What are the main consequences of lower amps in the 12V rail of the PSU?

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lpinho

lpinho

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Hi all,

after talking with several users of this forum by PM they all told me the same, "Switch your PSU", Suztera was even kind enough to send me a list of what were the best PSU in the market and told me to get a tier 1 or 2 PSU.

My build is:

CPU: Intel G3258
MB: ASUS H81M-C
GPU: Gigabyte Radeon r9 270x windforce 3x 4 GB oc
RAM: 4 GB Corsair 1600 MHz

PSU: LC Power 550W (only 18 A in the 12V rail) (It was a part of my old build ~ 6 years old)

1st thing, what are the consequences of having just 18 Amps in the 12V rail? Is it possible to damage the GPU?

At this time, I'm able to run all my games without any problem (Grid 2, Mass Effect, Metro Last Light Redux).

Looking at the price range of the list of PSUs (http://) everything is over 50 €, and, as you can see from my build I had a tight budget (The GPU was on sale, it was under 190 €), is there any under 50€ PSU that might be sufficient for my build?

Thanks for your support,

L. Pinho

 
Solution
ko888
Corsair VS550 (SKU# 75-001836 / CP-9020050) The CP-9020050 revision is discontinued and has been replaced with the CP-9020097
• OEM: CWT (Channel Well Technology)
• maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 42 Amps <===== More than sufficient
• two (6+2)-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors <===== Sufficient
• Modular Output Cables: No
• Official Intel Haswell Compliance: No
• CP-9020050 has no 80 PLUS Efficiency Certification (The CP-9020097 model has 80 PLUS 230V EU Certification)
• 3 Year Limited Warranty
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leo2kp

leo2kp

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Oct 9, 2006
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The evidence of insufficient power would be BSOD, hangups, etc. You won't ruin the GPU, but you could ruin the PSU if you are at or near maximum capacity. Good rule of thumb is to get a PSU with 20% more power than your PC draws under full load to compensate for capacitor aging. As capacitors age, they have a more difficult time holding power and you may start seeing those symptoms. And if your PSU completely dies, it could end up taking something with it - motherboard, CPU, HDD, GPU. So I would consider their advice and get something with a bit more juice. You can use a Power Supply Calculator (Google it) to estimate what you need.
 
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lpinho

lpinho

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Thank you all for all the replies, it seems that I really need to change the PSU.

@tea urchin:
P=V*I, 275=12*I
I=275 W / 12 V = 22.91 Amp in the 12 V rail ?

Are 23 Amps in the 12 V rail enough?

Thanks

@leo2kp:

System Type: 1 physical CPU
Motherboard: Regular - Desktop
CPU Socket: Socket LGA 1150
CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3200 MHz Haswell-DT
CPU Utilization (TDP): 90% TDP
RAM: 1 Module DDR3 SDRAM
Video Card 1: AMD Radeon R9 270X
IDE HDD 7200 rpm: 1 HDD
DVD-RW/DVD+RW Drive: 1 Drive
USB: 1 Device
Fan Controller: Yes
Fans
Regular: 1 Fan 80mm;
Keyboard and mouse: Yes
System Load: 90 %
Minimum PSU Wattage: 301 Watts
Recommended Wattage: 351 Watts

In the GPU required power for my board it states 500w, maybe because its the OC version? Or the power calculated in the web page is the power required in the 12 v rail?

Thanks

@davidarad02:

I checked the video, thanks, I will check the list of tier 3 PSU
 
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ko888

ko888

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Feb 18, 2009
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For a system using a single AMD Reference Design Radeon R9 270X graphics card AMD specifies a minimum of a 500 Watt or greater system power supply. The power supply should also have a maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 30 Amps or greater and have at least two 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors. (Minimum system power requirement based on a PC configured with an Intel Core i7 3.2GHz 130 Watt TDP processor.)

Total Power Supply Wattage is NOT the crucial factor in power supply selection!!! Sufficient Total Combined Continuous Power/Current Available on the +12V Rail(s) is the most critical factor.
 
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lpinho

lpinho

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Looking at the prices in Portugal the Corsair VS550 (http://www.corsair.com/pt-pt/vs-seriestm-vs550-550-watt-power-supply) is within my price range.

I think it will work

 
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ko888

ko888

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Feb 18, 2009
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84,990
Corsair VS550 (SKU# 75-001836 / CP-9020050) The CP-9020050 revision is discontinued and has been replaced with the CP-9020097
• OEM: CWT (Channel Well Technology)
• maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 42 Amps <===== More than sufficient
• two (6+2)-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors <===== Sufficient
• Modular Output Cables: No
• Official Intel Haswell Compliance: No
• CP-9020050 has no 80 PLUS Efficiency Certification (The CP-9020097 model has 80 PLUS 230V EU Certification)
• 3 Year Limited Warranty
 
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