree, of the thermal contribution of the PSU. Efficiency is a ratio of AC input power (what goes into the PSU from the wall) over the DC output power (what actually comes out at the other end - what the PSU delivers to the PC components). So if I need 510W for my folding rig, and I have a PSU that is 85% efficient at that load level, I'll actually be pulling 600W from the wall outlet. 510W DC / 600W AC = 0.85 = 85% efficiency. The thermal contribution I mentioned is actually the difference between those two numbers, as the waste power has to be dissipated as heat. So the hypothetical PSU I used in this example will produce 90W of heat, about as much as a Sandy Bridge i7 at full load (stock clock, prime95 for example).

So, efficiency is desirable, as it serves both the interest of exploitation economy and better thermal performance (and thus possibly lower noise as well, due to a lesser need for aggressive cooling). But it is not a measure of a PSU's ability to deliver it's rated power, and it is not a direct measure of PSU quality, nor will it ever be.

At stock clocks, the OP's machine fits comfortably within a 300W power envelope at full load (meaning IBT/prime95/whatever + FurMark/Heaven/whatever + HDD random seek). This is my basis for claiming that he could even add another 7870 to the setup, not to mention a "measly" SDD + some LEDs that won't pull over 15W altogether in any scenario.

 

Ditch the OZC, sorry, not good. 80% efficiency is not from a certain load to a certain load, it depends on the psu. Efficiency is how much of the psu's output is heat, and what is power delivered. It should always be 80% or better if it is a rated psu. Look for a single rail psu, much more effective, no I don't like multi-rail psu's.

 

Hell I have a 1055t @ 3.5 with a 7850 at full load 24/7 on a old Antec 500 watt psu. it runs great. I think you can handle the little extra you want to do. And the only reason I ordered an new psu is I am going crossfire in that rig with new cards and a fx 8350.

 

Its nothing wrong with that PSU, and multirail vs singlerail depends on the setup. A good multirail will be better than a bad singlerail. No solution is the endall solution.

 

I know what you mean. Most of my crunchers are using old low wattage psus. Hell I ran one for six to 8 months on a 12 year old enermax 430 watt unit. I partewd out the rig and keep the psu for a spare lol.

 

thanks for the replies guys, helped me out alot. Looks lime im going to go buy a ssd reallllyy soon then..

EDIT: im not planning to overclock at all, im happy with the computer and the parts in it.

 

Look I have an athlon 64 3200+ skt 754, 2 sticks of ddr400, one HDD 80 gigs sata, one dvd burner, one 120mm fan, temperature sensors and display with an AGP 4670 1 gig ddr3 hdmi. All that on a cheap 430w psu made by Dyna power and its still roll so your 550w is plenty of power! The important is the amperage on the 12v line.

 

I still stand by my opinion that 550 watts is not enough to push crossfire or SLI, unless running extremely low power requirement cards like the HD7750/HD7770. I never said the 550 watt PSU would not run the cards. I said IMHO(key words here), it would put to much stress on the PSU. Following what I said about the PSU will not hurt anything in the OPs system, and if anything, it will help the system last longer, so how is that so "fail".

Oh BTW, see the cruncher tag in my post? I am a cruncher, and my systems do run at full load 24/7. When I give advise, I treat it as if it's for my systems. I do try to add a little bit of a safety barrier. I don't recommened running hardware like a PSU at full load. I have no idea what the system will be used for 6 months from now, so my advise is geared to make sure the system can do whatever it is the OP wants it to do. The last thing I want is to be blamed for someone's system frying because of some advise I gave.

 

I run a 2500k @4.6/1.4v and an OCced gtx680 + 4 ssd's off a 500w ocz psu,plus vpp655 and 6 fan's..have done for the last 9 months..no problems Yet...

 

guys one more question... i noe its irrelevant to this thread's topic but i just have to ask... lol. If i were to buy another FAN for my CPU cooler which is the COOLERMASTER HYPER EVO 212, where can i buy one? i can't find any store that sells a fan with the mounting brackets on it, to attach to the hyper 212's massive heatsink. I googled around and people have been buying basic 120mm fans for their hyper 212 and by basic 120mm fans, im talking about the case fan ones where you have 4 holes and 4 screws. Now how would that basic case 120mm fan get attached on to the hyper 212's heatsink?

 

It comes with clips to mount the fans.

As for the PSU thing IIRC that is a Sirtec built unit and not great by any means of the word...That being said they are run reasonably well for what they are (group regulated). You will be fine with your current setup, fans, CCFL's, LED's etc. Just don't go adding another 7870 and expect it to be fine.

 

You should have received in the package of the 212 additional brackets for a second fan. Check.

 

The two black plastic rails that came with the heatsink are the fan retainers. Make sure when you install the fan you pay close attention to the way it faces so you don't have the fans defeting each other. The original one is pushing the air through the heatsink. You need to have the second fan pulling the air and helping the original fan.

 

It is actually kind of universal.

 

If you believe everything you read about powersupplies everyone should own at least a 1000w Corsair. I say Corsair specifically because those are the people who normally mention it.

As long as you base you loading off of peak there is no reason a powersupply rated to deliver 500w continuously should not be able to handle a system pulling 500w peak. Anyone who argues that is ridiculous.

 

It has to be a decent PSU though. As in cheaper FSP, Antecs and so on. This is a 500W unit.

 

500w continuous and actually can deliver it. Even most of the group regulated FSP's can do that.

 

will the bitfenix spectre pro 120mm RED LED CASE FAN do the job? im thinking about getting that as the 2nd fan for my HYPER 212 evo.

 

Not really. Doesn't have very good static pressure.

 

whats a good 120mm fan then, that i could use as the 2nd one for my cpu cooler? Im trying to find a RED LED one as well.

 

None really, theres not many LED fans with good static pressure. If you want good fans your going to have to go to non LED ones. Like Corsair SP series or Scythe Gentle Typhoons.

 

Even more so with wear as it could of lost power over a few years.

I never seen mine take any more than 270w while gaming.