Is this PSU "safe" for a short time?

BarBrawllin

BarBrawllin

BarBrawllin

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Hi there,i got this PSU for powering an i5 2500K (stock speeds), 8GB of ram and an Nvidia 9800GT and im wondering if i made a mistake?...remember its only short term i planned on using this....

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-061-OP&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

I have another much better 750 watt PSU in storage along with a 480GTX and thought that this 550 watt PSU i bought would be good enough for the couple of months i'll be using the system untill i get my other PSU/case/graphics card back out of storage.

Is this "safe" to use for a few months? I reckon it will be 6 months at most untill i get all my stuff back maybe sooner if im lucky.

If its a bad idea to use this PSU with my setup would i be able to compensate by turning off 1 or 2 cores on the CPU through the BIOS?

I just wanted to do a little low-end-ish kinda gaming untill i get all my other PC stuff back because i was using a dell inspiron 6400 "craptop" for the last few months and it's started to annoy the hell out of me lol.(The PC i have in storage is a E6600 @ 3.4ghz, 4GB of ram @ 800mhz 4-4-4-12, and the 480GTX @ 850 core and i forgot the memory now lol)

Cheers!
 
BarBrawllin said:
Hi there,i got this PSU for powering an i5 2500K (stock speeds), 8GB of ram and an Nvidia 9800GT and im wondering if i made a mistake?...remember its only short term i planned on using this....

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-061-OP&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

I have another much better 750 watt PSU in storage along with a 480GTX and thought that this 550 watt PSU i bought would be good enough for the couple of months i'll be using the system untill i get my other PSU/case/graphics card back out of storage.

Is this "safe" to use for a few months? I reckon it will be 6 months at most untill i get all my stuff back maybe sooner if im lucky.

If its a bad idea to use this PSU with my setup would i be able to compensate by turning off 1 or 2 cores on the CPU through the BIOS?

I just wanted to do a little low-end-ish kinda gaming untill i get all my other PC stuff back because i was using a dell inspiron 6400 "craptop" for the last few months and it's started to annoy the hell out of me lol.(The PC i have in storage is a E6600 @ 3.4ghz, 4GB of ram @ 800mhz 4-4-4-12, and the 480GTX @ 850 core and i forgot the memory now lol)

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Well it must be pretty low quality at that price, saying that it is a short time as you pointed out.

Underclocking/disabling cores wont really help. The worry will be that it just frys which could happen any time, which leads to the possibility of recking your other gear.

It's up to you I doubt it would go within 2-6 months but I don't own the thing nor would I run the risk after my "episode".
 
Doesnt matter if its short term or not, first time I powered on my cheapy PSU it blew up.

Personally, rip it out and get the Corsair CX430, a lot safer and reliable.
 
jpod said:
Yep that will be fine, that rig would probably be powered by 400w

Having a spare PSU is never a bad idea in any case - good for problem solving if you have a known working PSU

My opinion, I would choose a quality one ~£58 if you can stretch to it - with a 5 year warranty

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-007-XF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1497

Or this

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-006-XF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=
Click to expand...


Cheers!

I think im going to disable 1 or 2 cores anyways and turn off turbo boost just to be on the safe side! I already have the 550W in my possesion so it's a bit late to go buying a new one! OCUK did offer me an RMA because of another issue with it not coming with a PCIe 6-pin connector that it used to be advertised as having but TBH i have hardly any cash left (none basicly) and already spent a bit more than i intended and this is just for a short time anyways so lets just see how it goes lol.
 
BarBrawllin said:
Cheers!

I think im going to disable 1 or 2 cores anyways and turn off turbo boost just to be on the safe side! I already have the 550W in my possesion so it's a bit late to go buying a new one! OCUK did offer me an RMA because of another issue with it not coming with a PCIe 6-pin connector that it used to be advertised as having but TBH i have hardly any cash left (none basicly) and already spent a bit more than i intended and this is just for a short time anyways so lets just see how it goes lol.
Click to expand...

Like I said I'm not sure the power will have the immediate effect of blowing it, and I wouldn't risk your other stuff but your call man.
 
Rik1254 said:
Doesnt matter if its short term or not, first time I powered on my cheapy PSU it blew up.

Personally, rip it out and get the Corsair CX430, a lot safer and reliable.
Click to expand...

Well i already played 30 minutes of CSS on the i5 and browsed the web for about an hour or something on it before i realised it was the wrong model i bought (the 2500 instead of the 2500K) and took it back out of the motherboard to wait for my RMA code(thanks OCUK!) and it didn't blow during that couple of hours perdiod so im gonna have faith and turn a couple of the cores off and the turbo boost and see how it goes lol.

