Question Is my seasonic S12II 520W 80 plus bronze enough?

Oct 27, 2022
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I want to upgrade my gpu and the estimated wattage is 369W(pcpartpicker)

Do you guys think the 520W seasonic Will be enough?

Thanks😃
 

punkncat

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I am a bit of a fan of using parts that are good. With power supplies you have to take into account the importance of the job they do in the build as well as the value of the parts connected to it. Using older or "under-rated" PSU (more on that in a second) can be a gamble against replacement of the hardware vs the cost of a new PSU with the "proper" output. If you are willing to take that risk...

I went here:
Power Supply Calculator - PSU Calculator | OuterVision

I made a couple of guesses on what is connected and am seeing a load wattage of 315W and a recommended of less than 400W. This is based on no overclocking and fairly basic build out. You can enter your exact components, or as close as you can get and consider whether you are going to run an overclock as well as how many hours a day the system is on, and it will spit out a recommend.

In a case like this I tend to agree with @Zerk2012 in regard to the queried PSU and system spec. I think it will be fine with the above caveat in mind.
 
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Karadjgne

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You do not want to run a Ryzen, or a modern Intel on a group regulated psu. The group regulated are an older design that's been around, forever it seems, and it's generally solid. But it has drawbacks. It does not like the uber low power states that modern cpus use at idle and sleep, its not as accurate and responsive as a DC-DC switching and is really not that good with cross loading since the 5v and 12v are regulated, as a group. DC-DC uses independent regulation, all 3 rails seperate.
In this regulation type, +12V and 5V are generated together, and both of them feed their output voltage error to the regulator controller. This means that if the load is unbalanced between the rails, then the regulator controller will have a very hard time retaining a proper regulation. For example, if the load at +12V is high and the load at 5V is low, the voltage on the second rail will be raised, because the regulator controller tries to raise the +12V rail's voltage. But because the latter is tied to 5V, both of them are raised. This is why most group-regulated PSUs fail to keep their rails within +/-5 percent tolerance during cross-load tests.
Quote from Aris, psu 101

And transient loads are the entire reason why a 350w pc requires a 600w psu, anything less and when that gpu spikes the transient load, you'll pop the OCP (over current protection) and the pc shuts down completely and instantly. A larger psu will have higher OCP limits, so is better equipped to absorb the spike.
 
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Oct 27, 2022
11
0
10
You do not want to run a Ryzen, or a modern Intel on a group regulated psu. The group regulated are an older design that's been around, forever it seems, and it's generally solid. But it has drawbacks. It does not like the uber low power states that modern cpus use at idle and sleep, its not as accurate and responsive as a DC-DC switching and is really not that good with cross loading since the 5v and 12v are regulated, as a group. DC-DC uses independent regulation, all 3 rails seperate.


And transient loads are the entire reason why a 350w pc requires a 600w psu, anything less and when that gpu spikes the transient load, you'll pop the OCP (over current protection) and the pc shuts down completely and instantly. A larger psu will have higher OCP limits, so is better equipped to absorb the spike.
😅
I'm a bit lost tbf. I don't really understand that much about the topic, i just want to make sure the PSU has enough power to support the future upgrade. I know that my current PSU is not the greatest, atm i am using a ryzen 2600 and a gtx 1060... When I bought the PSU, it seemed fine for those parts. That was 4/5 years ago, so i don't mind spending extra on a PSU.

I was wondering if the bitfenix formula 650w is enough or if I should go for the 750W.


Also, I know the new amd graphics cards are about to be announced. Do you think i should buy the rx 5700 now or wait a bit for a possible price drop? I saw it at 410/430€ .


Thanks 😃
 
i just want to make sure the PSU has enough power to support the future upgrade
It's more than just the power. More important is how the power is made by the PSU and if the PSU has the correct protections. From that point of view your Seasonic is a very bad PSU for nowadays standards. Bad voltage regulation and bad and even missing (OCP and OTP) protections. 5 years ago it was already a bad purchase because there were a lot better PSU available back then.
Do you think i should buy the rx 5700 now or wait a bit for a possible price drop? I saw it at 410/430€ .
For that price you should be able to find a brand new RX 6600 XT. What country in Europe do you live?
 
Oct 27, 2022
11
0
10
It's more than just the power. More important is how the power is made by the PSU and if the PSU has the correct protections. From that point of view your Seasonic is a very bad PSU for nowadays standards. Bad voltage regulation and bad and even missing (OCP and OTP) protections. 5 years ago it was already a bad purchase because there were a lot better PSU available back then.

For that price you should be able to find a brand new RX 6600 XT. What country in Europe do you live?
The prices are very similar, the 6700 is 10/20 euros more expensive compared to the 6600xt. I live in Portugal btw

Is the PSU i talked about any good?
 
Oct 27, 2022
11
0
10
It's more than just the power. More important is how the power is made by the PSU and if the PSU has the correct protections. From that point of view your Seasonic is a very bad PSU for nowadays standards. Bad voltage regulation and bad and even missing (OCP and OTP) protections. 5 years ago it was already a bad purchase because there were a lot better PSU available back then.

For that price you should be able to find a brand new RX 6600 XT. What country in Europe do you live?
Its the 6700 not the 5700😅
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
It's more than just the power. More important is how the power is made by the PSU and if the PSU has the correct protections. From that point of view your Seasonic is a very bad PSU for nowadays standards. Bad voltage regulation and bad and even missing (OCP and OTP) protections. 5 years ago it was already a bad purchase because there were a lot better PSU available back then.

For that price you should be able to find a brand new RX 6600 XT. What country in Europe do you live?
? The Seasonic 520w/620w was one of the best psus of its time, better voltage regulation than most, didn't require discrete OCP because it's single rail OPP components acted the same as OCP. As far as OTP went, very few psus of that Era actually had OTP, mostly the upper class psus such as the RMx etc.

Compared to its competition, like the builder class CX, Evga 500B/600B etc, the S/M12-II bordered on excellent, being in the A2/B tier for several years.

Compared to modern platforms, it's sub-par, but it's still a solid psu, good enough for 3rd gen Intel or prior, FX cpus or 700 series nvidia etc.