Choosing the Best PSU for AMD’s Radeon RX 580 GPU
Learn how to choose a power supply for AMD’s Radeon RX 580 GPU based on power consumption and other factors.
In this article, I’ll go over the things you should consider when choosing a power supply for your computer with an AMD Radeon RX 580 graphics card.
Check out my Recommended Power Supplies for RX 580 GPUs below.
Best 750–1650 Watt PSU
Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 Series 80+ Gold Full Modular ATX 3.0 PCIe Gen 5 Power Supply
Check Price on Amazon
Amazon Affiliate Link
Best 650–1000 Watt PSU
EVGA SuperNOVA G5 Series Fully Modular Power Supply (220-G5-0650-X1)
Check Price on Amazon
Amazon Affiliate Link
How to Choose a Power Supply for the RX 580 GPU
The main job of a power supply is to convert the alternating current (AC) from your wall outlet into the direct current (DC) needed by the components inside your computer.
Power Output
An important factor when buying a PSU is the supported wattage.
You will need to add up the power consumption of each computer component to determine the total output power requirements for your power supply.
The peak power consumption of AMD’s Radeon RX 580 GPU is 185 W.
You can estimate your power requirements by using the following chart.
| Component | Peak Power Usage |
|---|---|
| RX 580 GPU | 185 W |
| Top-Tier CPU (e.g., Intel Core i9 13900K) | 253 W |
| Mid-Tier CPU (e.g., Intel Core i5 13600K) | 181 W |
| Motherboard | 80 W |
| Optical Drive | 30 W |
| 3.5″ Hard Drive | 9 W |
| M.2 or 2.5″ SSD | 9 W |
| 140 mm Case/CPU Fan | 6 W |
| 120 mm Case/CPU Fan | 6 W |
| 80 mm Case/CPU Fan | 3 W |
By adding up these numbers, you can estimate peak power usage.
Check out the top-tier and mid-tier example builds below.
It’s generally a good idea to add a 100–150 W buffer to your expected usage. This buffer will give you some flexibility in case of miscalculations and will allow you to add more drives, fans, or add-in cards in the future.
In most cases, buying a little more wattage than you need is a safer choice for ensuring system stability.
Don’t forget to account for the additional power required for overclocking if you intend to overclock your CPU or GPU. Overclocking could require roughly an extra 50–100 W, depending on how much you overclock these devices.
Check another AMD GPU:
Radeon RX 7900 XTX Radeon RX 7900 XT Radeon RX 6900 XT Radeon RX 6800 XT Radeon RX 6800 Radeon RX 6700 XT Radeon RX 6600 XT Radeon RX 6600 Radeon RX 6500 XT Radeon RX 6400 Radeon RX 5700 XT Radeon RX 5700 Radeon RX 5600 XT Radeon RX 5600 Radeon RX 5500 XT Radeon RX 5500 Radeon RX 5300 XT Radeon RX 5300 Radeon VII Radeon RX Vega 64 Liquid Radeon RX Vega 64 Radeon RX Vega 56 Radeon RX 590 Radeon RX 580 Radeon RX 570 Radeon RX 560 Radeon RX 550 Radeon RX 480 Radeon RX 470 Radeon RX 460
Top-Tier Estimate:
| Top-Tier Components | Peak Power Consumption |
|---|---|
| RX 580 GPU | 185 watts |
Top-Tier CPU (e. g., Intel Core i9 13900K) |
253 watts |
| Motherboard | 80 watts |
| 4 M.2 or 2.5″ SSDs | 36 watts |
| 3 Case Fans (120 mm) | 18 watts |
| 2 CPU Fans (120 mm) | 12 watts |
| Total Estimate: | 584 watts |
| Recommended Power Supply Wattage: | 750 watts |
Check the latest price of the 750–1650 watt Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 ATX 3.0 Power Supply on Amazon (affiliate link).
Check out my Recommended Power Supplies for RX 580 GPUs below.
