Am I Overloading My Psu?

[Copenskoal27]

Hello all, I come to you today with a question requarding the psu in my build. I'm mainly wondering if I am pushing this thing too hard, or if I need to worry at all with it. My system specs are

MSI z97 gaming 5
I5 4460
Xfx r9 390 (very slight overclock from 1000 mhz to 1080)
8 gb g skill ram
120gb ssd
2tb 7200 rpm drive
Seasonic g550 psu
7 case fans, 3 are led if it matters at all..

Basically im guessing I should be pulling around 450 watts when gaming max, but I could be wrong. After gaming for 5 hours straight and 3 firestrike runs my psu didn't even get warm to the touch nor was the air the fan was moving warm at all. Not sure if that determines anything either. I play in about a 68-70,degree a/c room.

At the end of the day I'm wondering if I'm pushing this thing too hard and if I'll need to upgrade. Anyone have any idea what I'm drawing from this thing under load anyway? The card does reccomend a 750 watt psu but that sounds like a crazy exaggeration. I just don't want my psu to fail and take out the rest of my pc.

Thanks a lot in advance! If you need anymore info just say so and I'll get it on here asap but I think I covered everything.

 

[mrmez]

Seasonic is a good brand.
It's at the upper limit of what's considered safe, so it should be fine.
If it were a cheaper brand, I'd be looking to upgrade sooner rather than later.

 

[Rhezner]

seasonic makes quality PSUs and you are pairing your 390 with a light processor so you will be fine.

The 12v rail is able to supply 45 amps of current and 540 watts of power which will be fine for your setup.

 

[Outlander_04]

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

Power supplies will last longer if they are never run near their limits . Usually they are most efficient in the 50-70% load range and that is where its best to have them running .
The other thing is that though seasonic have rated your psu as 550 watts it may be capable of considerably higher outputs without any trouble . This was certainly the case with the seasonic built HX Corsair psu's . The 620 watt units would still be making good clean steady current at 700+ watts .
Compare that to a lesser brand where a 550 watt psu would probably melt if you tried to pull 400 watts from it .

Obviously you are not having issues . Probably you will shorten the life of the psu , but probably it will still last as long as the rest of the computer anyway

 

[mrmez]

The 390 is a 275w TDP card. Add 200w and change for the rest of the system, and your running at 90% at max load. Usually gaming runs less than 100%, especially the CPU.
~80% would be idea.

 

[Outlander_04]

I dont often repeat myself either but since this is a bit of a trend its worth mentioning again that seasonic under rate their power supplies . Its easy to find online reviews where they have pulled 600 watts from that psu and its performing well in spec and running cool enough .

Under gaming load you are probably pulling 420 watts . Most of the time less than that .
Not ideal , but it is working

 

[nukemaster]

I dont often repeat myself, but I thought this needed saying twice.

It is a 650 watt power supply card and you are running 550 psu. Dont get me wrong,its a great 550 watt unit. It will bite you in the rear end sooner or later tho,cos the 12 volt rail/rails will be on or close to the limit.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
(You can knock near 50 watts off this figure with the locked haswell i5,but you are still in the chunks missing from butt zone),.

It depends greatly on the other hardware in the system.

I mean look at the 5770. They recommend 425 watts and 430 for the 650 ti(interesting as techpowerup lists the 650ti as needing LESS than the 5770. I agree with this and have both cards). Real kicker. 300 watt(22 amps @ 12 volts) power supply(the system is a lightweight). This thing idles under 50, most games are about 150 and the MAX I could get out of it was 180(all at the wall or UPS in this case).

Get a power meter to see how much the system uses at the wall and remember, power supplies are rated on OUTPUT not INPUT. so if you draw 350 from the wall, the power supply is putting out LESS.

The card may pull about 350(maybe a bit more) if you play the game of furmarks(not recommended anyway), but in normal games it should be less(maybe 250). Now it will have very short spikes of higher current and this is why a power supplies quality is important(That and dedicating as much as they can to the 12 volt rail).

Again, My recommendation is to buy,beg or borrow a power meter(UPM/Kill-a-watt/ect) to get an idea of your systems power draw.

 

[Copenskoal27]

If anyone's wondering why I went with that psu it's because I was running a gtx 970 ssc from evga, I recently returned it because I was hitting the vram cap in gta 5 and ended up with the 390 at $40 cheaper via best buy lol, and I'm very close to reference 980 levels with a small oc. Incase anyone cares I'm getting a 13300 ish 3d Mark score around 1100 mhz. I'm probably going to put my trust in seasonic and see how it plays out because all I have available to me is thermaltake (ew) at a local store. I'll be sure to update if anything happens.

 

[Copenskoal27]

I do understand this will shorten the lifespan of my power supply. The power supply will be moving over to my fiances build within the next month or so anyway Because I did intend on upgrading. But for now.. am I ok?

 

[Rhezner]

you are fine, don't worry about it.

 

[nukemaster]

Any quality power supply will shut down before causing issues. Even an overload will shut it down.

You can also lower power consumption(reduced cpu and gpu load) on less demanding games with vsync or other frame rate limiting.

Longevity has quite a bit to do with component quality as well.

My 300 watt power supply has been running 24/7 for 5 years. It is not a top end unit(not junk either) or anything. It also acts as an exhaust for some of the case heat. This is just an example of having what you need without going overkill. A 450 watt unit would have worked, but at that systems draw it may have been less efficient.

 

[Copenskoal27]

Appreciate everyones input very much! Thanks all.