500w enough for gtx1080 + i7 6700k?

[Mctech]

Hello, I bought a pc off of a guy about 3 months ago. Here are the pc specs for reference: Gtx 1080 reference, i7-6700k, 16gb ddr4 3000mhz RAM, some MSI motherboard, 2 case fans, 1 Noctua CPU fan, a wifi device, all housed in an EVGA Hadron (which comes with a 500w psu).

 

I was at first skeptical of whether the 500w psu was enough to power the build. Many of my family and friends have told me that it is enough, while some of them have told me that it is not enough. Many online forums and videos have also said it is enough and many forums have said it is not enough as well. The PC has been running fine for 2 months now and I have not noticed anything weird (besides overheating issues when the weather got really hot). However, I am getting these doubts because people have said that 500w may not be enough. Can anyone give me some knowledge on this? I have also heard that weather or other conditions play role on power as well. Let me know if you need any more information! Thanks!!!

[seon123]

500W is absolutely plenty, even with overclocking. Looks like the PSU is DC-DC, so it's probably not complete garbage. 

[Fasauceome]

How severely overclocked are you? With a watt meter to my old build with a 4790k at 4.7 GHz, a 1070 at 2 GHz, and 4 drives and several fans, I had a pull of about 250 watts max, and that was with synthetic stress tests. I can't imagine your build drawing much more unless you're really pushing the limits 

[jonrosalia]

I have a 6500 and a 1050ti with 16Gb of ddr4 3200 with a m.2 and a firecuda running on stock 240 watts stable in my dell with the 1050ti clocked up with MSI.

[Mctech]

36 minutes ago, seon123 said:

500W is absolutely plenty, even with overclocking. Looks like the PSU is DC-DC, so it's probably not complete garbage. 

Oh ok thanks!... But what do you mean by plenty? Cause We have to consider my 144hz monitor, mechanical keyboard, headset, mouse, etc...

[Mctech]

35 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

How severely overclocked are you? With a watt meter to my old build with a 4790k at 4.7 GHz, a 1070 at 2 GHz, and 4 drives and several fans, I had a pull of about 250 watts max, and that was with synthetic stress tests. I can't imagine your build drawing much more unless you're really pushing the limits 

I do not think it is overclocked. I can check again but for now, let's say it is not. 

[jonrosalia]

3 minutes ago, Mctech said:

Oh ok thanks!... But what do you mean by plenty? Cause We have to consider my 144hz monitor, mechanical keyboard, headset, mouse, etc...

monitors have their own power and anything you plug into a usb is usually not going to draw to much the most demanding plug in is a spinning HDD

[seon123]

4 minutes ago, Mctech said:

Oh ok thanks!... But what do you mean by plenty? Cause We have to consider my 144hz monitor, mechanical keyboard, headset, mouse, etc...

The monitor doesn't draw power from the PC. That's why it has its own power supply. 

None of those peripherals consume a significant amount of power. The total system draw under load should be about 250-300W. You are not going to use an additional 300W just with the peripherals. 

[Mctech]

3 minutes ago, jonrosalia said:

monitors have their own power and anything you plug into a usb is usually not going to draw to much the most demanding plug in is a spinning HDD

oh ok great thank you! Im a newbie to this haha

[Mctech]

4 minutes ago, seon123 said:

The monitor doesn't draw power from the PC. That's why it has its own power supply. 

None of those peripherals consume a significant amount of power. The total system draw under load should be about 250-300W. You are not going to use an additional 300W just with the peripherals. 

Oh dang. Cause I read some people say that the load technically should be around 300W but in reality, it isn't. This guy from this source:  https://www.quora.com/Is-a-500W-PSU-enough-to-run-a-GTX-1080-and-7700K recommended a user to invest in a 750w supply. This source: https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-review,8.html  said to invest in a 600w PSU. That is why I am worried... Because of how many watts the PC will actually consume (including outside factors like weather). 

 

My pc has been running fine for some time now as I said, but I was just questioning all this because I was worried if the low wattage is killing the pc slowly or if it is not enough and will soon kill the pc.

[jonrosalia]

10 minutes ago, Mctech said:

Oh dang. Cause I read some people say that the load technically should be around 300W but in reality, it isn't. This guy from this source:  https://www.quora.com/Is-a-500W-PSU-enough-to-run-a-GTX-1080-and-7700K recommended a user to invest in a 750w supply. This source: https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-review,8.html  said to invest in a 600w PSU. That is why I am worried... Because of how many watts the PC will actually consume (including outside factors like weather). 

