I'm really excited because I've finally gotten the RX 580 GPU I wanted! However, I have a problem: I don't know the wattage of my PSU, which is really frustrating. The only thing I could find is a label on the back that says "AC/220V". Maybe I'm missing something? I keep hearing that I should check the wattage by removing the cover of my PC, but I'm not an electrician. Do I really need to know the wattage before I can install this GPU? My current setup includes an ASUS Prime A320M-K motherboard, an AMD Ryzen 5 3400GE Pro CPU with Radeon Vega 11 graphics, and 6GB of RAM (maxing out at 8GB). Is there any hope for me here?
4 Answers
Honestly, not knowing your PSU's wattage is a pretty clear sign that you might need a new one. It’s better to play it safe. Upgrading to a GPU increases power demands, and you don’t want to risk damaging your system due to insufficient power.
Have you checked all sides of the PSU? There should be a sticker with specs on it. And does it have the necessary PCIe cables for the GPU? You could try installing it, but if the system doesn’t boot or shuts down during gaming, you’ll know your PSU isn’t cutting it.
Is your PC prebuilt? If so, it might be easier to just take out the PSU and see what’s written on it. The label saying "AC/220V" is standard and doesn’t help much, but every decent PSU should have its wattage listed somewhere on the unit itself.
Unless you have a really cheap system, there should definitely be a label with specs on your PSU. If it doesn’t have at least a model number on it, it's a good idea to replace it. You could even find something better if you need to upgrade anyway.
Yeah, even the budget systems usually have that info. I’d recommend checking it out in detail.
Totally agree! It's definitely a red flag if you can’t find the wattage.