Featured 1000 Watt PSUs ›
Amazon Affiliate Links
Corsair RMX Series (2021), RM1000x, 1000 Watt, Gold, Fully Modular Power Supply,Black
Check Price on Amazon
Corsair HX Series, HX1000, 1000 Watt, Fully Modular Power Supply, 80+ Platinum Certified, CP-9020139-NA
Check Price on Amazon
Mid-Tier Estimate:
| Mid-Tier Components | Peak Power Consumption |
|---|---|
| RX 580 GPU | 185 watts |
Mid-Tier CPU (e. g., Intel Core i5 13600K) |
181 watts |
| Motherboard | 80 watts |
| 2 M.2 or 2.5″ SSDs | 18 watts |
| 2 Case Fans (120 mm) | 12 watts |
| 2 CPU Fans (120 mm) | 12 watts |
| Total Estimate: | 488 watts |
| Recommended Power Supply Wattage: | 650 watts |
Check the latest price of the 450–750 watt Corsair SF Power Supplies on Amazon (affiliate link).
Check out my Recommended Power Supplies for RX 580 GPUs below.
Featured 750 Watt PSUs ›
Amazon Affiliate Links
Corsair RMX Series (2021), RM750x, 750 Watt, Gold, Fully Modular Power Supply
Check Price on Amazon
Thermaltake Toughpower 750W 80 Plus Gold Semi Modular PSU ATX 12V or EPS 12V Ultra Quiet Power Supply PS-TPD-0750MPCGUS-1
Check Price on Amazon
Power Efficiency
PSUs with higher efficiency ratings use less energy and produce less heat, improving their reliability and reducing noise.
The 80 PLUS certification program for power supplies helps to promote energy efficiency by indicating its efficiency rating.
Higher efficiency power supplies may have a higher upfront cost. However, they could potentially save you money on electricity in the long run.
Lower wattage PSUs will be more power-efficient even when idle. For this reason, you may be able to save more on electricity by getting the correct wattage of PSU than by getting the one with the best 80 PLUS rating.
| Certification Level | 10% Load | 20% Load | 50% Load | 100% Load |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 Plus | 80% | 80% | 80% | |
| 80 Plus Bronze | 82% | 85% | 82% | |
| 80 Plus Silver | 85% | 88% | 85% | |
| 80 Plus Gold | 87% | 90% | 87% | |
| 80 Plus Platinum | 90% | 92% | 89% | |
| 80 Plus Titanium | 90% | 92% | 94% | 90% |
Cables
Connectors
Make sure your PSU has the correct connectors to support the hardware in your system.
Cheaper PSUs may cut costs on connectors and cables by offering fewer options and shorter lengths.
Check with your motherboard and graphics card documentation to determine which connector types are needed. Buy a popular, recently-released PSU; it will likely have the necessary connectors for a new PC build. However, if you use old components or an old power supply, you may find some incompatibilities.
Here are some common connector types that power supplies support:
- 24-pin connector for the motherboard
- 4/8-pin connector for the CPU
- 6/8/16-pin connectors for graphics cards
- SATA Power connector for each SATA HDD or SDD storage device
The latest graphics cards and ATX 3.0 PSUs support a new 16-pin PCIe 5.0 connector that replaces multiple 8-pin connectors.
Modular Cables
Typical power supplies come with various cables to connect your components. However, extra unused power cables can work against you by interrupting airflow.
In comparison, modular and semi-modular power supplies allow for attaching only the cables you need. As the name implies, semi-modular power supplies have some wires soldered on, while you can optionally connect others.
Cable Lengths
Most power supplies will have cables long enough to support mid-sized towers comfortably. If you have a full-size tower, you may want to check reviews and documentation to ensure that the cables are long enough to allow good cable management.
Power Supply Form Factors
Various form factors are available for power supplies. However, a standard-size desktop PC build will use an ATX power supply.
Small form factor PSUs allow for usage in many computer case shapes, including mini-PCs.
Power Supply Features
Overvoltage protection and short circuit protection can help to save your components in the case of a surge or accident.
LED lighting is another feature you might consider, depending on your PC goals.
Choosing a Cost-Effective Power Supply for the RX 580
Perhaps you live in a dorm or a family member’s house and don’t pay the power bill. Or maybe you don’t expect the computer to have heavy daily usage. In those cases, the lower upfront cost of a less efficient PSU may be the better choice.
