Is a 500w power supply enough for an r9 280x?

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BengiBoiLtd

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Jan 31, 2014
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Hey so I'm going to upgrade my r7 260x to an r9 280x pretty soon. My current psu is a corsair builder series 500w bronze power supply. I have one hard drive, a dvd drive, mouse & kb, xbox charging cable, xbox wireless receiver and my phone all usually connected to my pc.
 
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Karadjgne
Think of it this way. Let's say your pc runs about 225w normal heavy usage. Add 75w for PCIe. Add 75w for 1x 6-pin gpu. Total is @375w. That's your current system. Now take the upgrade. 225w + 75w PCIe + 150w for 2x 6-pin gpu. Total is 450w. While your current psu is 'called' a 500w, its true 12v+ output is 456w. Rated max. Continuous power is around 80% of that.

So yes your psu will work, for surfing or any light usage, but in any situation that requires more power than @ 80% CPU and gpu usage, your pc will crash.
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Rally0078

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Mar 27, 2014
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Try upgrading to a 600W PSU

 
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guanyu210379

guanyu210379

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Mar 30, 2007
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500W is theoretically just in the limit zone of enough or not enough for a R9 280x, your PSU will run always near 100% capacity or perhaps sometimes even slightly over it's max capacity.
Good PSU manufacturers like Corsair, Antec, Seasonic, etc. add always some safety factors (slightly more power rating than it is written) but you should not test this.
Always pushing a PSU near full capacity (or over) is not advice-able and should be avoided.

So,
Consider upgrading to about 600W as mentioned above.
 
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Karadjgne

Karadjgne

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Dec 26, 2012
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Think of it this way. Let's say your pc runs about 225w normal heavy usage. Add 75w for PCIe. Add 75w for 1x 6-pin gpu. Total is @375w. That's your current system. Now take the upgrade. 225w + 75w PCIe + 150w for 2x 6-pin gpu. Total is 450w. While your current psu is 'called' a 500w, its true 12v+ output is 456w. Rated max. Continuous power is around 80% of that.

So yes your psu will work, for surfing or any light usage, but in any situation that requires more power than @ 80% CPU and gpu usage, your pc will crash.
 
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