Eli5 techy: online calculator recommends 400W of power supply, but VGA recommends 650W, is there a problem going below recommended?

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I’m about to upgrade my desktop computer. Using an online calculator and adding my components, it recommends a bit more than 200W of power. When I replace the VGA with the one that I want, it recommends 400W power. But when checking the VGA alone, it’s store page says: power supply 650W or more recommended.

My question is, I already have a 450W power supply, can I go with it? And what happens if the power is not enough? Will I risk any component?

Obs: Perhaps the calculator specifies raw energy, while the power supplies can deliver like 80% of what they say?

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15 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Remember that your desktop CPU alone is going to use either 95W or 125W by itself, and an add-on GPU is going to add somewhere in the ballpark of 200-300, depending on the model. That’s 325-425 without factoring in any drives or USB charging capacity- solid state drives use less power than hard drives, but 400W is still uncomfortably tight for something you’re upgrading for gaming. I had an FX-8350 with an R9 280 a few years back that took a 700W power supply to run comfortably with a mechanical hard drive.

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