3770K - @ 4.5 GHz (can't remember vcore, I can look if needed). The CPU is the oldest component I had it since the 3000 series was released in 2012 it was orginally from my HP- E system. AMD ASUS 380X (OC'ed edition) 12GB RAM 1 240 GB Sandisk SSD (OS Drive) 1 TB HDD (Secondary Storage) 550W Corsair CS550 (80 Plus Gold) Sitting in a Corsair Vengeance C70 chassis Fans Front: (x2) 120mm Rear: (x1) 120mm Was I stupid to pick such a under-powered PSU? (this is in my PC currently and has been in there for almost a year or so). From the start I knew, it was "under powered" but I went with it lol with the reason of upgrading it later on (place holder). Reason I ask, is in some games like FH3 the screen will flicker non stop, don't know if it was related, could be the GPU related or GPU and PSU combo? In other games like beam, I can fully load it with 100% CPU usage with no problems. Thoughts
Nah, that PSU is fine. For an i7 3770K + 380X I would recommend 600W, but since it's 80+ Gold you're fine.
Does it flicker starting at the menu screen? If so, my 380x does this as well and doesn't stop until I restart my computer. I have a 750w PSU and since yours is a Corsair 80+ Gold, you are set.
Many modern rigs will run just fine on sub 500 watts. If you're really concerned, pcpartpicker.com has a neat tool for calculating power consumption.
I don't see what the 80 Plus certification has to do with whether his PSU has enough wattage? @Josh - It appears to me that this PSU may not cut it under artificial loads, but for gaming loads I'd expect stability. Generally I'd expect a good PSU to behave differently at it's limits... typically they should shut down from over current, not make your GPU flicker. Purchase or borrow a Kill A Watt if you're really worried. Your PSU is rated for output wattage and the Kill A Watt will measure input wattage... you can figure in reverse by checking it's efficiency at whatever load. Use the 80 Plus chart to look it up in that case. For 87% efficiency, simply multiply your input power by 0.87 to determine output power. To get a very high load use something like IntelBurnTest or Prime95 and combine it with Furmark. You may want to monitor your temps while running those - they can potentially damage stuff that isn't setup for artificially heavy loads. Alternatively you could temporarily set your CPU to stock vCore and clock + set your GPU to stock voltages and clocks... that should get you solidly under 400W for gaming workloads. If the problem persists I'd assume that it's probably not a PSU problem.
The 80+ Gold certification usually indicates the power supply is very efficient; 90% in this case. This is indicative of high-quality components and therefore will give expected amounts of power even at high load. If it isn't 80+, it's a very low quality power supply that even if rated at 500W, will probably overheat or pop a cap if pushed to its rated limit. Also, you've got the efficiency thing a bit wrong. A 500W power supply is rated to supply 500W of DC power, and its efficiency will determine how much it will pull from the wall. For example, a 500W PSU at 87% efficiency maxed out won't provide 435W DC, it'll provide 500W DC, but pull from the wall 575W AC. Thus it's still within "rated" spec to pull 500W DC from a 500W power supply, but at peak load a power supply is not very efficient and you will be turning a lot of power into heat which will degrade the components. It's quite late so I can't explain this very well, but I do know this much.
Maybe I described it badly, but I don't think that I've gotten anything wrong. I simply explained how to determine how much power your PC is drawing from the PSU based on AC power draw. If you see X power draw at the wall, multiply that by your efficiency and that will give you something to compare with the numbers on the label. Actually upon re-reading what I said I think I was pretty clear/explicit about every step. Of course I agree RE: all good power supplies carrying an 80 Plus rating these days. I just don't think that the way the information was presented was entirely clear to those who don't know the difference... Josh seemed to think he was in some sort of "danger zone" and then two users told him "you've got 80Plus Gold so you'll be fine".
OH. Yes, you're right. I'm the illiterate one here. Yeah, given the AC draw and efficiency, you can calculate the DC draw. I misread it, and thought you'd fallen for the age-old misconception that the power supply only supplies the number on the side times the efficiency...which a lot of people mistake. The 80+ thing is just a way of ensure the power supply is up to the task. I've seen people wonder why their PC is shutting down and BSODing because they should have enough power. After all they have the very best China-tek 1800W power supply. I'm tired. Forgive me.
It will flicker all the time, while playing sometimes it will do it and sometimes ill be normal. It has me stumped the only game that does this.
