[SOLVED] Can I get away with using a 430w PSU?

[Looeelooee1]

So I just decided to go ahead and upgrade my PC. It's gonna have a Ryzen 3 1200 and an RX 570. My current PSU is this one - https://pcpartpicker.com/product/HvTmP6/evga-power-supply-100w10430kr - and I know that I technically should be using at least a 500w supply, but will this build work with the one I currently have? I'm on a tight budget and I don't want to spend money that I don't have to.
(I also have a spare 500w PSU from another build but it's around 10 or 11 years old so even though it would probably work I wouldn't want to use it unless I have to due to the risks)

 

[white.a.drew]

Saddly no if it doesn't in the end freeze your gpu it "WILL" heavily bottleneck it. Radeon gpu's saddly "NEED" there recommended power just like nvidia. I know this saddly from experience i had a psu 20w less then recommended, and it was constantly freezing the gpu in game. So pc would run pc was running game was just frozen to screen upgraded psu to 1000w and bam instant improvements. No lag no bottlenecking just precision gaming and 3d rendering.

 

[Looeelooee1]

Saddly no if it doesn't in the end freeze your gpu it "WILL" heavily bottleneck it. Radeon gpu's saddly "NEED" there recommended power just like nvidia. I know this saddly from experience i had a psu 20w less then recommended, and it was constantly freezing the gpu in game. So pc would run pc was running game was just frozen to screen upgraded psu to 1000w and bam instant improvements. No lag no bottlenecking just precision gaming and 3d rendering.

Aw man that's a bummer. I guess I'll try the old 500w that I have and if it doesn't work I'll go ahead and order a new one. Any recommendations on what I could get that will do the job and not break the bank account?

 

[white.a.drew]

Aw man that's a bummer. I guess I'll try the old 500w that I have and if it doesn't work I'll go ahead and order a new one. Any recommendations on what I could get that will do the job and not break the bank account?

What's your old psu? The rx series i dont believe have 6pin power connections so as long as it can provide stable vlt's to the mobo and cpu you should be great

 

[DSzymborski]

Aw man that's a bummer. I guess I'll try the old 500w that I have and if it doesn't work I'll go ahead and order a new one. Any recommendations on what I could get that will do the job and not break the bank account?

The Corsair CX450/550 tends to be the cheapest budget power supply worth buying (don't get a Corsair CX wattage that's similar if it has green letters, which was the branding of the older, far worse series). If your old 500W is low quality, you shouldn't use it at all.

 

[ElectrO_90]

Depends how good you are at Electronics, I have a before ran 2 PSU's because one was lower wattage but had the cables I needed and the other was more powerful and didn't have the cables I needed.
I ended up having both PSU's running, one for GPU and the other for Computer - not recommended if you don't know what you're doing.

Also as mentioned, if you have an older 500W PSU - it may not have the cables you need, also you should specify make/model as it could just be cheap and nasty.

 

[Looeelooee1]

What's your old psu? The rx series i dont believe have 6pin power connections so as long as it can provide stable vlt's to the mobo and cpu you should be great

The 570 does need a 6pin but my old PSU has one so it technically should work. With that being said it's a really old off brand - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_lw0TyjU_H3r16pmXdcAitvj_DfAI0Kz/view?usp=sharing - so I don't really trust it. I went ahead and ordered a new one just to be safe and then I'll probably sell or give away the old one. The PC that I used to use with the old power supply would crash all the time and it might have been another component but it could easily have been because of the PSU as well.

 

[Looeelooee1]

Depends how good you are at Electronics, I have a before ran 2 PSU's because one was lower wattage but had the cables I needed and the other was more powerful and didn't have the cables I needed.
I ended up having both PSU's running, one for GPU and the other for Computer - not recommended if you don't know what you're doing.

Also as mentioned, if you have an older 500W PSU - it may not have the cables you need, also you should specify make/model as it could just be cheap and nasty.

I was actually thinking about doing this but decided against it in case I mess something up. I just played it safe and ordered a new PSU. Hopefully it gets the job done.

