True Watt needs vs advertised ones

[RushIsRight97]

I just ran my planned pc specs through coolermaster's calculator. Specs are: fx-4300/ rx470/ 8gb ddr3/ one hdd and ssd/ standard others.  It said that load wattage is 279w and recommended wattage is 329w. Why then do they advertise 550w? Is my fsp350-50gmn 350w from sparkle power inc. ok to keep for other pc's? 

[Starelementpoke]

3 minutes ago, RushIsRight97 said:

I just ran my planned pc specs through coolermaster's calculator. Specs are: fx-4300/ rx470/ 8gb ddr3/ one hdd and ssd/ standard others.  It said that load wattage is 279w and recommended wattage is 329w. Why then do they advertise 550w? Is my fsp350-50gmn 350w from sparkle power inc. ok to keep for other pc's? 

I wouldn't keep it on the pure basis that it's poor quality.

[jared404]

I don't think that power supply has a 6 pin connector for your graphics card

[You_are_a_cunt]

1 minute ago, Starelementpoke said:

I wouldn't keep it on the pure basis that it's poor quality.

^that.

The PSU is propably lacking proper certification, caps are probably aged in it and it's just plain old.

While the PC might work with that PSU, I would spend the extra coin and get a proper PSU with enough headroom for future expansion.

My overclocks managed to make a PSU cry (fx 4300 at 5ghz and an r9 270x, which aren't actually high demand components, but once OC'd they're hungry lil buggers)

[m0k]

fx4300 rated TDP is 95 watts
Rx 470 rated TDP is 110 watts

what other said, they recommend more just to be safe, also this Sparkly PSU is absolute shiate, pls upgrade
 

on a side note, good chance that fx-4300 is going to bottleneck the rx 470
consider the FX6300 at the minimum 

[Gung Pow Chicken]

On a good psu you won't notice anything. 

[manikyath]

the reason manufacturers of eg. graphics cards advertise much higher than what will in 99% of cases be necesary is they need to consider much more than just the wattage of their card:

- what else is in the system it'll be going to

- what wattage of PSUs generally has the connectors the GPU needs

- at what wattage do we have comfortable enough headroom even for lower quality power supplies

- what are some common wattages in the pool of manufacturers we trust (dont wanna put 350 watt recommended on the box, when "sparkle power" or similar are the only ones that even ship such a wattage)

 

on the note of that power supply, i'd only keep it as an emergency spare or an electronics bench power supply. i wouldnt put that in an actually functional PC for longer than a few hours

[Mira Yurizaki]

Some graphics cards are giving a suggestion on the amperage of the 12V rail, which is a much better recommendation. Looking at that PSU, 1/3 of its power is not from the 12V rail. I'm also in the camp it's not a good idea to run your PSU near 100% for long periods of time. While I'm sure the electronics don't care, I still liken that to running an engine at near redline speeds.

[RushIsRight97]

5 minutes ago, manikyath said:

 

Thanks for the helpful responses. Do you think that a good quality psu of 400w would be good for my current specs and also support upgrading the cpu to a fx6300?

[manikyath]

3 minutes ago, RushIsRight97 said:

Thanks for the helpful responses. Do you think that a good quality psu of 400w would be good for my current specs and also support upgrading the cpu to a fx6300?

i wouldnt know a quality psu of 400W off the top of my head, but i wouldnt see why not seeing my i7 4790k and GTX970 together dont even touch 300 watts

[RushIsRight97]

 Might I ask What psu brands you would recommend for 350-400ish watts?

[Starelementpoke]

Just now, RushIsRight97 said:

 Might I ask What psu brands you would recommend for 350-400ish watts?

Grey Unit CXM