[SOLVED] Is Seasonic 550W GOLD PSU enough for Sapphire Nitro+ RX 5700 XT?

[Fury4N]

So I just bought the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 5700 XT to replace my dead GPU. Before i bought my new GPU, I have read posts and reviews that 550W is fine/enough for the 5700 XT(which i think they're referring to the reference model). The wattage calculators also says it's fine. But what's stated on the box of my GPU is different story, it requires 600W minimum and in which it concerns me a lot. Currently i have the following PC specs:

CPU	i5-7400
MOBO	MSI B250-M Mortar
CPU Cooler	Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi
GPU	Sapphire Nitro+ RX 5700 XT
RAM	G.Skill Trident Z Royal (2x8GB 3200mhz)
PSU	Seasonic Focus Gold 550W
SSD	Samsung 860 Evo 256GB
HDD	1TB Seagate Barracuda
Case:	NZXT S340
Case fans:	1x Thermaltake Riing Fan (static red)
	1x PCCooler RGB
	1x NZXT case stock fan

Also since my CPU is a bottleneck on my GPU, I'm planning to upgrade to Ryzen 5 3600 in a near future.
Is my PC fine? Or should I get a new PSU with higher wattage ASAP? Thanks a lot! 😬

 

[PC Tailor]

A good quality 550W should be fine. And the Focus Gold is excellent quality. I just would be wary about overclocking for example.

Myself and some others actually answered almost thr exact same question only a few days back and explained the 600W recommendation for that card - and when the recommendation is important to follow:
https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/recommended-power-supply-for-graphics-card.3530377/

 

[Fury4N]

A good quality 550W should be fine. And the Focus Gold is excellent quality. I just would be wary about overclocking for example.

Myself and some others actually answered almost thr exact same question only a few days back and explained the 600W recommendation for that card - and when the recommendation is important to follow:
https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/recommended-power-supply-for-graphics-card.3530377/

To put things straight, if all my components are at stock settings my system is fine. If i'm going to do some overclocking, i need to upgrade my PSU to higher wattage with a trusted brand such as Seasonic.

 

[Karadjgne]

No. When it comes to gaming designed psus, there's really only 3 types. Good, mediocre or junk.

Good psus will go upto 100% loads and not blink. They'll do so even at 50°C and still put out rated voltages.
Mediocre psus don't like 100%. They'll do it for very short periods before complaining. Usually they be tested at 30-40°C, higher than that and the voltage ratings drop off.
Junk. Good luck with getting them over 50% loads and not have them fry. Start getting over 20-25°C and, well, junk.

Amd sells to everyone. And everyone does not purchase a good psu. They often buy fancy sounding junk with fancy gaming names, fancy rgb fans and a lot of hype about abilities. You can easily find 700w psus with Gold in their name that only have a single 6pin pcie and an 18A 12v rail.

So amd must average out the junk, with the mediocre and the good.

My cpu is pushing over 150w OC. My gpu is at 124%OC, definitely hitting close to the 225w connector limits. Add in the rest of the pc (about 100w worth) and my pc max's out around 475w full load. On a 550w Evga G2. Normal gaming loads max on the psu are @ 70% of max, so figure I'm gaming at @ 330w, or about 60% effective.

R5 3600 might be lucky to see 100w with OC, maxed out. The 5700xt might be lucky to see 250w or a hair more. Add another 100w for everything else, and absolute max stress torture test on the entire pc will put it at @ 450w. Gaming about 300w.

Amd recommends 600w to cover its backside when dealing with junk psus that blow up over 50% loads. Also happens to put good psus right at @ 50-70% range, which equates to maximum efficiency levels in the 80+ ratings.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f6snWfd1v7M

Look at the claimed wattage vrs wattage loads at death.

Your pc won't have power issues with a good 550w psu. It might have issues with a mediocre 550w, it'll definitely have issues with junk.

But I'd put my 550w G2 up against any piece of junk, even 850w rated.

 

[Fury4N]

No. When it comes to gaming designed psus, there's really only 3 types. Good, mediocre or junk.

This is very informative and thank you very much for that! 🙂
I just have a question which type does my PSU (Seasonic Focus Gold 550W) belong?

 

[TJ Hooker]

Your PSU is good quality and it's enough power even if you want to OC your graphics card (you can't OC your CPU anyway).

 

[Karadjgne]

The Seasonic Focus is a long way from mediocre, well into good status. If the Prime titanium series is Royalty, the Focus would be a Count or a Duke.