500w Power supply enough?

MrNicholas1029 · Mar 30, 2015

I am currently using a mid range pc (i5 4670, 750Ti). It does not consume a lot of power. On the PSU calculator site, at normal load, it uses 250w, 310w at 100% load. I have been using Cooler Master G500 power supply. The power output will be overkill, however, I know that PSU have very long lifespans, especially from good brands, so I chose a G500 so I will have room for future upgrades since I have heard that 500w is a good starting point and you shall not worry about power issues for single GPU configuration. However my upgrade plan is to get an overclockable i7 and motherboard for a little overclocking (~4-4.2ghz), use a 970 and add loads of fans(3x120, 1x140 + 120mmCPUfan. According to the psu calculator, I would use 485w, and the recommended wattage is 495w at 90% TDP and 90% load, but will be 565w at 100% TDP and 100% load.

At normal usage, my power supply will be fine, but will my computer shut down at 100% load due to lack of power? If I keep using the G500, will there be enough headroom for OCing?

atomicWAR · Mar 30, 2015

with your current specs yeah you should have some head room but if it were me i would want more...say at least another 150 to 200 watts. PSU wear over time and your output will slowly drop as your capacitors wear. Overclocking tends to heat up the PSU even more and in turn the capacitors wear faster with more heat. Also if you ever plan on a more power hungry gpu (the gtx 750 is not at all) then you might also want to consider adding even more wattage.

JackNaylorPE · Mar 30, 2015

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2311121/power-supply-requirements-nvidia-gpus.html#14243229

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-970/specifications

970 Thermal and Power Specs:
98 C = Maximum GPU Tempurature (in C)
145 W = Graphics Card Power (W)
500 W = Minimum System Power Requirement (W)
2x 6-pins = Supplementary Power Connector

SLI - 500 + n x (145 +20 peaks) = 665 watts for 2 cards

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/nvidia_geforce_gtx_970_and_980_reference_review,7.html

Subjective obtained GPU power consumption (970) = ~ 164 Watts
Subjective obtained GPU power consumption (980 )= ~ 171 Watts

Here is Guru3D's power supply recommendation:

GeForce GTX 970 or 980 - On your average system the card requires you to have a 500 Watt power supply unit.
GeForce GTX 970 or 980 in 2-way SLI - On your average system the cards require you to have an 800 Watt power supply unit as minimum.

If you are going to overclock your GPU or processor, then we do recommend you purchase something with some more stamina.

I haven't bought less than a 650 watter in many, many years .... reason being that when limiting your options to higher quality units, there is very little difference in price between the 500 watters and 650 watters....usually $3 - $5

PSUs can have a long life span depending upon how they are constructed. The all suffer from capacitor aging which in effect means that over time there .... a 500 watt PSU the day you open it, could be a 380 watt PSU 3 years down the line if ya use cheap caps.

Here's a review on the G500 .... it didn't do well.

http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hartware.de%2Freview_1713.html

norseman4 · Mar 30, 2015

Your 500W PSU will struggle, but would be able to provide 485W for a while. The longer running at this level, the quicker the PS components will fail. (Components will wear out, but this may be unnoticeable for several months.) Also, the 80+ Bronze PSU will be drawing an extra 83 Watts so the draw at the outlet will be 572.3 Watts

Going to a 750W @ 80+Gold or higher will have the component draw be well within the capabilities of the PSU, even w/ OC. Your same 485W draw would equate to ~540W with a 80+Gold. (A 750 or higher will also last longer in the rig.)

As for trying to draw more power from the PSU is rated for ... your mileage may vary depending upon the quality of the build, but either PSU components will start to cook off ruining the PSU, or if it is regulated, the PC component won't have the power that it requires and the system will crash, freeze, or in other ways become massively unstable.

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500w Power supply enough?

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