What power supply should I be getting for this PC?

[Alicia68]

ok. so here's the computer parts I have so far.

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103759

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131068

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231087

Harddrive: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822152085

dvd rom drive: just an 8x cd/dvd r/w

I plan to get this video card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150173

What power supply should I be getting? I know a small amount about PSU's. I have read that 450 watts isn't enough for that video card. I have also read to make sure that there are 12 volt rails and something about 25A for that video card. I have no idea what to look for with this and I barely understand what I read. lol. I know a good amount about other computer parts but just not PSU's I guess. heh.

I am looking for it to have 2+ sata connections, a floppy connector, a 24 pin mobo connector and 2 pci-e connectors. I also would like the PSU to be 500+ watts. I am looking for a cheap but good quality PSU (always a hard find for anything really. heh) Yeah, Yeah, I know I've got a lot of specifications, but I've been having a really hard time finding a good PSU, as I know so little about them besides the connectors really.

Please help me out here. Newegg products would be the best. Links would help too.

 

[paq7512]

That is an awesome graphics card, I was gonna get that one too. I love XFX. I would suggest this psu http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-520w-sli-certified-modular-atx-power-supply/q/loc/101/203270716.html
It is $100 from buy.com, and $140 on newgg.com

 

[lunyone]

That is an awesome graphics card, I was gonna get that one too. I love XFX. I would suggest this psu http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-520w-sli-certified-modular-atx-power-supply/q/loc/101/203270716.html
It is $100 from buy.com, and $140 on newgg.com

Just was going to link the same PSU above ^^. Can't beat it for the price, I think.
For $5 more on the memory you could go with this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820231114
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Did you have a budget with the parts? Are you going to add other parts to the build, that you already have?

 

[Alicia68]

they unfortunately didn't have that ram when I bought my ram back in the spring of this year.

possibly could you guys look up a power supply with 550+ watts? that one looks great and has good reviews but I may want to get another 8800GTS and I want to have enough power for possibly two 8800's.

and in response to lunyone, I do have a budget with the parts and eventually yes, I will add other parts to the build that I have. For now I'm just worried about the PSU. I already have the video card picked and I will pick out the case later this month probably. I do plan eventually to get a decent sound card, but that isn't really important right now. thanks for the help so far. ^_^

 

[Gh0stDrag0n]

This is a great PSU
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=373110
Some reviews.
http://www.hothardware.com/articles/Corsair_CMPSU620HX_620W_PSU/?page=2
http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=32

 

[tlmck]

they unfortunately didn't have that ram when I bought my ram back in the spring of this year.

possibly could you guys look up a power supply with 550+ watts? that one looks great and has good reviews but I may want to get another 8800GTS and I want to have enough power for possibly two 8800's.

and in response to lunyone, I do have a budget with the parts and eventually yes, I will add other parts to the build that I have. For now I'm just worried about the PSU. I already have the video card picked and I will pick out the case later this month probably. I do plan eventually to get a decent sound card, but that isn't really important right now. thanks for the help so far. ^_^

http://www.buy.com/prod/Corsair-620w-SLI-Certified-Modular-ATX-Power-Supply/q/loc/101/203270718.html

 

[Zorg]

This PS kicks the crap out of the corsair. Single 12v rail of 49 amps. Tier one. Buy direct and save

Silencer® 610 EPS12V Power Supply

Newegg's price

 

[Gh0stDrag0n]

This PS kicks the crap out of the corsair. Single 12v rail of 49 amps. Tier one. Buy direct and save

Silencer® 610 EPS12V Power Supply

Newegg's price

Also a great PSU.

 

[Zorg]

I should mention that it will deliver a lot of current before it shuts down due to overload. Caution is the word of the day, as it really is with any build.

 

[Alicia68]

so you posted the silencer PSU, saying that it kicks the crap out of the other one, then said that it would shut down due to overload? lol. are you sure it will overload with what I have so far though? and should I mention that the case I want has two 25 cm fans in it. (yes, 25 cm fans.) hehehehe. ^_^

P.S. I'm so excited to put this thing together, thanks for you guys' maturity and help.

 

[lunyone]

The 450w or 520w Corsair PSU's would work just fine for what you want to do. The 450w is about $80 and the 520w is $95 at zipzoomfly. Either one will do fine for the 8800gtx. I would pick the 520w, just to have a little more power.

 

[zenmaster]

You do know that the Corsair 520/620w PSUs are nearly identical to the Silencer 610w. They are all built by Corsair on the same platform.

So to say "One Kicks" over the other is just uninformed nonsense.

Read the reviews on the Corsair 450w, it will show that it can easily handle an 8800GTX. If you want your PSU to handle two of the 8800GTS PSUs, I would shoot for a Seasonic/Corsair/PP&C starting in the low-mid 600w range.

As some have noted, NewEgg tends to be a bit pricey on their PSUs so you may want to shop around for them.

 

[englandr753]

I think I would go with at least a 700 watt PSU if you plan to go SLI. I think the baseline PSU requirements is 450 watts for a single card.