On the other hand, if you care more about the electric bill or the environment and plan to maintain higher CPU or GPU usage, then a more efficient PSU may be better.
Don’t go too far over 150 W above your expected power needs. Rightsizing your power supply will keep electricity costs to a minimum, as higher wattage PSUs will consume some additional power, even when idle.
Recommended 750-1650 Watt ATX 3.0 PSU
- The Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 ATX 3.0 Power Supply on Amazon (affiliate link) is our recommended 750-1650 watt ATX 3.0 PSU.
- GOLD 80 PLUS efficiency ratings.
- ATX 3.0 standard for supporting newer graphics cards.
- Fully modular cabling allows you to optimize airflow and minimize clutter.
- Ultra quiet design.
- 10-year warranty.
- This series of power supplies comes in power outputs including 750, 850, 1000, 1200, 1350 and 1650 watts.
Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 Series 80+ Gold Full Modular ATX 3.0 PCIe Gen 5 Power Supply
Check Price on Amazon
Amazon Affiliate Link
Recommended 650–1000 Watt PSU
- The Corsair SF Series Power Supply on Amazon (affiliate link) is our recommended 650–1000 watt PSU.
- Gold 80 PLUS efficiency ratings.
- Fully modular cabling allows you to optimize airflow and minimize clutter.
- Near silent during low usage.
- 10-year warranty.
- This series of power supplies comes in power outputs including 650, 750, 850, and 1000 watts.
EVGA SuperNOVA G5 Series Fully Modular Power Supply (220-G5-0650-X1)
Check Price on Amazon
Amazon Affiliate Link
Other Considerations When Building a PC
Want to brush up on other new technologies to consider when building a computer? Check out these articles:
- Cases:
- How to Choose the Best PC Case
- CPUs:
- The Best CPUs for Gaming
- Which Intel and AMD CPUs Support PCIe 5.
0?
- Which Intel and AMD CPUs Support PCIe 4.0?
- LGA 1700 CPU List
- LGA 1200 CPU List
- Look up an Intel or AMD CPU on TechReviewer for related recommendations:
- CPU Coolers:
- What is the Best Type of CPU cooler for a Gaming PC?
- How to Choose a CPU Cooler for Your PC
- Best LGA 1700 CPU Cooler for Intel’s 12th Gen Core Processors
- Best AM4 CPU Cooler for AMD Processors
- Storage:
- Can an SSD Improve PC Gaming Performance? and Does an SSD Increase FPS for PC Gaming?
- Storage Type Comparison: M.2, U.2, NVMe, SATA, SSDs, HDDs
- Memory:
- How to Choose the Best RAM for Your PC
- How Much RAM Do You Need for Gaming? and Is 32 GB of RAM Worth It for Gaming?
- DDR4 vs. DDR5? Which You Should Buy
- Is DDR5 Worth It? The Benefits of DDR5 and What Is DDR5?
- Which Intel and AMD CPUs Support DDR5?
- PCI-Express:
- Is PCIe 5.
0 Worth It?
- Is PCIe 5.
- Motherboards:
- Which Motherboards Support PCIe 5.0?
- Which Motherboards Support PCIe 4.0?
- Which Motherboard Should You Buy for Intel’s 13th Gen CPUs?
- Which Motherboard Should You Buy for Intel’s 12th Gen CPUs?
- Graphics Cards:
- Which Graphics Cards Support PCIe 4.0?
- Power Supplies:
- How to Choose the Best Power Supply for a Gaming PC
- How to Choose a PC Power Supply
- Keyboards:
- Best Mechanical Keyboard for Gaming
- Monitors:
- How to Choose a Gaming Monitor
Have a suggestion or correction for this article? Send us an email at:
You can also contact the author at:
Power, Temperature, & Noise — The AMD Radeon RX 580 & RX 570 Review: A Second Path to Polaris
by Ryan Smithon April 18, 2017 9:00 AM EST
- Posted in
- GPUs
- AMD
- Radeon
- Polaris
- Radeon RX 500
129 Comments
|
129 Comments
The AMD Radeon RX 580 & RX 570 ReviewPolaris Refined: Better Fab Yields & a New Memory StateMeet the Cards: PowerColor Red Devil RX 580 & Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570The TestRise of the Tomb RaiderDiRT RallyAshes of the Singularity: EscalationBattlefield 4Crysis 3The Witcher 3The DivisionGrand Theft Auto VHitmanComputeSyntheticsPower, Temperature, & NoiseFinal Thoughts
As always, last but not least is our look at power, temperature, and noise. Next to price and performance of course, these are some of the most important aspects of a GPU, due in large part to the impact of noise. All things considered, a loud card is undesirable unless there’s a sufficiently good reason – or sufficiently good performance – to ignore the noise.
