Is it bad if my system draws 480w and the max is 500 watts?

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sympler

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Sep 1, 2013
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Basically i built my system 2 years ago with a I7-4770k, 16gb ram, 250gb ssd,1tb hard drive, Corsair cx500m and a xfx r9 270x now im wanting to upgrade to r9 390x or even the Sapphire Tri-x Radeion R9 390x oc w/backplate..
Now heres the question before i was in the 400w range but if i upgraded im around 480w and my power supply is 500w rated, So do i need to upgrade my psu or no?
 
Solution
KLawinger
Depending on the quality of the power supply, your psu can usually draw more than its rated power supply to account for power spikes. I.E my 850w psu is rated at 850w but can output 1000 watts at its peak.

What kind of power supply is it?

Edit: saw the corsair cx series.

The cx series are awful and usually fail within a few months. so yes you need to upgrade, Id suggest anything but another cx series
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KLawinger

KLawinger

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Jan 7, 2016
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Depending on the quality of the power supply, your psu can usually draw more than its rated power supply to account for power spikes. I.E my 850w psu is rated at 850w but can output 1000 watts at its peak.

What kind of power supply is it?

Edit: saw the corsair cx series.

The cx series are awful and usually fail within a few months. so yes you need to upgrade, Id suggest anything but another cx series
 
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Solution
geofelt

geofelt

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Oct 9, 2006
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Your upgrade is likely to draw more than your psu can handle.
Should it fail under load, you risk damaging your other parts.
The R9-390X cards are highly overclocked, and will want more like 700w:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
In particular, the sapphire trix needs a second 8 pin power lead that adds 75w to the load.

I think you will need to buy a new psu for either of those cards, certainly for the tri-x version.
Look for a better quality psu from Seasonic or xfx.

As an alternative, a GTX970 is more power efficient and performs similarly to the 390x. Your cx500 should work.
 
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Dunlop0078

Dunlop0078

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Feb 13, 2014
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I would say with that particular power supply yes you should upgrade. Even with a quality power supply I would not want to run it that close to its rated wattage, it will run hot and that could shorten its lifespan but I would trust it to do it. With that cx on the other hand no, they degrade quickly even when you dont push then that hard.
 
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