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Do I have headroom? And What can go wrong?

JasperHuskyFox
By JasperHuskyFox
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Hello, I have a 380W PSU, a i3-10100, 7200RPM 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD, 3 120MM Fans

 

I was wondering if I'll have headroom to put a 550ti into the system, or will it fail? If it does fail, what can happen?

 

Another note, I have 4/8 pins connected on one part of the MOBO, but all the pins on the largest header installed, incase that makes a difference

 

Thanks!!

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Posted
33 minutes ago, JasperHuskyFox said:

Hello, I have a 380W PSU, a i3-10100, 7200RPM 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD, 3 120MM Fans

 

I was wondering if I'll have headroom to put a 550ti into the system, or will it fail? If it does fail, what can happen?

 

Another note, I have 4/8 pins connected on one part of the MOBO, but all the pins on the largest header installed, incase that makes a difference

 

Thanks!!

Hard to know without all the hardware.  Also overclocks can change power draws a lot and little components can add up.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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Posted (edited)
30 minutes ago, JasperHuskyFox said:

Not overclocking, and what other hardware do you need to know?

Gpu model would be the big one. Motherboard model couldn’t hurt.  Age and model of PSU can matter a lot for the “what can go wrong”bit PSUs age, and can fail spectacularly especially if they’re cheap ones. 

 

  Basically anything that plugs into the PSU and draws power.  A lot of that stuff, such as fans, is accounted for by the motherboard though. The standard motherboard draw used to be considered 75w which accounted for fans and video cards with no external power cable and memory and stuff. I do not know if this is still true.  USB can draw vastly more power than it used to.  A video card that has no external power connectors would be assumed to be part of this 75w.  I do not know what your GPU draws because it varies somewhat by model.  More than 75w though (because external cable) The reference Nvidia 550ti gpu had a single 6 pin external cable.  There were many different models though and they drew different amounts of power.  Some may have more than a single 6 pin. The cpu while put into the motherboard, is not considered part of this number because it has its own power connector.

So whatever the cpu draws (I assume 65w, it’s that 4/8 pin) plus the motherboard (assume 75w) plus the gpu power (whatever that is), plus drives (though this is very small)  All this stuff predates RGB.  I suspect RGB could only be a significant factor if there was a ton of it though.  Also some USB connectors draw more than they used to by several orders of magnitude.  Those connectors are probably still within that 75w though.

Edited by Bombastinator

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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CPU; i3-10100

GPU I want to put in; GTX 550TI (PNY model, 6Pin)

Mobo: Gigabyte B460M DS3H

Fans: Coolermaster Sickleflow Red 120MM

RGB? No
RAM: Corsair Vengence LPX 2x 8GB DDR4-2666MHz

HDD: 2TB Seagate Barracude 7200RPM

SSD; None

PSU; 380W, 4/8 Pins installed, 12 pin header installed

CPU Cooler; Stock Intel Fan

USB Devices: RII RGB Membrane keyboard, RGB Mouse, Logitech G920 Wheel, SNES Controller

 

Hope that helps you, let me know if i need to add any more info

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Looking up single fan 550tis I’m seeing 116w.  The problem is I’m not finding specifics for that card.  The stock Nvidia I can find wattages for but there was no PNY version listed.  The NVIDIA reference card listed a recommended PSU of 350w but that was for CPUs that were 2011 vintage.  CPUs of that era didn’t boost the same way.  Boosting can produce very high transient loads.  The other bit that worries me is 380w is an odd number for a modern PSU which makes me wonder how old the thing is.  PSUs age. As the age they drop in total power output and become less reliable.  The older a PSU is it not only has more hours on it, but the older designs were not infrequently less reliable to begin with.  The card can draw power from its own cable, so if we assume standard amounts IF the PSU is really outputting 380w and the power is clean, the probability is it will be fine.  Even if the GPU is some factory overclock model and draws, say 150w, there’s should still be room. There are a bunch of unknowns about the PSU though. 
 

IF the PSU is new and up to snuff it should almost certainly be fine.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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5 hours ago, JasperHuskyFox said:

CPU; i3-10100

GPU I want to put in; GTX 550TI (PNY model, 6Pin)

Mobo: Gigabyte B460M DS3H

Fans: Coolermaster Sickleflow Red 120MM

RGB? No
RAM: Corsair Vengence LPX 2x 8GB DDR4-2666MHz

HDD: 2TB Seagate Barracude 7200RPM

SSD; None

PSU; 380W, 4/8 Pins installed, 12 pin header installed

CPU Cooler; Stock Intel Fan

USB Devices: RII RGB Membrane keyboard, RGB Mouse, Logitech G920 Wheel, SNES Controller

 

Hope that helps you, let me know if i need to add any more info

12 pin header? This sounds like a crap oem unit. I wouldn’t put anything more than maybe an hd 6670 or so in there

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4 minutes ago, YT_DomDaBomb20 said:

12 pin header? This sounds like a crap oem unit. I wouldn’t put anything more than maybe an hd 6670 or so in there

Gah 12 pin header ON the PSU?!  Yeah, big oof there on my part.  Missed that bit. I wouldn’t put a 12 pin PSU on anything except a prebuilt that it came with specifically.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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Oops, I probably misspoke, I'm not sure exactly, I meant the big main power thing to the mobo, idk tho

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1 minute ago, JasperHuskyFox said:

Oops, I probably misspoke, I'm not sure exactly, I meant the big main power thing to the mobo, idk tho

Does your motherboard have the 12 pin (rather than 24 pin) connector or the PSU?  In either case they’re either prebuilt or very very old parts.  If prebuilt they should only be used with the parts they were designed to be used with (since they break atx and there’s no telling what was done) or they’re very old in which case eeek.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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Again, this is a GIGABYTE B460M-DS3H Mobo with the LGA1200 Socket for 10th gen Intel

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51 minutes ago, JasperHuskyFox said:

The big one is connected, but the small one has 4/8 plugged in

Screenshot_20201107-162246_Chrome.jpg

Screenshot_20201107-162221_Chrome.jpg

That’s a 24 pin connector.  Does the PSU have a plug that fills all the holes? Or does it use an adaptor?

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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3 hours ago, JasperHuskyFox said:

No adaptor for the 24 if you got a 12 pin PSU and a 24 pin motherboard it’s all irrelevant.  It won’t work. If you DO have a 24pin out on the PSU. we’re back to the same old conditional maybe:  it could be weak but will probably work if the PSU isn’t an old one.  If it IS an old one probability of it working goes down and probability of bad things happening goes up.

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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