Fingers crossed and all that!:D

P.S - I will provide pics of the burnt out remains if the worst happens for your enjoyment!:p
 
jpod said:
This may interest you
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot,when i enter in all my info it says 346 watts so this should do all 4 cores at stock speeds and the 9800GT/HDD/DVD-ROM/RAM/case fan.

Id never buy one of these cheap PSU's for any serious long term usage and in hindsight i should have gone a little higher to the 650 watt version but whats done is done and im not quite as worried now as i was earlier.

I'll probobly disable a couple of the cores and the turbo boost just to be on the safe side anyway!;)
 
jpod said:
This may interest you
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
Click to expand...

It's not really the wattage that is the problem, more whether the PSU can supply the rated wattage for any length of time, or whether it can hold a steady voltage.

If you're willing to take the risk it may be okay, but I'm sure most would suggest you don't risk such expensive hardware on cheaply made PSUs.
 
In terms of the PSU, it's whether or not it can give out the stable power that the system needs. If you're cutting it close with your current hardware, I wouldn't be too careless with what you do. Just invest £60-100 in a decent CX or TX PSU from Corsair. It's worth it in the long run.
 
Scryus said:
In terms of the PSU, it's whether or not it can give out the stable power that the system needs. If you're cutting it close with your current hardware, I wouldn't be too careless with what you do. Just invest £60-100 in a decent CX or TX PSU from Corsair. It's worth it in the long run.
Click to expand...

Very true. Many people overstate the importance of the wattage, rather than the actual quality of the unit.
 
Hmmmm,2 cores off and turbo boost off then for definate...maybe even an underclock to 2.8Ghz aswell just incase....

Thanks for the advice,i'll never skimp on PSU again ,even for short periods of time!
 
BarBrawllin said:
Hmmmm,2 cores off and turbo boost off then for definate...maybe even an underclock to 2.8Ghz aswell just incase....

Thanks for the advice,i'll never skimp on PSU again ,even for short periods of time!
Click to expand...

Very good advice to take forward, it's very much something you never do again. Just don't make that mistake of saying "oh well it's worked so far, so I'll stick with it. for just a little longer." Make sure its one of your first upgrades.
 
Scryus said:
Very good advice to take forward, it's very much something you never do again. Just don't make that mistake of saying "oh well it's worked so far, so I'll stick with it. for just a little longer." Make sure its one of your first upgrades.
Click to expand...

I have another much higher quality 750 watt PSU in storage,as soon as i get that back and my 480GTX/H50 i'll install them right away and overclock the i5 lol.

I might have them back in my possesion in a couple of weeks if im lucky but im guessing around 3 months or 6 months at most.(basicly untill my family are re-housed due to medical issues)

If im running it with a couple of the cores disabled and underclock it around 1Ghz less than the stock speed then i reckon i should be safe(knock on wood).:eek:
 
BTW if i hear any funny buzzing/hissing/electrical noises coming form the PSU once i switch the thing on and play a game im instantly turning it off and buying a new one!

I remember i bought a really crap brand new "650 watt" PSU from some computer hardware store a couple of years ago and it wouldnt even power my core 2 duo with a 4870 graphics card! I was getting artifacts during graphics stability tests and crashes during games and the thing made a REALLY bad noise,the same noise that my OCZ 650 watt made just before it died! If i hear anything like that or feel a lot of heat coming from the PSU during gaming im not gonna risk it and turn it off instantly!


Overclockers wouldnt stock anything THAT bad would they? My PSU worries are back again lol.
 
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kilohawk said:
dont do it!
i bought a cheap PSU to 'last me' until i can afford a decent one.....£750 later..... :(
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Where did you buy this PSU? And how long did it last before it blew up?

The crap one i got that was rated "650 watts" made a weird sound and was unstable from the very moment i turned it on so i just scrapped it instantly.

I already used the one i have now on the i5 system (without a graphics card mind you) all at stock speeds and played CSS for half an hour and surfed the web for over an hour and it didnt make any weird sounds and was 100% stable and didnt get hot at all (i ran a quick burn test just to see the max temp of the CPU and it didnt go over 65c).....

Im really starting to contemplate buying another PSU now and giving this one to my bro since he has a lower spec PC and he could use it as backup and the one i buy i can use now then keet aside later as a backup as other have stated here for a rainy day/diagnostics.

Thanks for all the input! And the moral of the story yet again is.....NEVER SKIMP ON THE PSU!!!(then you wont have headaches like this!)
 
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