Zalman ZM500-GS 500W enough for my rig?

Ben Hampton

Reputable
Sep 8, 2014
13
0
4,510
Basically will the Zalman ZM500-GS 500W PSU be able to power my rig:

- R9 290(or 290x)
- FX 6300
- 1 DVD drive 1 HDD
- 1 Lan Card
 
Solution
The 500B will be more stressed than the 600B so will likely be noisier and probably have a shortened lifespan. But...

Adding RAM is a very small power increase so will make no real difference.

The biggest power draw is your gpu. In this review http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/05/19/amd-radeon-r9-280-review-feat-xfx/9 the system used 305 watts under load with that gpu but your cpu is more power hungry so I'd say 350w to be conservative.

In other words the 500B will be OK but don't go crazy with overclocks!

plywrlw

Admirable
The EVGA 500B will be OK but for a little extra the EVGA 600B would be a better match. If you plan to overclock that fx6300 absolutely get the 600B or a better choice would be the XFX 550w as the build quality is much higher
 

plywrlw

Admirable
The 500B will be more stressed than the 600B so will likely be noisier and probably have a shortened lifespan. But...

Adding RAM is a very small power increase so will make no real difference.

The biggest power draw is your gpu. In this review http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/05/19/amd-radeon-r9-280-review-feat-xfx/9 the system used 305 watts under load with that gpu but your cpu is more power hungry so I'd say 350w to be conservative.

In other words the 500B will be OK but don't go crazy with overclocks!
 
Solution