 

[mgallo848]

If the 500 watt is a quality PSU it will be fine even if it is 10 yrs old. If it was a cheap model from 10 yrs ago then probably not.

Generally, you don't see too many quality 430w PSU's regardless of the age.

A friend of mine is still using a 10yr old, 550w PSU with his i7 6700k and RX 480. I don't remember what brand he has but I do remember it was a quality one at the time he bought it.

 

[Looeelooee1]

If the 500 watt is a quality PSU it will be fine even if it is 10 yrs old. If it was a cheap model from 10 yrs ago then probably not.

Generally, you don't see too many quality 430w PSU's regardless of the age.

A friend of mine is still using a 10yr old, 550w PSU with his i7 6700k and RX 480. I don't remember what brand he has but I do remember it was a quality one at the time he bought it.

Good to know. I'm pretty sure the one I have was high end at the time so I'll see how it goes.

 

[mgallo848]

Just make sure you run the CPU and GPU at stock speeds. Don't take a chance overclocking anything until a later date when you're able to buy a newer power supply.

 

[Looeelooee1]

Ok, so a quick update.
I did a bit of research and people have actually completed Ryzen 3 + RX 570 builds with identical PSUs to the 430w one I have (

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw-KmG84Rbo
). I decided to cancel my order for the new PSU. I'm gonna try to just stick with the Evga since it's newer, and then if for some reason it doesn't work, I'll try the old 500w one that I have, and I'll post back with my results. If both fail, then I guess I'll be forced to buy a new PSU.

 

[Looeelooee1]

Saddly no if it doesn't in the end freeze your gpu it "WILL" heavily bottleneck it. Radeon gpu's saddly "NEED" there recommended power just like nvidia. I know this saddly from experience i had a psu 20w less then recommended, and it was constantly freezing the gpu in game. So pc would run pc was running game was just frozen to screen upgraded psu to 1000w and bam instant improvements. No lag no bottlenecking just precision gaming and 3d rendering.

Ok, so a quick update.
I did a bit of research and people have actually completed Ryzen 3 + RX 570 builds with identical PSUs to the 430w one I have (

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw-KmG84Rbo
). I decided to cancel my order for the new PSU. I'm gonna try to just stick with the Evga since it's newer, and then if for some reason it doesn't work, I'll try the old 500w one that I have, and I'll post back with my results. If both fail, then I guess I'll be forced to buy a new PSU.

Actually going off of that, I looked at the actual wattage, and there's no way I need as much as a 500w PSU.

AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1 GHz Quad-Core Processor (I'll probs OC so it may be slightly higher)
8W - 65W

CRYORIG - H7 49 CFM CPU Cooler
5W - 10W

Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory
5W - 5W

Western Digital - WD Blue 750 GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive
3W - 15W

Kingston - A400 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
2W - 10W

ASRock - Radeon RX 570 4 GB Phantom Gaming D Video Card
37W - 150W

Total: 60W - 255W

430W should be WAY more than enough to run a system that at most will use 255W.

 

[white.a.drew]

Actually going off of that, I looked at the actual wattage, and there's no way I need as much as a 500w PSU.

AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1 GHz Quad-Core Processor (I'll probs OC so it may be slightly higher)
8W - 65W

CRYORIG - H7 49 CFM CPU Cooler
5W - 10W

Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory
5W - 5W

Western Digital - WD Blue 750 GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive
3W - 15W

Kingston - A400 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
2W - 10W

ASRock - Radeon RX 570 4 GB Phantom Gaming D Video Card
37W - 150W

Total: 60W - 255W

430W should be WAY more than enough to run a system that at most will use 255W.

hey i was just going off of what you stated in original post that you were told you need 500w. i just know GPU's NEED there recommend wats. If you get what you need then awesome.

