Question Not sure if I have enough power.

[Loonmario]

Is a EVGA 500 BR 100-BR-0500-K1 500W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI CrossFire 80 PLUS BRONZE enough for this setup? It will be on 24/7 running Plex, recording OTA HD, and gaming. I already have the power supply and the computer seems to work fine but wondering about long term. Power calculators online say I need 550-560 watts.

Intel i5-4690 quad-core 3.5ghz cpu 4th gen
Asus H81M-E motherboard
MSI Radeon RX 580 4GB
Asus Xonar DGX sound card
2x8GB G.Skill DDR3 1333mhz ram
Crucial 480GB SSD
x2 4TB 7,200 rpm storage drives
x2 120mm fans
USB 3.0 TV Tuner

 

[UsandThem]

The PSU will be plenty for that build.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Hmm. I'm on the TeAm (*DC sub-forum), and I just recently switched up a PC that has 2x RX 570 (each 8-pin PCI-E power), running off a 600W EVGA Bronze PSU (well-used, for mining in the past), from mining using NH, to BOINC, to run PrimeGrid, and after like 15 minutes, I found it powered-off for some reason when I looked back down at it. Not sure what the issue is/was, I'm keeping an eye out. (Well, darn it, it was powered-off again!)

Maybe this rig isn't made for DC work, or maybe, I forgot to shut off the "Sleep after 30 minutes", that it defaults to in Windows, because I couldn't access Power Options, because Windows Search was borked, because of Windows Update KB4515194 (*something like that, Aug. 2019 Cum. update, borked search for some people, best to un-install that update.)

Edit: Nope, Power Options was set to "Disabled" for "Sleep after". So the PSU indeed isn't good enough for PrimeGrid on dual GPUs.

Edit: I would upgrade your PSU. Get a 750/850W 80Plus Gold PSU, IMHO. Something with a 10-year warranty.

Though, I had trouble with a 650W 80Plus Gold EVGA G+/G1+ PSU, driving both of these same GPUs, shutting off. Hmm, maybe it's the GPUs doing it, somehow. Can a GPU shut down a system, due to some PCI-SMI interrupt, maybe if it detects temps too high, like above 90C?

 

[Topweasel]

I would upgrade it seems like you would be using ~ 300-325w worth of power at heavy usage (and momentarily at power on). 80+ Bronze means that its generally only good for 80-82 efficiency. That means at at full usage (500w from the wall), it can only feed your system 410w at best. So that means in heavy usage you should have a 70w-80w buffer and only running the power supply at 75-78% of its max load under stress and power up. But the more you use it (on 24/7) specially at load the worse its efficiency will be after time and will probably be the first device to fail. I mean its a tough choice really you aren't really pushing it but you aren't giving it a whole lot of breathing room. It's fans will be running most of the time meaning a lot of dust and therefore more heat meaning quicker degradation. But its a decent buff if smaller then what I would be comfortable with. Also keep in mind that it will also now become an influencing aspect of any upgrades you choose in the future. Might be worth it to see if you can get a 600+ Gold affordably.

 

[VirtualLarry]

80+ Bronze means that its generally only good for 80-82 efficiency. That means at at full usage (500w from the wall), it can only feed your system 410w at best.

It doesn't work that way. PSU wattage specifications, are "DC load", not "at the wall". They can exceed the rated wattage "at the wall, and because of efficiency issues, they do". So likely, at full load, it probably shows as 600W "at the wall", at max load.

 

[mindless1]

PSU calculators can be wildly off, I'd put a Kill-A-Watt on it and replicate the loads (gaming and HD recording) to get numbers rather than an all out stress test app, and take that # to do a rough calculation on output power at say 85% efficiency, and use a multimeter to measure voltage on each rail under load. If the rail is too weak for the load then you will see a significant voltage drop from idle to load state, regardless of whether the total wattage is supposedly enough.

What I usually do with lower spec PSU is just open them up and inspect the capacitors every year or so (and clean dust out if needed) though PSU control circuits have gotten better. It is rarer today to find that a failing PSU damages any other system components, rather it just starts to shut off and eventually won't turn on... as long as you avoid the bottom of the barrel generic junk that weighs almost nothing and is half empty inside.

On the other hand, it is generally true that if you buy a higher quality model that also has a higher wattage rating, it will last longer before failure. If this system is considered important (to mininimize downtime) you might want to get a new PSU and save the current one as a backup while it still works.