450 Watts enough?

[Niku-Sama]

I need to get an SFX PSU for a small build i am currently working on. its going into a small cheapy chinese case.
Dont want to break the bank on a PSU so i am looking at the EVGA 450w SFX for $80 and i am just wondering if its enough.

Specs are as follows

R5 2600
Asrock B450M Pro4
32 Gig DDR4
2 M.2 SSD's (256/500 gig)
GTX 1650 Super
PCI express Wifi/Bluetooth card

 

[Zerileous]

I played with the values a bit since the 1650 Super wasn't listed on this page and the page counts Ryzen CPUs as if they don't depart from base clock. Looks like you should be good. https://outervision.com/b/BoTgvS

 

[EarthDog]

I need to get an SFX PSU for a small build i am currently working on. its going into a small cheapy chinese case.
Dont want to break the bank on a PSU so i am looking at the EVGA 450w SFX for $80 and i am just wondering if its enough.

Specs are as follows

R5 2600
Asrock B450M Pro4
32 Gig DDR4
2 M.2 SSD's (256/500 gig)
GTX 1650 Super
PCI express Wifi/Bluetooth card

Easily. I doubt that machine would load over 225W full tilt looking at the parts.

 

[DaveB]

I need to get an SFX PSU for a small build i am currently working on. its going into a small cheapy chinese case.
Dont want to break the bank on a PSU so i am looking at the EVGA 450w SFX for $80 and i am just wondering if its enough.

Specs are as follows

R5 2600
Asrock B450M Pro4
32 Gig DDR4
2 M.2 SSD's (256/500 gig)
GTX 1650 Super
PCI express Wifi/Bluetooth card

Absolutely enough. I'm running this setup off of a EVGA 450W PSU:

MSI B450M Pro-VDH
Ryzen 9 3900X (12C/24T)
CM MasterLiquid ML240L AIO
16GB DDR4-3600 CL16
PowerColor RX 5700 XT 8GB GDDR6

 

[Niku-Sama]

I played with the values a bit since the 1650 Super wasn't listed on this page and the page counts Ryzen CPUs as if they don't depart from base clock. Looks like you should be good. https://outervision.com/b/BoTgvS

oh thats a good calculator i couldnt find any half decent ones that worked and if they did they didnt have any thing current in the hardware listings.
if any thing i peg it at its turbo clock speed and call it good, if i need to. i might try not to do that this time.... try
power savings and all

thanks guys

 

[trents]

Most PSU wattage calculators introduce a hedge to compensate for all those people who buy cheap, bargain basement PSUs that greatly exaggerate their wattage output or supply a figure that represents peak rather than sustained output.

 

[Niku-Sama]

well i dont consider $80 for a fully modular 450 watt sfx psu to be cheap so hopefully i will be good.
other things i have read say evga makes decent psus, i just couldnt justify over a hundred bucks for a psu and the 550w one is sold out every where and there was a size constraint for the case...

Like i said its got "room" for a full sized psu but i think its one of those instances where they designed it and then shipped it with out really testing it, the big fan on the front was only trying to breathe through a 1/16" gap on two sides that wasnt half as long as the fan.
i fixed that, lots of washers spacing things out now

 

[DaveB]

Retail SFX PSUs are overpriced. My ATX EVGA 450W was just $24 on sale a while back at Newegg. I built several ITX setups with older 350W Seasonic SFX PSUs I picked up for under $20 on ebay. One ran a 5 GHz i5-8600K setup with a mini Zotac GTX 1080 with no problems.

 

[Niku-Sama]

I couldnt find any thing like that on ebay that was modular, i checked for a while.

Slight change though, apparently with every one going hermit mode people are scooping up hardware like crazy so none of the 1650 supers i wanted were in stock, there was one MSI that ran $180 that might not fit so...
I just ordered this for a few bucks more https://www.newegg.com/evga-geforce...061-kr/p/N82E16814487484?Item=N82E16814487484

I figure, AR its only $20 more than the MSI 1650 super and it might handle 4k a little better on casual and emulation stuff, plus its shorter than the R9 270 that in for testing/clearance checking

 

[rainless]

The most important thing is efficiency. As long as they ABSOLUTELY DELIVER 80% efficiency... Then you should be fine.

