Is 500W enough?

[flaba]

Hello there. Well I'm thinking to upgrade my pc and I got the following parts in mind:

 

MB: ASUS P8Z68-V

CPU: i5 2500K

RAM: CORSAIR KIT 8GB DDR3 1600MHZ VENGEANCE(CL9)

GPU: Currently have a GT240 but I'm thinking to upgrade it after, but aiming for a 150€ video card or so.

 

So now the ultimate question is: a NOX URANO 500W is enough for this?

 

Btw is it worth to wait for Ivy-bridge to come out?

 

thanks in advance

Edited December 11, 2011 by flaba

[Black64]

Just to be safe and for future proofing I would get a 650 watt. The 500watt would work but it may get loaded quickly under load.

[Alexandre]

Hi mate and welcome to OCC!

 

Apologies for the wall of text in advance but I want to be thorough...

 

Questions:

Are you planning on overclocking your CPU?

What is your budget for your PSU?

Where you looking at buying your system from?

 

An Important Note on PSUs:

Do not skimp on paying for a good PSU. The PSU is the most important part of your computer and it is therefore important that you get a solid and reliable one. Cutting costs in this area and buying a bad PSU may cost you the life of your other (expensive) components.

 

PSU Wattage Requirements:

I use the following Power Calculator to work out wattages (I have the pro version however - which gives me the amps on each voltage rail). It's not perfect and usually overshoots the power needed in real life but it does give a good estimation as to how much your computer can draw at near MAXIMUM load (which is not very common but does happen). The total number of amps on each rail are more important that total wattage however - especially amps on the +12 volt rail(s) - this is what you should look at when deciding whether a PSU can run a certain system.

 

For your current setup with the GT240, your system will need a maximum power of about 350W with ~23 amps on the +12 volt rail when under full load and while having your CPU overclocked to 4.5 GHz (assuming you ARE planning on overclocking since you are going for the K version of the chip). Since the graphics card will have the biggest impact on your power consumption and since you are looking at a 150 Euro price for a new card, I tried the power values for a GTX560ti and got about 450W draw at maximum load (under the same CPU overclock as before), with about 30 amps on the +12 volt rail.

 

So a 500W PSU will be alright if it has the right number of amps on the +12 rail but it may be pushing it purely based on the number of PCI-e 6+2 pin connectors a 500W PSU usually has (newer graphics cards like the GTX560ti sometimes need 2 of these connectors but many 500W PSUs only come with one connector).

 

In the end I would probably look for a total wattage of 550-650W with a larger total number of amps (>35 A) on the +12 rail(s). This give you a bit of a power overhead for any future upgrades.

 

My Recommendations:

The NOX URANO 500W given is not a very good PSU. It's not 80%+ verified (has bad efficiency levels of ~72%) doesn't have active PFC and only has 1 PCI-e connector which will be pretty restrictive if you want to upgrade your graphics card.

 

I would probably stay away from that PSU and personally go for something like a Corsair V2 550TXM or V2 650TX/TXM (Corsair are renowned for making good quality PSUs). Both have 2 PCI-e connectors, Bronze Efficiency rating (about 85% efficiency at most load levels) and the 550W can supply 45 amps on the +12 volt rail while the 650W can provide a maximum of 53-54 amps on the +12 volt rail which is way more than enough for your system.The only downside is that I don't know their prices or your budget

 

The PSUs I mentioned above are just some of a number of good quality PSUs around and you can find more at OCC's Recommended Power Supply List (It's a bit outdated so you might find a few dead links but its still a good guide).

 

I would recommend reading this article to understand more about PSUs and what to look for when buying one.

 

Hope that helped a bit and looking forward to your response!

Edited December 11, 2011 by Alexandre

[Owenisbad]

Don't cheap out on the psu!

[d6bmg]

@OP: what is your max budget for the PSU?

[El_Capitan]

@OP, yes, you're okay with 500W.

[flaba]

Hi mate and welcome to OCC!

 

Apologies for the wall of text in advance but I want to be thorough...

 

Questions:

Are you planning on overclocking your CPU?

What is your budget for your PSU?

Where you looking at buying your system from?

 

 

1 - Yes if the PSU can handle it, if not yes in the future.

2 - Wanted to save this PSU cause don't have enough for a decent one right now. For now I'm updating only the parts above mentioned.

3 - http://www.globaldata.pt/index.aspx It's in Portuguese so I don't know if you guys going to understand it

 

This is what I got from the details in my PSU:

 

Thanks for the help so far

Edited December 11, 2011 by flaba

[IVIYTH0S]

Specwise that PSU will be fine...though I guess there's only one way to find out, though you'd be drawing just over it's capabilities so maybe get a slightly stronger unit.

[Drdeath]

Throw the piece of junk in the garbage. It is only 72% efficient and has 2 rails. 17w and 18w. It is worthless for what your building. You cannot always look at how many watts the PSU is rated by the manufacturer. The 500W is max and the amps on the rails are important. A new card will demand at peak draw more than 18 amps and at 72% efficiency, these rails probably do not have 17 or 18 amps. Best way to tell is with a multimeter.

 

The key is 72% efficient and i bet it is not even that. Junk imo.

Edited December 11, 2011 by Drdeath

[flaba]

Ok... so... what about this one?

 

CORSAIR GS-600W

 

or is there a cheaper one with good performance for what I need?

Edited December 11, 2011 by flaba

[medbor]

FSP has a lot of good psus for decent prices

you psu should be able to handle it, but it will be costly if it don't...

[paulktreg]

Flaba how much can you afford to spend on a new graphics card and power supply? I realise we're not all made of money.

 

I see you currently run a GT240 which, let's face it, isn't the best so you could spend a little less on the graphics card and a little more on a power supply and still see a massive improvement in graphics quality. I know currency conversion doesn't work because it all depends on were you live but in the UK you could get a HD6850 for about £110 that's 128 Euros which leaves a little extra for a power supply? Where do you live?

 

OK your current power supply isn't the best but if it had to run a new graphics card for a while until you could afford to replace it then it shouldn't be a problem within certain limits.

 

Your current power supply is inefficient, probably doesn't have active power factor correction and has two 12V rails but so what, irrelevant really! Efficiency and PFC are driven by "green" issues and in no way affect the DC quality put out by a power supply. High efficiency and power factor correction are expected these days but not necessary for good DC quality. Two 12V rails isn't necessarily bad it's just down to knowing what to do with them.

 

Your current power supply probably won't be too happy if it's asked to supply 500W, it's a cheap generic based on an old design and that's just the way it is!

 

Give us a budget and we'll try to recommend something to fit.