Amps on 12v vs total wattage

[gran172]

Hey, so i just got my pc a few months ago: I5 4590, R9 380 4GB, 8GB Ram, 1TB HD, EVGA 430W 80+. Thing is, the guys who built the pc for me decided which PSU to use since i didn't know much about them at the time, they went with a EVGA 430w 80+. Thing is, lots of people have said to me that i'm really on the limit with my psu, but here's my question: the power supply has 34A on the 12v (meaning 408w), and my system uses 363w max acording to PCPartPicker, so am i really on the limit?

 

[Sakkura]

The R9 380 draws less than 200W in games (~230W in Furmark), and the Core i5-4590 draws less than 100W. With the rest of the system drawing less than 50W, you'd only barely break 300W power draw. So you're not really at the limit. You can put a fairly heavy load on the power supply, but it's not dangerously high. The fact that it's a rather low quality power supply means you shouldn't expect it to last forever, but it's fine for the time being.

 

[Rogue Leader]

The R9 380 recommends a 550w PSU. It can definitely run with less but basically when gaming at full throttle you're pulling everything that PSU can give out of it. Its not efficient and it will wear it down fairly quickly. That wear leads to instability, and then crashes. Thats why they recommend 550w for a cushion.

 

[gran172]

So i'm guessing you guys wouldn't recommend a gpu oc?

 

[Rogue Leader]

So i'm guessing you guys wouldn't recommend a gpu oc?

Absolutely not.

You need to buy a larger better quality PSU to even consider that.

 

[gran172]

Oh ok, thanks for saving my pc from burning/exploding haha. How much would you guys recommend for OC'ing my gpu?

 

[Sakkura]

Good quality 450W should just about do it, but you might as well go 500+ if you upgrade.

 

[gran172]

Good quality 450W should just about do it, but you might as well go 500+ if you upgrade.

Thanks !