 

My pc has been running fine for some time now as I said, but I was just questioning all this because I was worried if the low wattage is killing the pc slowly or if it is not enough and will soon kill the pc.

that's a old gamer habit from back in the day when a i7 used to consume 200 watts by itself and graphics cards where pigs also so we haven't adapted to newer 80+ 500 watt power supplies being able to run the top end systems without a huge buffer because old PSUs where unreliable on voltage and watts it actually put out. we need to calm down a bit with power because what everything uses dropped off by a lot.

[seon123]

7 minutes ago, Mctech said:

Oh dang. Cause I read some people say that the load technically should be around 300W but in reality, it isn't. This guy from this source:  https://www.quora.com/Is-a-500W-PSU-enough-to-run-a-GTX-1080-and-7700K recommended a user to invest in a 750w supply. This source: https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-review,8.html  said to invest in a 600w PSU. That is why I am worried... Because of how many watts the PC will actually consume (including outside factors like weather). 

 

My pc has been running fine for some time now as I said, but I was just questioning all this because I was worried if the low wattage is killing the pc slowly or if it is not enough and will soon kill the pc.

The first source is obviously crap. The user just mentions random things that they don't seem to understand, and shows that they have no clue about PSUs. 

Spoiler

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You’re sufficiently on the cusp of the power supplies max to make the direction ill advised.

300W is barely over half of the PSU's max continuous output. That's not even close to the max. 

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The Power Supplies rate their output at given environmental temperatures, and IT’S EASY to over step that range in MANY instances. Dirt on the fan, papers on the side of the case… hot summer day… ALL these events will kill ya.

Decent PSUs are rated for 40-50°C. And decent PSUs, and even many crappy ones have OTP. 

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IF the Power Supply could be ‘safe’ at 550W, THEN IT WOULD SAY SO, as their competition ALL cut their specs to the MAX as well. Worse, the load presented by your entire system can increase as a function of environmental temp as well, so may work fine today, but at a 75 degree day in the future, then a cascading mass of damage can occur.

PSUs that aren't complete garbage from sketchy af companies, have their power rated for continuous power, and have margin. Typically, the max is ~+10%, and many have their OPP set at >+20-30% of that. 

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It goes like this: System asks for MORE than power supply can give on some particular rail, as a result, the voltage DROPS on that rail…which makes the current GO UP on certain components to balance out the drop… then they go beyond their heat capacity… and burn out. That’s how it will play out, and you’re risking your expensive video board, or mother board…. NOT the cheap-ass power supply. I’d go to 750 Watts.

It seems like he doesn't understand that the only rail used on a modern PC is the 12V rail. The other ones barely get used. And the rails have UVP to protect from under voltage. This is the case in any PSU that isn't crap.

He doesn't seem to understand what protections or thermal throttling is. Or how PSUs work. Or how the PC works in general. 

 

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What could happen if your PSU can't cope with the load is:

Bad 3D performance
Crashing games
Spontaneous reset or imminent shutdown of the PC
Freezing during gameplay
PSU overload can cause it to break down

The shutting down is correct. And everything else is obviously wrong. 

The wattage isn't going to be an issue. And the PSU is likely not crap. So there's nothing to worry about. 

[Mctech]

18 minutes ago, seon123 said:

The first source is obviously crap. The user just mentions random things that they don't seem to understand, and shows that they have no clue about PSUs. 

  Hide contents

300W is barely over half of the PSU's max continuous output. That's not even close to the max. 

Decent PSUs are rated for 40-50°C. And decent PSUs, and even many crappy ones have OTP. 

PSUs that aren't complete garbage from sketchy af companies, have their power rated for continuous power, and have margin. Typically, the max is ~+10%, and many have their OPP set at >+20-30% of that. 

It seems like he doesn't understand that the only rail used on a modern PC is the 12V rail. The other ones barely get used. And the rails have UVP to protect from under voltage. This is the case in any PSU that isn't crap.

He doesn't seem to understand what protections or thermal throttling is. Or how PSUs work. Or how the PC works in general. 

 

The shutting down is correct. And everything else is obviously wrong. 

The wattage isn't going to be an issue. And the PSU is likely not crap. So there's nothing to worry about. 

Wow... Thank you so much for your detailed response! Made it a lot more reassuring haha. I will keep my current power supply then!

[Mctech]

34 minutes ago, jonrosalia said:

that's a old gamer habit from back in the day when a i7 used to consume 200 watts by itself and graphics cards where pigs also so we haven't adapted to newer 80+ 500 watt power supplies being able to run the top end systems without a huge buffer because old PSUs where unreliable on voltage and watts it actually put out. we need to calm down a bit with power because what everything uses dropped off by a lot.

ahhh I see. Thanks for clearing everything up for me! I will keep my power supply and will be a lot less anxious haha. Thank you so much!