Weaker PSU

[Ergroilnin]

I am just curious, but what does happen when you for example have 500W psu and your system at peak requires more watts than the efficiency of the psu can handle?

 

Will it just get a BSOD/turn off or can this actually damage the components even if the system runs normally and this happens only in unexpected absolute peaks with both cpu and gpu at 100%?

[Fasauceome]

I learned the hard way that if you draw too much power from a PSU that can't handle it, you'regonna kill the PSU and something it's attached to. Additionally, if you're going by the PCPartPicker power rating as it sounds like with your second statement, that is maximum peak load, so if you are running under that amount, power will be delivered correctly from the power supply. If you somehow max the GPU and CPU on a power supply that can't deliver, well, let's just say PSUs have power ratings for a reason.

[Ergroilnin]

IC thanks for the heads up, not gonna risk it then and just save up for higher rated PSU to be sure this never happens.

[Stefan Payne]

Depends on the PSU and what you mean with "Peak".

Is Peak in your definition a short power spike that last a fraction of a second or is it something that occurs for a couple of minutes or even hours?

That is the improtant thing...

 

 

If it is only a short occurance, that's what the Caps are for.

[STRMfrmXMN]

10 hours ago, Ergroilnin said:

I am just curious, but what does happen when you for example have 500W psu and your system at peak requires more watts than the efficiency of the psu can handle?

What do you mean by this? Are you under the incorrect assumption that  80 PLUS efficiency somehow calculates into how much power a PSU can output? That's incorrect. Read here.

A 500W PSU, if advertised correctly, can output 500W. If it goes over 500W, within a few watts of that 500 (say 525W), the PSU will shut off to prevent damage.