 

[mgallo848]

https://img.purch.com/radeon-rx-570...wL29yaWdpbmFsLzAwLVdhdHRhZ2UtT3ZlcnZpZXcucG5n

 

[Looeelooee1]

https://img.purch.com/radeon-rx-570...wL29yaWdpbmFsLzAwLVdhdHRhZ2UtT3ZlcnZpZXcucG5n

Hmm... That's interesting. It's probably worth noting that mine is a non-OC model so the power consumption might be slightly less but that's probably negligible. Even if this card uses 200w, however, that would make total consumption just over 300w, which a 430w PSU should be able to handle with no issue, especially when it comes equipped with 6+2pin connectors.

 

[Looeelooee1]

hey i was just going off of what you stated in original post that you were told you need 500w. i just know GPU's NEED there recommend wats. If you get what you need then awesome.

Yea for sure. I'm hoping that even though they said it needs 500w, it doesn't actually need that, and going off what other people have done, it looks like it can indeed run on a slightly less powerful PSU. Like I said I'll post back here whether or not the 430w or old 500w supply works.

 

[mgallo848]

An 80+ certified power supply (which is what you have) will draw 120w for every 100w needed from your system.

255w x 20%= 301watts

Here's a review on your PSU: https://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/02/19/evga_430w_power_supply_review/9

"The load testing results for the EVGA 430W are different from what we saw from the 500B in that this unit failed to pass our load testing and the EVGA 500B did pass all of our tests. While that is, obviously, a bad result this unit was able to complete our testing at 120v. So, when we look at those numbers, we see that the voltage regulation was not stellar either. Indeed, during our load tests the 12v rail dropped by 0.34v! This was followed up by the 3.3v rail dropping by 0.06v and the 5v rail increasing by 0.1v. As we don't have many units to compare this one to, the only thing we can say is that this unit actually ends mixed compared to the Zalman ZM450-US save for the "450W" test where that unit failed. However, when we look at the 100v load tests we see that the EVGA 430W did not pass that portion of testing which, of course, is what makes this unit a failure by our testing standards. When we move on to the efficiency side of things, we see that efficiency values ranged from 79.62% to 83.44% at 120v and 79.17% to 82.48% at 100v for the tests it would complete. Now, when we move over to the 80 Plus tests, we found that the EVGA 430W was 77.91%-81.22%-78.22% efficient at 20%-50%-100% loads using 80 Plus’ load testing parameters. This means that this unit missed the 80 Plus mark by up to 2.09% at 20% and 100% load. This is very similar to what we saw with the EVGA 500B which also missed large swathes of it's claimed 80 Plus efficiency levels as well."

Basically, it will draw even more wattage than the numbers I posted above. This is why I was referring to "clean" power in my previous post.

 

[Looeelooee1]

An 80+ certified power supply (which is what you have) will draw 120w for every 100w needed from your system.

255w x 20%= 301watts

Here's a review on your PSU: https://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/02/19/evga_430w_power_supply_review/9

"The load testing results for the EVGA 430W are different from what we saw from the 500B in that this unit failed to pass our load testing and the EVGA 500B did pass all of our tests. While that is, obviously, a bad result this unit was able to complete our testing at 120v. So, when we look at those numbers, we see that the voltage regulation was not stellar either. Indeed, during our load tests the 12v rail dropped by 0.34v! This was followed up by the 3.3v rail dropping by 0.06v and the 5v rail increasing by 0.1v. As we don't have many units to compare this one to, the only thing we can say is that this unit actually ends mixed compared to the Zalman ZM450-US save for the "450W" test where that unit failed. However, when we look at the 100v load tests we see that the EVGA 430W did not pass that portion of testing which, of course, is what makes this unit a failure by our testing standards. When we move on to the efficiency side of things, we see that efficiency values ranged from 79.62% to 83.44% at 120v and 79.17% to 82.48% at 100v for the tests it would complete. Now, when we move over to the 80 Plus tests, we found that the EVGA 430W was 77.91%-81.22%-78.22% efficient at 20%-50%-100% loads using 80 Plus’ load testing parameters. This means that this unit missed the 80 Plus mark by up to 2.09% at 20% and 100% load. This is very similar to what we saw with the EVGA 500B which also missed large swathes of it's claimed 80 Plus efficiency levels as well."