I've been doing some rather intense Cinema 4K color grading for YEARS with a 450 watt Corsair, a bunch of connected drives, and a 960GTX. Even with the machine under heavy load I never had any trouble.

It's only within the past couple of months that I upgraded to a 550 watt version of the same power supply... and only because I got it for like 20 bucks.

Didn't really need the extra 100 watts at all. (I wanted the extra SATA power cables.)

 

[Woomack]

I was using Corsair SF 450W in ~400W constant load builds and it was fine. However as it was mentioned, Corsair SFX PSUs are in 80+ gold standard. I wouldn't use anything cheaper for that. Mentioned EVGA should be about the same and seems cheaper than Corsair. Somehow I missed EVGA SFX series, maybe because of they're not available in local stores.

Recently I'm building everything with SFX PSUs because they're small and have shorter cables and don't cause problems in smaller cases (but still long enough for my needs).

 

[EarthDog]

The most important thing is efficiency. As long as they ABSOLUTELY DELIVER 80% efficiency... Then you should be fine.

What does this mean?

 

[rainless]

What does this mean?

Ok...



...so like the BIG, gold, "80 Plus" on the front of this box? That's the guaranteed minimum efficiency of the PSU. (Was just about to type a whole thing, but got a website to do it for me.)

https://www.velocitymicro.com/blog/what-is-psu-efficiency-and-why-is-it-important/

What is Power Supply Efficiency?
Remember, a power supply’s job is to convert the AC power from your wall outlet to DC power that your other components can use. The efficiency rating is simply the power outputted to those components divided by the wattage drawn from the wall socket. So then a 500W Power Supply with a 50% efficiency rating would draw 1000W to get to that peak output. In this example, the other 500W are wasted as heat in that conversion process. How efficient a power supply is also depends on the percentage of the rated load being outputted, with most PSUs running at maximum efficiency around 50% load, or 250W in this example.

What does a power supply with 80 Plus rating mean?
80 Plus is a certification designed to denote that a power supply is at least 80% efficient at 20%, 50%, and 100% loads. This means a 500W 80 Plus rated PSU would draw a maximum of 625W at 100% load. Because of the relatively low-cost premium and advantages they provide (discussed below), we do not recommend anything less than 80 Plus, so make sure to look for this logo when shopping for your next PSU. Most power supplies available today are at least 80 Plus rated.

 

[EarthDog]

Ok... I know exactly what efficiency means for a PSU, but thank you for the explanation. Surely that will help someone else.

I guess I am questioning why is that the "most important thing" on a PSU? Most potatos deliver 80% efficiency. Efficiency isn't close to the top of my list...especially considering how difficult it is to buy a brand name PSU without at least 80 Plus bronze efficiency these days (which is more than the old '80 Plus'). I'd rather have a lower efficiency but higher-quality PSU over a more efficienct but less quality.

It just feels odd that efficiency is at the top of your list, especially considering the difference between the bronze+ tiers are 2-3% at most. 80 Plus itself is much lower than the others listed and while that was a target a decade ago, 80 Plus Bronze or greater is the way to go...but in no way is this the most important thing to consider.

 

[rainless]

Ok... I know exactly what efficiency means for a PSU, but thank you for the explanation. Surely that will help someone else.

I guess I am questioning why is that the "most important thing" on a PSU? Most potatos deliver 80% efficiency. Efficiency isn't close to the top of my list...especially considering how difficult it is to buy a brand name PSU without at least 80 Plus bronze efficiency these days (which is more than the old '80 Plus'). I'd rather have a lower efficiency but higher-quality PSU over a more efficienct but less quality.

It just feels odd that efficiency is at the top of your list, especially considering the difference between the bronze+ tiers are 2-3% at most. 80 Plus itself is much lower than the others listed and while that was a target a decade ago, 80 Plus Bronze or greater is the way to go...but in no way is this the most important thing to consider.

80% efficiency (or greater) will let you get away with much more power draw than what's on the box because less of the energy is being wasted. For example my system was WAYY overpowered for a 450watt power supply. But I've been able to use it for five years with no problem because of the efficiency. I think the requirement for my CPU and GPU combined is supposed to be like 550watts.

