Power supply worries...

[Thatguythatexists]

So a while ago I upgraded my PC with a new CPU and graphics card, and I'm getting conflicting info on whether my PSU is powerful and reliable enough So specs are...
MSI Z97A Gaming 7 motherboard
Intel Core i5 4690K CPU
MSI R9 390 Graphics Card
Coolermaster Hyper 412S cooler
2X4GB 1333MHz DDR3 CL9 Corsair XMS3
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB
WD Blue 7200RPM 1TB Drive
DVD-RW Drive
Strike-X Advance Black case, so a couple of external lights, 3X120mm fans and a 140mm.
A few USB devices, 5 or so including mouse and keyboard, got a Logitech G13 gamepad with fancay lights though...
About 5 or 6 hours a day usage on average
And the power supply I'm currently using is RM550, which in terms of wattage is fairly safe according all PSU calculators and most people on the internet but I'm worried that it's tier 3 and uses C(r)apXon caps so might not be the most reliable. Plan to keep the system for 4 or 5 years. I used it for about a year before I upgraded, but it was running an FX 4100 and GTX 750 Ti so no strain on it really. I can get a new power supply fairly soon but if I don't need one I will prioritize a RAM upgrade.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Thatguythatexists]

Forgot there's an LED fan controller too, and I usually keep the fans at about 800RPM excluding the CPU fan which is plugged into the motherboard.

 

[gotovato]

I understand where you're coming from as I blindly bought an rm1000 then learned it isn't the best. From all my posts, questions, and research the rm units are ok, As long as you aren't overclocking anything you'll be fine. I pull about 800watts out of my psu during long 4-6hour gaming sessions and my system is heavily overclocked. I haven't had any issues yet but I plan to replace it once I have the money. For piece of mind. I think you'll be fine and if you do decide to oc your system then maybe start looking for a better psu. For the time being you can monitor your voltages with hwinfo64. Not 100% accurate but it should give you some idea if your psu is failing or not. Keep an eye on the 12v rail. As long as it isn't dropping below 11.6v you're fine.

 

[Thatguythatexists]

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll wait for a tad more before I choose a solution just to be more certain, as this issue is rather important , gonna try HWinfo64 now and I'll post what it says.

 

[gotovato]

No problem. I think you'll be just fine. If you haven't had any issues your system is probably ok. Just don't overclock anything. I don't think you have the psu headroom for overclocking.

 

[Thatguythatexists]

So I'm having trouble with HWiNFO and can't actually find the voltage readouts, but the only issue I've had is the other day I was playing a Dota 2 bot match and it force closed because it said windows was running out of RAM, but I have a 10GB page file. To be fair, I did have a lot of stuff open, and it doesn't sound like a power issue, but still, slightly disconcerting.
Edit: 12V voltage is 12.384, all is well

 

[InvalidError]

And the power supply I'm currently using is RM550, which in terms of wattage is fairly safe according all PSU calculators and most people on the internet but I'm worried that it's tier 3 and uses C(r)apXon caps so might not be the most reliable.

According to this review:
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Cases-and-Cooling/Corsair-RM-Series-550W-Power-Supply-Review/Detailed-Look

The RM550 uses Nippon Chemi-Con electrolytics.

The model may have landed in tier three on the list but not for using cheap capacitors.

 

[gotovato]

Perfect. Stress your system. Watch the 12. If it doesn't dip below 11.6 you're good to go

 

[Thatguythatexists]

And the power supply I'm currently using is RM550, which in terms of wattage is fairly safe according all PSU calculators and most people on the internet but I'm worried that it's tier 3 and uses C(r)apXon caps so might not be the most reliable.

According to this review:
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Cases-and-Cooling/Corsair-RM-Series-550W-Power-Supply-Review/Detailed-Look

The RM550 uses Nippon Chemi-Con electrolytics.

The model may have landed in tier three on the list but not for using cheap capacitors.

