Could I get away with a 500W PSU for a R9 280X?

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lovlycris

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Jul 1, 2014
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Specs;
CPU: I3-3220 (stock cooler)
1 stick of 4gb ram, 1 hardrive, 3 case fans, mouse, keyboard, usb optical drive
PSU: Corsair CX500M (500W) 80+ Bronze

I am so specific because I am aware of how fine I would be cutting it, the PSU features 38 amps on the 12v rail. I would only be using the system for gaming so I was thinking the GPU would draw 250W max (~21A), CPU would draw 70W max? (~6A) for a total of 320W and 27A used. This is where I got stuck as I dont really know how much power the rest of the system needs, how to account for the inefficencies of my PSU or even the quality of my PSU.

For those wondering and probably crying inside about these specs, they would only be temporary and I am upgrading the PSU, ram, processor and motherboard in the near future, I am just lacking the money at the moment and wanted to know if this would suffice in the meantime (no longer than a month). Furthermore any suggestions about what components I should get are very welcome.

Thanks for the read and thanks in advance for the help.
 
Solution
Scampi
R9 280X requires 30 Amps on the 12v rail & a 550W PSU minimum

Note, this number is obtained for the entire system under full stress , an overclocked i7 & in a stress test program to tax the card 100%.

The CX500M is based on the latest revision of the CX 500, so has 38 amps/456W instead of 34/408W.

As long as your not overclocking, it will be fine.
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C12Friedman

C12Friedman

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Jan 25, 2012
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I can think of no reasons it wouldn't work. You would be drawing more from the PSU than is considered "healthy", the general consensus is that your PSU should be at 50% draw. A few things to watch for... 1) Noise, if the PSU starts running it's fan loud it means that it is working near it's limits. 2) Stability, if the PC starts crashing without blue screen (most common) it may be an indication the PSU cannot handle the load (I wouldn't expect that personally)

Outervision has the most accurate PSU calculator IMO http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
 
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Scampi

Scampi

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R9 280X requires 30 Amps on the 12v rail & a 550W PSU minimum

Note, this number is obtained for the entire system under full stress , an overclocked i7 & in a stress test program to tax the card 100%.

The CX500M is based on the latest revision of the CX 500, so has 38 amps/456W instead of 34/408W.

As long as your not overclocking, it will be fine.
 
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Solution
ko888

ko888

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Feb 18, 2009
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What happens if you have a Sapphire TOXIC R9 280X 3GB GDDR5 or an ASUS ROG Matrix Platinum Radeon R9 280X [MATRIX-R9280X-P-3GD5] that, itself, draws 29-30 Amps from the +12V rail when running FurMark Stability Testing? The rest of the system like the CPU, motherboard and hard disk drive still need +12V power.

A gaming load does not stress the card 100%. When the Radeon R9 280X is used for GPGPU usage (e.g. crypto-currency mining) the graphics card's power consumption is about 50 Watts higher than when gaming.
 
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lovlycris

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So are you saying that given the PSU is bad quality, and the and the high stress it would be under, may cause failure? Even at around 400W?
 
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iceclock

iceclock

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i read about the cxmodels the only good one is the cx430 anything after that wasnt made by the same maker.

the cx430 was made by CWT

and the cx500+ by HEC

so the problem here is quality . yes it will run and yes it might take ur innards together

 
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Scampi

Scampi

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Fair enough, if it's a souped up version.



Agreed. They fit the value gap in the market & are better than what some un-reliable companies put out.

Of course, if you can get better quality or better for your budget, that's the thing to do.
 
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lovlycris

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Thanks for the discussion everyone, I think I'll risk it as it will only be for a short period and I can easily play on medium settings until I upgrade the psu. Again, thank you everyone for your input.
 
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ko888

ko888

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Feb 18, 2009
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Corsair has never used HEC as an OED/OEM.

The CX500 (SKU# 75-001667 / CP-9020047) is made by CWT (Channel Well Technology) based on a significantly upgraded CWT DSAII Series platform.

All of the current CX Series models are made by CWT. There's has only been one exception, in the past, where the CMPSU-400CX was made by Seasonic.
 
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