This never bothered my PSU at all. Handled it like a champ.

Whereas I used to have a "LJC Turbopower" PSU (I believe it was called).

1000 watts... laste me all of two months...

Poor efficiency. (And everything else.)

 

[EarthDog]

80% efficiency (or greater) will let you get away with much more power draw than what's on the box because less of the energy is being wasted.

This is where I thought you were going initially and why I asked. It doesn't work that way. Read your passage in quotes again.

It simply means it will draw more from the wall the less efficient it is. So, for example, in the case of the OP. If the psu says 450W on the box and it is 90% efficient (at 450W) it pulls 495W FROM THE WALL to deliever 450W. If that same PSU is 80% efficient, it still outputs 450W but uses 540W from the wall to do so. Any way you slice it, the PSU still outputs 450W. It doesn't output more because of higher efficiency.

The efficiency of a power supply has nothing to do with how much it can output.

You were able to run your rig on a 450W PSU because your parts don't pull close to 450w... efficiency has nothing to do with it. The GPU is 182W card full tilt. Your CPU is 95W full tilt. Between HDDs, boards, and fans, that's about 300W when both are stressed at the same time. Add 50-100W for overclocking and we've hit 400W on the high side. Nvidia recommends a 450W PSU for systems using a gtx 260. So long as it is a quality PSU that outputs it label rating... it doesn't matter if it is 80Plus or 80Plus Titanium.

Your 1KW PSU died because it failed and/or a trash psu...because it wasn't efficient has little to do with it living or dying.

Edit: gtx 960 is a 120W card... less than the rtx 260....not sure what system you are talking about earlier.

 

[Woomack]

The main difference that I see in the latest units rated at 80+ or 80+ Gold/Platinum+ is that cheaper units have worse components and heat up more. As an effect, efficiency is going down as soon as they pass some temp or load. Since the PSU runs at higher temps then also its fan spins faster and makes a noise. Cheaper units have usually worse fans or their management. For example on a cheap unit, the fan spins at its max speed all the time or it spins between 50% at 0-50% load and 100% above 50% load. If you use something like Corsair SF series then you will see that these units stay cool up to 50% load and the fan is not even spinning. Even at 70%+ load, it's hard to hear the fan.
So from the power delivery side, it doesn't matter much if it's 80+ or 80+ Gold or better PSU. It matters if you care about efficiency, a lower ripple and additional effects like the noise.

On the other hand, I haven't seen a single bad SFX PSU from any respectable manufacturer. As long as it's a well-known brand then it should be good. This topic is about EVGA PSU which I don't believe that will be bad in any way, even though I wasn't testing it.

 

[Niku-Sama]

just an update on this:

so far so good, i havent been able to run any thing super intensive on it but i did run a kombustor furry donut test for the video card and the kill a watt shows about 130 watts.
seems a lot lower but hey maybe its a more efficient PSU than i thought.
only issues i am having is the ram wont run at any thing over 2133 but i think i need to swap the slots they are in and thats not an easy thing in this setup

 

[Zerileous]

They should be in slots 2/4 if its just 2 DIMMS (counting away from the socket starting with 1). The ones further away from the socket, with an empty slot between them. But you probably already know that.

The 2600 might struggle a bit with various ram settings depending on the IC, especially with 32GB. Possibly downloading Thaiphoon Burner to see what the ICs are could give some hints. Maybe starting a thread in the memory section for this would be better. I will say to go ahead and try some extra SOC voltage, as the Zen+ need a bit of that to run larger capacities and / or higher speed.

 

[EarthDog]

just an update on this:

so far so good, i havent been able to run any thing super intensive on it but i did run a kombustor furry donut test for the video card and the kill a watt shows about 130 watts.
seems a lot lower but hey maybe its a more efficient PSU than i thought.
only issues i am having is the ram wont run at any thing over 2133 but i think i need to swap the slots they are in and thats not an easy thing in this setup

Your GPU is ~100W at max...even with that power virus application (which, use something other than furmark/kombuster. If you notice, your clock speeds and voltage on the card are a lot lower than any gaming situation).