do i need a bigger psu?

[viria]

i *think* my problem is my psu is too small, but id like some other opinions before dropping money on a new one.

i have a 500w pc power and cooling silencer psu. ive been getting random crashes since i built this. ive had the ram replaced after coming up with errors in memtest, but that didn't help. i still get errors *sometimes*, but others itll come up clean after hours of testing.

heres everything ive got in here:

asus p5q pro
core 2 duo e8400
4x1gb crucial ballistix ram
2x500gb seagate sata drives
1 lg sata dvdrw drive
ati radeon hd 4870
ati radeon hd 3450
sb audigy
sapphire theatrix 550 tuner

ive tried things like taking out the audigy and running onboard, removing the second video card, taking out the tuner.. my latest fix was hooking up a second psu to run the hds and dvd to take some load off the main psu. this helped a LOT which makes me think it IS the psu. i was having crashes several times a day but now its just a few times a week.

im not doing any overclocking, in fact ive tried underclocking though that didnt help. i gave the cpu a bit of extra voltage for a short time which also seemed to help, but i undid that when i put the second psu in.

one thing i dont get, ive tried some psu calculators.. one of them said at full load i should only draw 394w.. so a 500w should be fine then, especially a name brand one? are these things accurate?

i also have a thermaltake psu tester which says its fine, though its just a bunch of green lights so i dont know how accurate that is either.

if its NOT the psu the only other thing i can think of is my board needs to be replaced. should i try rmaing the board first or just get a bigger psu?

sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[theAnimal]

Assuming the PSU is working OK, it is more than enough for your system. Your system will never draw anywhere near 394W, the PSU calculators give you the recommended PSU wattage.

Why not use the 2nd PSU on it's own to rule the 1st one out?

BTW, welcome to Anandtech.

 

[nyker96]

I think should be enough. buy a killawatt and check the outlet voltage at load if you not sure. your 500W assuming is 80+ can take about 600W at the wall.

 

[viria]

the second one is kind of ghetto. its a cheap 450w one, no pci-e plugs, only two sata plugs, so i couldnt run everything off it. ive read about those killawatt things but thats extra money i cant really spare.

is there anything else i could look at? it seems to get worse all the time. it was fine for a few weeks when i moved the hds to the second psu, then it started crashing again. it seems like the psu is dying or something, i have to keep pulling more stuff out to stabilize it.