Question Zalman 500W a sufficient PSU for build?

[Cheese Dripper]

Hello, I'm currently in the process looking for a PSU to use in a build I'm doing, however I'm unsure how it'll handle my specs
(Note: I live in NZ and with only the use of TradeMe options are very limited on the used market. Also on a very tight budget)

The PSU I'm looking at is a Zalman ZM500-GV

Specs:
i5 3570
EVGA GTX 680 SC
Gigabyte B75
8gb DDR3 (2x4gb)

I believe wattage shall be fine, but I'm not too sure on it's amperage for my GFX card. From what I know the GTX 680 requires 16amps and has a 190w TDP (Although mine doesn't g above 150w), however I'm not exactly sure on the PSU's capabilities. It does have 2 PCIE connectors (6+2) although they run off a single PCIE cable.

Thanks

 

[DSzymborski]

Hard pass on that one; it's a cheaply made group-regulated PSU. And likely a damn old one too, both from the archaic power distribution and the fact that it's bragging about being compliant with an ATX spec that was superseded 14 years ago.

It would be fine (sorta) with a modern budget GPU that didn't require supplementary power like a 1050 Ti or a 1650. I wouldn't use it on a powerful GPU, even if it's an old one, unless I didn't really care about how long the system would last.

It's old enough to not even make the PSU Tier List housed here, though I'd probably put it in Tier D (Recommended only for very cheap, iGPU systems)

Article - [psucultists] PSU tier list rev. 14.8 (Final Update Jul '21)

PSU Tier List 4.0 rev. 14.8 (outdated) Last Update: 12-07-2021 Legend : Gray - EoL/obsolete and/or otherwise not recommended for purchase. Green - small form-factor (gold and blue colors are disregarded due to scarcity of SFX PSUs) Gold - best units in the tier (includes requirements for blue...

forums.tomshardware.com

Zalman sells other things that are fine, but is not known for selling quality PSU, so you'll usually only see them in office type machines or thrown into budget prebuilts.

Your primary is that while you have a budget rig, you have a budget rig with significant power needs since you have a very old high-end card rather than a comparable recent budget card (like a 1050 Ti).

 

[DRagor]

Not disagreeing with the above, but the GPU is like 10 years old ... and worth like 20$. It would be hard to expect OP using PSU that costs more then his whole rig. Still I would also suggest looking for a more known model/brand.

 

[Cheese Dripper]

Not disagreeing with the above, but the GPU is like 10 years old ... and worth like 20$. It would be hard to expect OP using PSU that costs more then his whole rig. Still I would also suggest looking for a more known model/brand.

I mean- In NZ the used GFX card market is quite horrendous compared to US
Tragic really