[SOLVED] Am I at risk of undervolting/damaging components?

[Mehda]

I just recently installed a very old graphics card that I had from years ago when I built my fist pc into my new pc to help run two extra monitors alongside my main one. So far it seems to be working well, but I am wondering if the gpu is possibly sucking too much power and undervolting or somehow damaging other components in my system.

System specs:
MSI B450-A PRO ATX motherboard
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X w/ Wraith Prism cooler
AMD Radeon RX 590 8GB
AMD Radeon R7 260X 1GB
G-Skill Ripjaws V 16GB 3200 MHz Memory
120 GB Corsair MP300 NVMe SSD
500 GB Samsung 850 EVO SATA SSD
Corsair CX 550M 550 Watt Semi-Modular PSU
some old optical drive that i haven't touched in years
5 case fans of mixed variety (not RGB)

 

[Ralston18]

An older GPU may not have the power demands of more current, powerful, and power hungry GPUs'.

What you need to do is to add up the power requirements of all your system's components. Use the high end wattage value if a wattage range is given.

Once the total wattage is calculated add 25% and compare that wattage value to your Corsair CX 550M.

How close are values? The current system wattage total should be less than 550 watts. If the values are equal or close to being equal then a higher wattage PSU is probably needed.

There are online calculators available to help add up the wattage component by component. There can be and are questions/concerns about such tools.

Use your own wattage tally plus 2 or 3 online calculators to get a consensus with regards to the wattage and recommended PSU wattage.

 

[Mehda]

Some of these sources are saying it will use more wattage than my PSU can supply. However, this secondary GPU will almost never exceed 35% utilization at the same time as other devices are. My CPU is almost never above 30% usage. Is there a risk of me damaging components even with these parts running at lower power states?

 

[Ralston18]

Key words: "almost never".

What happens if the CPU does, for some reason, exceed 30%?

Or some other more power demanding component (GPU) goes high?

No harm in having extra wattage available. Not true for too little wattage.

 

[dorsai]

I just recently installed a very old graphics card that I had from years ago when I built my fist pc into my new pc to help run two extra monitors alongside my main one. So far it seems to be working well, but I am wondering if the gpu is possibly sucking too much power and undervolting or somehow damaging other components in my system.

System specs:
MSI B450-A PRO ATX motherboard
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X w/ Wraith Prism cooler
AMD Radeon RX 590 8GB
AMD Radeon R7 260X 1GB
G-Skill Ripjaws V 16GB 3200 MHz Memory
120 GB Corsair MP300 NVMe SSD
500 GB Samsung 850 EVO SATA SSD
Corsair CX 550M 550 Watt Semi-Modular PSU
some old optical drive that i haven't touched in years
5 case fans of mixed variety (not RGB)

I would suggest replacing the power supply with something in the 750w range if possible...the 2700x is a power hungry CPU...and when paired with the 590 I would think a 550w PSU is already borderline.

The Corsair PSU should have an info label on it that details out the max amps available on the 12v rail...if you add up the 2 GPU's and the 2700x amp draw at max load I think you'll find your PSU is questionable.

 

[Mehda]

I checked PSU before purchasing the CPU and main GPU. It can support these components no problem. Seeing as running both of these cards is (according to these calculators) going to draw 580 watts at max load, I am curious if underclocking this secondary GPU would be a safe way to keep it from drawing too much power.

 

[dorsai]

I checked PSU before purchasing the CPU and main GPU. It can support these components no problem. Seeing as running both of these cards is (according to these calculators) going to draw 580 watts at max load, I am curious if underclocking this secondary GPU would be a safe way to keep it from drawing too much power.

It will help but ultimately pushing the PSU towards it's limits all the time will shorten the life of the unit.

As Ralston 18 stated a few comments earlier it's a good idea to size a PSU about 25-30% above your expected needs due to efficiency (which falls off quickly at max load) and lifespan of the unit.

 

[Mehda]

Thank you guys for all the information. I'm really not looking to buy a new PSU just yet so I am not entirely wanting to upgrade it. With this secondary GPU basically never reaching full power, and neither any component reaching max operating limits, I think I am going to keep running it with this extra card installed. If I begin to run into power problems or odd artifacts or crashing, then I will definitely look into purchasing a higher power unit.