| AMD RX Series Video Card Voltages | ||||
| Boost | Idle | |||
| Red Devil RX 580 | 1.2063v | 0.7625v | ||
| Radeon RX 580 | 1.1625v | |||
| Radeon RX 480 | 1.0625v | |||
| Nitro+ RX 570 | 1. |
0.725v | ||
| Radeon RX 570 | 1.1v | |||
| Radeon RX 470 | 1.0125v | |||
As you can likely infer from the earlier discussion on power consumption and TBPs, in order to reach these higher clockspeeds AMD and their partners had to increase their GPU voltages. Relative to both our RX 480 and RX 470, the differences are quite significant. Overall voltages have increased by around 0.1v when using AMD’s reference clocks, and closer to 0.15v for the full factory overclocks. As a result the highest frequencies on these two cards are very expensive in terms of power, and it explains a great deal about why AMD needed to increase TBPs by 30-35W just to add another 40-80MHz to the boost clock.
On the plus side, idle voltages are down for both RX 500 cards. Our RX 400 series cards idled at 0.8v, whereas the RX 580 and RX 570 idle at 0.7625v and 0.725v respectively. This has a minimal impact on a desktop card (especially wall power measurements), but if this is consistent for all AMD chips, it bodes well for the laptop-focused Polaris 11 and Polaris 12 GPUs.
Moving on, let’s take a look at average clockspeeds. Functionally speaking, AMD’s boost mechanism is closer to a fine-grained throttle mechanism: the card always tries to run at its full, advertised boost clock, and will pull back if there’s not enough power available or it triggers thermal throttling. In practice, both the RX 480 and RX 470 regularly power throttled to a small degree; this allowed AMD to keep the cards closer to their optimal point on the clockspeed/power curve.
| Radeon Video Card Average Clockspeeds | |||||||
| Game | RD RX 580 | RX 580 | RX 480 | N RX 570 | RX 570 | RX 470 | |
| Tomb Raider |
1380MHz
|
1280MHz
|
1230MHz
|
1340MHz
|
1244MHz
|
1190Mhz
|
|
| DiRT Rally |
1380MHz
|
1340MHz
|
1266MHz
|
1340MHz
|
1244MHz
|
1206MHz
|
|
| Ashes |
1360MHz
|
1250MHz
|
1200MHz
|
1330MHz
|
1230MHz
|
1150Mhz
|
|
| Battlefield 4 |
1380MHz
|
1340MHz
|
1266MHz
|
1340MHz
|
1244MHz
|
1206MHz
|
|
| Crysis 3 |
1380MHz
|
1300MHz
|
1250MHz
|
1340MHz
|
1244MHz
|
1190Mhz
|
|
| The Witcher 3 |
1370MHz
|
1260MHz
|
1220MHz
|
1340MHz
|
1230MHz
|
1170Mhz
|
|
| The Division |
1375MHz
|
1290MHz
|
1230MHz
|
1340MHz
|
1244MHz
|
1180Mhz
|
|
| GTA V |
1380MHz
|
1340MHz
|
1266MHz
|
1340MHz
|
1244MHz
|
1206MHz
|
|
| Hitman |
1365MHz
|
1250MHz
|
1200MHz
|
1330MHz
|
1230MHz
|
1130Mhz
|
|
Besides supporting higher clockspeeds overall, the higher TBPs of the RX 580 and RX 570 mean that these cards power throttle less often than their predecessors. To be clear, they still throttle, but the average degree of throttling across our game set is lower than with the earlier cards. This means that the RX 580 and RX 570 should be running closer to their maximum clockspeeds more often. It removes a bit of headroom, but it will improve performance.
