460W PSU enough for gaming?

shocco

shocco

shocco

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I've just purchased a Seasonic X-460W Fanless Power Supply at a bargain of £45 on ebay. The price jumped out at me because I have been looking for a silent Power Supply before my current OCZ one broke down today and I immediately bought this. Now though I'm having doubts as to whether 460 Watts is enough for my gaming needs.

My PC specs are:

Intel i5 2500
Asus P8H67-M LE
Corsair XMS3 4GB DDR3
XFX 1GB 6950
Seagate Barracuda 500GB
Liteon 18X DVD

I went on an online power calculator (http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp) to which my rig came to 364W but I'm thinking of getting a cooler for my graphics card which will add up to 200W.

My question is if you go above the total wattage of your PSU will that affect the lifetime of the PSU or the components in your system? and Does your system utilise the maximum wattage. The PSU is a premium one with high effeciency amongst other things

In short have I made a huge blunder n buying a 460W PSU for a gaming rig?
 
Seems like it would be cutting it fine (but would probably run), especially if you OC the CPU/GPU.

Personally I'd have gone with at least a 500w, but probably 550w+ in case of future additions.

I'm no expert, so lets see what the others think.
 
farlow2012 said:
depends if your going to overclock
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teppic said:
The calculator sounds about right - at full load I'd say around 350W for the lot.
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Potty27 said:
Seems like it would be cutting it fine (but would probably run), especially if you OC the CPU/GPU.

Personally I'd have gone with at least a 500w, but probably 550w+ in case of future additions.

I'm no expert, so lets see what the others think.
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Thanks for the replies I don't plan on over clocking but I might add a VGA after market cooler to the GPU which it says provides cooling of 200W which would put the total load at 564W for a 460W PSU assuming the cooler provides ALL of 200W to cool the GPU.Should the Seasonic hold up if I were to do such a thing?

I've heard total wattage isn't the most important aspect of a PSU and that Amperage counts as well as other things. Seeing as it is a quality PSU from a reputable manufacturer will these factors count at all as to whether the PSU will hold up?
 
It'll be fine.

The aftermarket GPU cooler doesn't use another 200W, it's rated to dissipate up to 200W output from the GPU. The 6950 is about 150W in full flow if memory serves. The PC will still use the same amount of power it does now.
 
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Possibly peak usage of 200W (that's the TDP), but normal load will be lower. And the rest of the system, max 150W.
 
Potty27 said:
I think it's closer to 200w.
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Maybe peak power for fractions of a second, it won't be sustained for long periods of time. The typical power config with a pair of 6-pin connectors is good for 225W peak.

A 460W Seasonic will live up to it's rated power no problem.

I'm running the rig in my sig (and it's mildly overclocked) on a 400W OCZ.
 
MagicBoy said:
Maybe peak power for fractions of a second, it won't be sustained for long periods of time. The typical power config with a pair of 6-pin connectors is good for 225W peak.

A 460W Seasonic will live up to it's rated power no problem.

I'm running the rig in my sig (and it's mildly overclocked) on a 400W OCZ.
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teppic said:
No, it means it will cool a GPU which is using 200W of power. A floor standing fan doesn't use 200W :)
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Thank You! You've allayed my fears; and of course made me look stupid in the process; or perhaps I did that part.
 
Don't worry about it :) Looking at the description it's easy to confuse. The cooler will use a couple of watts, it's usually so low it's not even listed in specs.
 
To try to put your mind at rest, the rig in my siggy, when i had a 6950 and not the 670, pulled a max of 374w at the wall while running Linx and Furmark both at the same time. In normal use you will not get near that so you still have capacity to spare.
 
teppic said:
Don't worry about it :) Looking at the description it's easy to confuse. The cooler will use a couple of watts, it's usually so low it's not even listed in specs.
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Interesting, I had a 6990 and added a VGA cooler to it; after which my computer wouldn't start up. Without the cooler however it booted up just fine and that was with my OCZ 600W PSU.

Unless the cooler was a dud or I installed it incorrectly I was sure the VGA cooler was drawing more power than my PSU could give it. If what you're saying is correct in that VGA coolers only draw a couple of watts I can't understand why my PC didn't boot up with the VGA cooler added to the 6990.
 
shocco said:
Interesting, I had a 6990 and added a VGA cooler to it; after which my computer wouldn't start up. Without the cooler however it booted up just fine and that was with my OCZ 600W PSU.

Unless the cooler was a dud or I installed it incorrectly I was sure the VGA cooler was drawing more power than my PSU could give it. If what you're saying is correct in that VGA coolers only draw a couple of watts I can't understand why my PC didn't boot up with the VGA cooler added to the 6990.
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In your case it was probably installed incorrectly and something may have been shorting out. Coolers are rated in wattage for the amount of heat they can dissapate. The power draw is minimal as it's only for a couple of fans.

For an example have a look at the specs for the Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme lll . It's cooling capacity is 300w yet power consumption is 4.32w and thats for 3 fans!!
 
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