I've been gradually upgrading my PC over the past couple of years, and I'm finally at the last stage of my upgrades before taking a break. I'm planning to get a new motherboard and CPU. My complete setup will include an RTX 4060 Ti, an i5 14400F, a B760M Gaming Plus Wi-Fi DDR4 motherboard, a 1TB NVMe SSD, and 64GB of 3200MHz DDR4 RAM. I used PCPartPicker to estimate wattage, which came to about 477W. My PSU is a Cooler Master MWE 500, and it's just a standard one—not Bronze rated. Given that I can't afford to replace it until Christmas, I'm worried if this PSU can handle heavy gaming without any issues. Will my PC be safe under load, or could it potentially cause damage?
1 Answer
You're probably fine for now! While the Cooler Master MWE 500 isn't the most efficient PSU and it's not Bronze rated, your estimated draw of 477W is still under its max. You might experience higher temperatures or some coil whine under intense loads, but it shouldn't 'explode' or fail right away. Just avoid heavy workloads or overclocking until you can get a better PSU, ideally something Gold-rated with 550-650W. Enjoy your new CPU and motherboard, but keep an eye out for any instability during intense gaming sessions!
I appreciate the advice! I plan to stick to less intensive games, like Marvel Rivals, until I can upgrade the PSU. Since it shouldn't max out my CPU, I’m hoping that’ll keep things safe.