There is a significant difference between 500 and 550 psu in terms of performance and suitability.
There is a significant difference between 500 and 550 psu in terms of performance and suitability.
Hi guys, I'm planning to upgrade my GPU from 1050 to 3060/3060ti. Is a 50W difference significant? I currently have an PSU that's Seasonic S12III-500, 80+ Bronze, with 500W capacity. The PSU calculator sites suggest around 550W. Should I upgrade the PSU first or the GPU? My setup includes: Ryzen 5 5600, 16GB RAM at 3200MHz, one SSD (M2), one SATA SSD, and a 7200 RPM HDD in four cases.
The PSU doesn't meet the required quality or power needs for that GPU. Seasonic offers some good options, but none quite fit this situation.
I own this PSU Seasonic S12III-500, 80+ Bronze, 500W. It seems like it's not very reliable. I'm planning to switch my GPU from 1050 to 3060/3060ti. If you're considering an RTX3060Ti, I need a solid power supply with at least 650W for the whole system. Should I upgrade my PSU before the GPU, or is it better to upgrade the PSU first? That seems like a more sensible approach. It's important to strengthen your setup before adding new components.
So here are these PSUs I found:
Be quiet! Straight Power 11 650W, 80+ Gold, 650W, about 137 euros
SilentiumPC Supremo L2, 80+ Gold, 650W, 92% efficiency, around 88 euros
be quiet! Pure Power 12 M, 80+ Gold, 750W, 92% efficiency, roughly 132 euros
Sursa ASUS TUF GAMING, 80+ Gold, 750W, 92% efficiency, approximately 160 euros
But I need to get some cash first 😀
These are significantly better power supplies than what you currently have.
These are the only options currently available, but I'll reach out again once I have some cash. Thanks.
I wouldn't upgrade the GPU until I had a more reliable power supply.
Could there be other components affected besides the PSU? Or are shutdowns happening randomly with the PSU also failing?
The Seasonic S/M-12 III is a Seasonic platform design, but it wasn’t actually developed by Seasonic themselves. They outsourced this work to RSY, which currently doesn’t match Seasonic’s internal standards closely. This particular model represents the lowest quality Seasonic-branded power supply units still being produced. There’s a clear distinction between the 50W and 100W versions—there aren’t any high-end 500W ATX PSUs I’m aware of, though several 550W models are available that perform quite well.
A modest 50W unit can significantly impact performance, stability, boosts, and reliability, depending on the specific PSU chosen. Pure DC voltage is a steady line, while AC voltage naturally fluctuates up and down. If a PSU has insufficient filtering, it can cause components like the CPU, GPU, or RAM to receive voltage that resembles AC, leading to overheating, failure, crashes, blue screens, black screens, and overall poor performance.
The PSU is arguably the most critical component in any PC—it powers everything, and anything affected by its condition will suffer. It’s essentially the heart of the system; if it’s faulty, the entire setup risks significant issues, potentially costing more than the initial purchase price of a good PSU.