Basically, it will draw even more wattage than the numbers I posted above. This is why I was referring to "clean" power in my previous post.

Yea I get what you're saying for sure. I know it will draw more than it's supposed to, but even if we take a liberal estimate and say 300w x 20% = 360W, that means at an absolute full load torture test type of scenario I've still got about 60W to spare, and in normal usage and even heavy gaming I should only really need 250W (give or take). I know it's cutting it close and probably isn't the smartest thing to do but the worst that happens is it doesn't work and then I order a new power supply or try the old 500W. I'll see how it goes and maybe even run some tests and then I'll post back here. Still waiting on some parts.

 

[DSzymborski]

Yea I get what you're saying for sure. I know it will draw more than it's supposed to, but even if we take a liberal estimate and say 300w x 20% = 360W, that means at an absolute full load torture test type of scenario I've still got about 60W to spare, and in normal usage and even heavy gaming I should only really need 250W (give or take). I know it's cutting it close and probably isn't the smartest thing to do but the worst that happens is it doesn't work and then I order a new power supply or try the old 500W. I'll see how it goes and maybe even run some tests and then I'll post back here. Still waiting on some parts.

Well, it's not a pure-garbage PSU, just a mediocre one, but the worst that happens isn't that it doesn't work, the worst that happens is that it doesn't work permanently.

You're making a mistake to focus on the wattage number. That only determines there's enough wattage, it doesn't say anything about the quality of the PSU.

You're putting a lot of faith in random YouTube videos. A lot of them cut corners on power supplies because using that budget for a better GPU or CPU is less fun than a safety part.

But in the end, it's your money and your risk, so either way, enjoy!

 

[Looeelooee1]

Well, it's not a pure-garbage PSU, just a mediocre one, but the worst that happens isn't that it doesn't work, the worst that happens is that it doesn't work permanently.

You're making a mistake to focus on the wattage number. That only determines there's enough wattage, it doesn't say anything about the quality of the PSU.

You're putting a lot of faith in random YouTube videos. A lot of them cut corners on power supplies because using that budget for a better GPU or CPU is less fun than a safety part.

But in the end, it's your money and your risk, so either way, enjoy!

Yea, I know it's not the greatest, but I've had it for 4 or so years and I've never had an issue with it (even on extreme overclocks with one of my older builds), so I don't know why it suddenly wouldn't work. If I could afford to spend more on a much nicer PSU I would do it in an instant, I'm always for better safe than sorry, but I just don't have the budget for it right now; as a college student money is really hard to come by. Most people that have used the Evga 430 have only said positive things about it in terms of reliability and so while it may not look the best on paper, it does perform and Evga is known for making great, reliable units.

 

[DSzymborski]

Yea, I know it's not the greatest, but I've had it for 4 or so years and I've never had an issue with it (even on extreme overclocks with one of my older builds), so I don't know why it suddenly wouldn't work. If I could afford to spend more on a much nicer PSU I would do it in an instant, I'm always for better safe than sorry, but I just don't have the budget for it right now; as a college student money is really hard to come by. Most people that have used the Evga 430 have only said positive things about it in terms of reliability and so while it may not look the best on paper, it does perform and Evga is known for making great, reliable units.

That's like arguing drunk driving is fine because lots of people make it home.

Good luck to you. Poor decisions don't always end up badly.

 

[Looeelooee1]

That's like arguing drunk driving is fine because lots of people make it home.

Good luck to you. Poor decisions don't always end up badly.

😂 You're not wrong. Pretty much banking on luck but hey the odds are in my favor. I'll see how it goes.

 

[Looeelooee1]

So I finished off the build and decided to try the Evga 430w. As of now, it's working flawlessly, and I've even got a stable 3.8ghz overclock on my Ryzen 3 1200! Hopefully, it stays this way and if not I'll post back with results. I guess the conclusion is that a 430w is definitely enough for the RX 570 despite their claims that it needs at least a 500w PSU.