500w Antec psu ok for a 580 GTX?

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evanesce

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 19, 2011
Messages
190
I know manufacturer is recommending a 600w, but all I have on hand is 500w Antec.... It should just make it... I am not running anything else in the system, just hard drive mobo CD drive RAM, everything stock speed. Can I get away with this? :)
 
evanesce said:
I know manufacturer is recommending a 600w, but all I have on hand is 500w Antec.... It should just make it... I am not running anything else in the system, just hard drive mobo CD drive RAM, everything stock speed. Can I get away with this? :)
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Which 500W Antec? You see, there have been good 500W Antecs and crappy 500W Antecs available over the years.
 
Also depends how old your PSU is. But at stock speeds and only one hard drive you're probably fine.
 
evanesce said:
It's a Antec EarthWatts EA-500D Green 500W ATX12V v2.3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035&Tpk=N82E16817371035
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It also depends on the CPU platform that you'll be using the GTX 580 with. For example, if you're going to be using a relatively power-hungry CPU such as SB-E or an AMD FX CPU, you might not be able to use anything above a GTX 560 Ti (the standard edition with 384 cores) with that PSU. If on the other hand your CPU is a Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge i5, then the GTX 580 will work just fine if you don't overclock the CPU or the GPU.
 
Even with SB-E, OP will be fine without any excessive overclocking (over 40%)
 
Thanks guys, had a friend INSIST i'd need a 600w, now i can tell her nope, :p (BTW it's an intel sandy bridge 2500k, all stock clock)
 
Direfox said:
Stock clocking a 2500k is EBIL!!!!
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What is EBIL? Did you meant to say evil? I wanted stock clocking because it's a Hackintosh rig, and the last thing I need is OC instability at this time. I bought the K version because it was only a few more bucks than the non-k and it has the intel 3000 built in which is hackintosh supported (where is the HD 2k is NOT!)... :)
 
EA500D is better than many 600w PSU. Observation based on personal experience.
 
Thanks for the replies. I have it in and it seems to work, but while in 3D I can hear the power supply squealing quietly. Is this aright to happen? The computer is not locking up or anything.
 
evanesce said:
Ok, so I double checked the power supply, and it's not an EA-500D, it's a regular EA-500 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007 )

I noticed it said 500w max not continuous. Am I still OK?
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Depends on what revision you have. if it physically looks like the one on newegg's site that you linked then that appears to be a delta made unit.

There's also another EA-500 that's built by seasonic:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=35

Both should be OK for the 580 so long as it has the proper PCI-E connectors. Worst case you'd be looking at ~450watts of power draw:
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4008/33854.png
Normal gaming (crysis) draws a bit less ~390watts:
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4008/33853.png
Full test here (they run a i7-920 @ 3.33GHz):
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4008/nvidias-geforce-gtx-580

I wouldn't recommend any overclocking with that power supply though.
 
Cementhead said:
Id At least run a 750 bud. At least. and a good one at that. :)
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Completely unnecessary. A GTX580 only uses about 300w at stock clocks, and Sandy i5 is 95w at stock clocks. A hard drive is only about 10w, and a modern motherboard only uses a few watts. 750w is overkill for a single GPU rig, even overclocked.
 
You think the squealing is a defect cap perhaps? It's not very loud (I just happen to have the open case near my keyboard for testing purposes for now, but i'm sure when it's all packed away nice I won't hear anything. Here's a pic of what the psu looks like:

http://i50.tinypic.com/2hnthld.jpg
 
U can try it But you are SO better off running a bit more power than u need .. OCing on that is not realy goig to be a major option. My 2 cents.
 
when it's squealing it's only pulling in about 230w on the kill-a-watt... lol cheap psu?

EDIT: what are the symptoms of an insufficient PSU anyways?
 
Last edited:
evanesce said:
when it's squealing it's only pulling in about 230w on the kill-a-watt... lol cheap psu?

EDIT: what are the symptoms of an insufficient PSU anyways?
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- Computer shutting down under load (games, tests, benchmarks).
- Squealing sounds, and when sounds gets louder under load.
- Rattling noises.

Simply just stop using that PSU if you find it to be doing such things. Better safe than sorry.

Never cheap out on your PSU, it can take your whole computer with it down to hell.

EDIT:

May I also add in this as a consideration?

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1689877
 
A15G said:
My bad, the two above identifies a faulty PSU or one that is going out.
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Coil whine is very common, and it's not indicative of a dying PSU, it can have a myriad of causes, from poorly wrapped coils to an EMI soaked circuit... sometimes it goes away on its own.
 
Profumo said:
Coil whine is very common, and it's not indicative of a dying PSU, it can have a myriad of causes, from poorly wrapped coils to an EMI soaked circuit... sometimes it goes away on its own.
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Best not to take the chances in my opinion. I don't think anyone wants a whining computer.
 
Well since putting the case back together I don't hear any squealing anymore under load. I could have been just too close to it.
 
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