Really? That's weird, maybe they changed it shortly after release, I remember seeing someone say that they use Nippons now, but mine is over a year old so it may still be using C(r)apXons, it definitely launched with them as far as I know. Is there any way to check what mine uses without voiding my warranty?

 

[Thatguythatexists]

Perfect. Stress your system. Watch the 12. If it doesn't dip below 11.6 you're good to go

Stressed with Prime95 and Valley, didn't even fluctuate 😀

 

[imrazor]

If I recall correctly, AMD specifies a 750w PSU minimum for the R9 390. However according to this:

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

A quality 650w should be sufficient. Anecdotal reports seem to support the assertion that 650w is a safe minimum. More power to you if you can make everything work with a 550w...

 

[Thatguythatexists]

If I recall correctly, AMD specifies a 750w PSU minimum for the R9 390. However according to this:

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

A quality 650w should be sufficient. Anecdotal reports seem to support the assertion that 650w is a safe minimum. More power to you if you can make everything work with a 550w...

All the board partners quote drastically different PSU requirements, but remember they're quite over the top as they want as little RMAs as possible to be blamed on the cards themselves. I tried to RMA an R7 260X a while back that I replaced with my 750 Ti, and Ebuyer said that 500W wasn't enough for a £110 graphics card (lol?) so it took a week of phone calls to get that card out of my system (it had faulty memory modules that I could prove). So to this day I don't pay much attention to those quotes. Thanks for the input though

 

[InvalidError]

Is there any way to check what mine uses without voiding my warranty?

Use a flashlight and see if you can spot the brand on caps you can see through ventilation holes and between fan blades?

 

[Thatguythatexists]

Is there any way to check what mine uses without voiding my warranty?

Use a flashlight and see if you can spot the brand on caps you can see through ventilation holes and between fan blades?

Good suggestion, will give it a go 😀

 

[Thatguythatexists]

Can't read anything under there, fan blades are too wide. It seems to be holding up fine on the 12V so I can only assume that it's dealing with the system just fine. eXtreme power supply calculator when I enter everything in quotes 501W max load and 551W recommended, so I'm feeling pretty safe at this point. Thanks for your inputs guys!

 

[gotovato]

Yea you're perfect. If the 12v isn't moving at all you're golden. Enjoy!

 

[InvalidError]

Can't read anything under there, fan blades are too wide.

If you shine the flashlight through the fan blades, you might be able to read something through the ventilation holes/slots on other angles or vice-versa. You could also try using a digital camera to see if it has better luck with the glare and focusing through housing holes than your eyes do - you might be surprised at how much more detail you can get this way once you know your camera's quirks well enough to make them work to your advantage. (Ex.: most affordable cameras have no manual focus and exposure, so the first two most useful quirks to learn to exploit on cameras with partial detent for AF/exposure lock is how to lock AF/exposure before taking a shot to emulate manual focus and exposure.)

 

[Thatguythatexists]

Can't read anything under there, fan blades are too wide.

If you shine the flashlight through the fan blades, you might be able to read something through the ventilation holes/slots on other angles or vice-versa. You could also try using a digital camera to see if it has better luck with the glare and focusing through housing holes than your eyes do - you might be surprised at how much more detail you can get this way once you know your camera's quirks well enough to make them work to your advantage. (Ex.: most affordable cameras have no manual focus and exposure, so the first two most useful quirks to learn to exploit on cameras with partial detent for AF/exposure lock is how to lock AF/exposure before taking a shot to emulate manual focus and exposure.)

It's getting late, I'll try that tomorrow. As long as it doesn't somehow blow up when I'm at school and it's not powered on, we should be fine. Thanks again though!

 

[Thatguythatexists]

Yea you're perfect. If the 12v isn't moving at all you're golden. Enjoy!

Thanks, with regards to overclocking I don't plan to be doing much of that for a loooong time as I'm running 1080p right now which is obviously a cakewalk for my 390 and overclocking isn't the best for longevity which was the entire purpose of this build. When I get a 1440p monitor at some point in the distant future I may well overclock a bit, depends on how efficient DX12 is but by that point I may well have a new PSU too.