Is it safe to use a 450w psu on a 380w system?

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liamprice00

liamprice00

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I bought a new case that my current psu won’t fit in, my system draws around 380w and my current psu is 1000w, very overkill. Would it be ok to use a 450w psu as a replacement or should I play it safe and get a 500 or 550? Thanks!
 
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Barty1884
A quality 450W should 'work' fine, yes..... but depends on the balance of the actual components, how the 380W number was arrived at & the specific PSU.
450W is typically sufficient for most modern, single GPU systems.

For example, something like an i7-4790K is an 84W chip.... but can definitely spike to nearer 100W under sustained load. Same thing with GPUs, TDP might only be 150W (for example), but under sustained load could be pushing 200W.

There's +65W that are realistic numbers.

Now, a quality 450W unit should be able to handle those occassional spikes without issue - but you'd be completely outside the efficiency curve of any Bronze/Silver/Gold 80+ unit. Not necessarily a huge issue, but a consideration.
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Barty1884

Barty1884

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A quality 450W should 'work' fine, yes..... but depends on the balance of the actual components, how the 380W number was arrived at & the specific PSU.
450W is typically sufficient for most modern, single GPU systems.

For example, something like an i7-4790K is an 84W chip.... but can definitely spike to nearer 100W under sustained load. Same thing with GPUs, TDP might only be 150W (for example), but under sustained load could be pushing 200W.

There's +65W that are realistic numbers.

Now, a quality 450W unit should be able to handle those occassional spikes without issue - but you'd be completely outside the efficiency curve of any Bronze/Silver/Gold 80+ unit. Not necessarily a huge issue, but a consideration.
 
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