Am I overloading my PSU?

[373885]

Hello,

My current system is:

-Intel D975XBX rev. 304
-Pentium D 945 3.4 Ghz
-2GB RAM
-1 hard drive
-1 DVD drive
-2 Sapphire Radeon HD 3870's
-4 case fans
-1 fan controller

My power supply is 500 watts: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148027]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148027[/url]

I used a power supply calculator, which gave me a result of 463 watts. Is this ok?

 

[Shadow703793]

First off, Apavia is a cr@p brand.

See:

It should be noted that I stopped testing on the first Apevia unit we had after Test #3 because the unit began to melt. I could not completely identify where the unit was melting from nor photograph it very well because the unit had to remain in tact in order to get an RMA as these units were purchased at retail. However, the second unit we received also began to melt during Test #3 but not nearly as badly and from what appeared to be a different location. This time the melting was obviously from some of the caulk used to secure the components on the PCB. It would seem that the temperature rating by Apevia may have been for a good reason, however it should be noted that even at these temperatures the manufacturer should not be using caulk or plastics that should melt. This unit is supposedly UL certified and if so I would be interested to find out how that happened.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article/2007/05/23/450w500w_psu_battle_royal/3

Second, you have 2x 3870s. Those are pretty power hungry. You should get AT LEAST a quality 500W (or more) unit such as the 550VX or better from a quality manufacture such as Corsair, OCZ, PC Power & Cooling, Antec.

Amount of WATTS != a GOOD PSU

It's about the amps. W = A*V where W= Watts, A= Amps, V = Voltage

You need AT LEAST 25A on the +12 rail to do CrossFire of the 3870. If you take a look at most of the quality PSUs you'll see that they have massive (30A +) +12 rails,

For your needs I recommend the 650TX:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&Tpk=650tx

 

[373885]

Thanks for the reply. I should note that my system has been crashing almost all the time when playing games. Could this be the reason why?

 

[Shadow703793]

^Yes.

 

[theAnimal]

Second, you have 2x 3870s. Those are pretty power hungry. You should get AT LEAST a quality 500W (or more) unit such as the 550VX or better from a quality manufacture such as Corsair, OCZ, PC Power & Cooling, Antec.

3870 is only ~80W.

 

[Shadow703793]

^2x is 160W which is 32% of a 500W unit just for the GPUs.

 

[jsc]

First off, Apavia is a cr@p brand.

Yep. One step above junk.

 

[theAnimal]

^2x is 160W which is 32% of a 500W unit just for the GPUs.

Yes, and assuming another 160W for the rest of the components that's only 64% of the PSU's capacity. Nothing wrong with that.

Apevia is always a bad choice though.