Adding the fully unlocked factory overclocks into the mix, and we find that throttling is further reduced. The factory overclock BIOSes on these cards have even higher power limits, so even with their higher clockspeeds, they throttle less often. The PowerColor Red Devil RX 580 never averages below 1360MHz in a game, and the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 only shaves off all of 10MHz in two of our games. This is also why the factory overclocked cards are as fast as they are; the higher boost clocks are part of the story, but the reduced throttling further boosts performance over the baseline cards.
After AMD fixed their Polaris idle power driver bug last year, AMD’s idle power numbers have been rather consistent. Earlier Polaris 10 cards averaged around 75W at the wall, and so do these newer generation cards.
As for load power consumption, this is where AMD pays the piper, so to speak. Roughly in-line with AMD’s TBPs, power consumption at the wall has increased by a bit over 20W for both the RX 580 and RX 570 relative to their predecessors. At this point the RX 570 is approaching 300W, and the RX 580 is just shy of 325W. This puts the power consumption of the RX 570 at 10W under the GeForce GTX 1070, while the RX 580 is 17W above it. It goes without saying both are well above the GTX 1060 cards that AMD is competing with in terms of performance.
Throwing in the factory overclocks further pours on the power. The Nitro+ system needs 330W here, and the Red Devil system 360W, each around 35W more than their reference-clocked configurations. Bear in mind that this is total system power, so part of the increase comes from the higher CPU power consumption that results from higher framerates, but given the limited framerate difference from the factory overclock, the bulk of the power increase here does come from the cards themselves.
FurMark gives us a more focused view of GPU power consumption, and it tells a similar tale as Crysis 3. We’re looking at a 32W increase in power at the wall for the RX 570, and a 19W increase for the RX 580, the latter actually being a bit less than I was expecting. The new RX 500 series cards do look better against NVIDIA’s GeForce cards, but as I’ve previously mentioned in other reviews, in this generation FurMark only seems to be consistent between cards from the same GPU vendor. Cross-vendor comparisons are more accurate under Crysis 3.
Meanwhile we get a second point of view for the power consumption of the factory overclocked cards. All-told, the higher factory overclocks cause FurMark power consumption to jump by 40W or so. FurMark is a pathological case of course, so games rarely (if ever) draw the same amount of power, but this shows why the factory overclocked cards don’t throttle as much. In their factory overclocked configurations, both cards have very high power limits. These limits are significantly higher than the original reference RX 480.
For idling, both RX 500 cards implement zero fan speed idle. As a result their temperatures are a degree or two warmer than most of the pack. But idle power consumption is so low that these cards have little trouble dissipating that heat with just their heatsinks.
Judging from their temperatures under Crysis 3, both the PowerColor and Sapphire cards are tuned for a balance of noise and temperature. The open-air styled cards reach just shy of 70C when underclocked to AMD’s reference clocks, and 75C with their respective factory overclocks. With their massive coolers, neither card has any trouble with this amount of heat, they just aren’t spinning up the fans by too much to keep noise levels down.
With FurMark the story is much the same as Crysis 3. As it turns out, both cards have a 75C soft cap; once the GPU reached that temperature, the fans will further spin up as necessary to keep temperatures from going any higher. It should be noted that neither card appears to temperature throttle, even under FurMark, as the power throttle is more than sufficient.
Finally with idle noise levels, both cards are silent thanks to their zero fan speed idle implementations. The only noise that’s left comes from the rest of the GPU testbed.
Moving to load noise, both cards continue to impress. The Sapphire RX 570 card, even when it’s running in its full factory overclock condition, barely gets above the noise floor; it’s dissipating 150W (or more) of heat in near silence. PowerColor’s Red Devil RX 580 fares similarly well; it’s under 40db(A) at AMD’s reference clocks, and only finally hits 42dB(A) when fully factory overclocked. Open air coolers have their strengths and weaknesses, but one thing is for sure: manufacturers have increasingly honed their hardware and fan speed algorithms, and these days are producing consistently awesome results.
As for FurMark, noise levels do pick up as you’d expect.