I myself am thinking maybe more like around 800 watts. I would rather have 100-200 watts over than to be too close or even under specs. If you plan to add more peripherals later you will be glad you went overboard on the PSU.

One other thing, if you want to go SLI and want the full bandwidth usage I would find a motherboard with the 590 chipset. If I understand correctly, on the chipsets previous from the 590 the second PCI express may be a 4x, 8x instead of the 16x like the primary PCI express slot which may slow the speed for both slots to 4x or 8x. Similar thing to adding 1g of 333mhz memory in a system running 400mzh memory, it will slow both sticks to 333mhz.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong...

Antec 900 Gaming Case
Antec 700 Watt PSU
Gigabyte GA M55SLI-S4 Rev.2 mobo
AMD 6000+ AM2 CPU
4G OCZ 6400 800Mhz SLI Memory
EVGA 8800GTX ACS3 768MB Video Card
250G & 200G SATA WD HD
2 Sony DRU 710A DVD Drives
1 Sony DRU 835A LS DVD Drive
Media Center 2005 OS

 

[Alicia68]

I am really thinking about going between 550-700 watts for the PSU. my mobo would run both the cards at 8x each sli'ed. not a big deal though as I'm not going for bleeding edge technology here and I don't expect 500 FPS on DOD:S (yes, I realize that is an over-exaggeration. heh) I may go with that 620 one. but does it have the amount of amp-age and volt rail thingies for what I have for a computer so far??

and lunyone....like everyone is saying, it's better have to have more watt's than to come up short. I know for a fact 450 watts isn't going to cut it and even if it somehow manages to...then I don't want to risk possibly ******* up my entire PC because of a low wattage/crappy PSU. but thanks for your help anyways.

 

[Zorg]

so you posted the silencer PSU, saying that it kicks the crap out of the other one, then said that it would shut down due to overload? lol. are you sure it will overload with what I have so far though? and should I mention that the case I want has two 25 cm fans in it. (yes, 25 cm fans.) hehehehe.

You misread my post.

I should mention that it will deliver a lot of current before it shuts down due to overload. Caution is the word of the day, as it really is with any build.

The key words here are "deliver a lot of current before it shuts down". Let me explain. With a 49 amp single rail the Silencer 610 will deliver up to 49 amps before it trips due to an overload condition. So let's say you have something plugged in wrong and you have a condition that you are drawing 40 amps and cooking something. The PS won't, that's right won't, shutdown due to sensing an overload because it won't sense that until 49 amps+ is reached. That was the whole purpose of the ATX12 Spec that limited the maximum current on any 12V rail to 20 amps. The problem with this spec is that you then encounter the "insufficient amperage on the rail" problem. So what I was saying is that the single rail requires more attention to detail on the installation because if you have a short things will get a lot hotter. It is still hands down a better PS specifically due to the single 49 amp rail. Here is the myth page on their web site. You should give it a read.

Power Supply Myths Exposed!

Edit: The silencer 610 will handle your wattage/current needs. Here is a link to a web based PS calculator, see for yourself.
Pay attention to the footnotes or you will get an erroneous number.

eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Lite v2.5

 

[delluser1]

and lunyone....like everyone is saying, it's better have to have more watt's than to come up short. I know for a fact 450 watts isn't going to cut it and even if it somehow manages to...then I don't want to risk possibly ******* up my entire PC because of a low wattage/crappy PSU. but thanks for your help anyways.

Don't know where your " facts " come from , but either of the unit's that lunyone posted would be more than enough for what you have specced out.
Here's some informative reading
http://www.overclockers.com/articles1452/

 

[Zorg]

You do know that the Corsair 520/620w PSUs are nearly identical to the Silencer 610w. They are all built by Corsair on the same platform.

So to say "One Kicks" over the other is just uninformed nonsense.

Well that is a pretty damning response. Let me see if I can enlighten you on the differences that caused me to make that claim.

First, as near as I can tell, both the Corsair 620W and the PC&C Silencer 610 are made by Seasonic, not Corsair. A good choice by the way. However, these power supplies are made to the specifications of the respective companies.

That brings us to the differences between these two power supplies that cause me to comment that the Silencer kicks the crap out of the Corsair. The really big one is the fact that the Corsair has three 12V rails of 18 amps each with a combined amperage of 50 amps. Again, you have to worry about how you distribute the load over the rails. Yes I am aware of the "rail sharing" which is basically just a higher rating per rail. The Silencer comes with a single 49 amp rail, so no worry about whether the load is distributed properly between the rails because there is only one. Also, there are no concerns about unused power being locked away on a rail that is not fully utilized.

The second shortcoming of the corsair is the cheesy modular cabling. Modular connections can present additional resistance to the PS, especially as they loosen up and oxidize over time. They are only used by people that want to have a "pretty" case to show off to their friends. I have found that the unused cables can always be tucked away as not to dramatically affect air flow.

The Price grabber minimum price for the Corsair 620 is $150.00. Newegg is $169.99 with a $30.00 rebate bringing the best price to $139.99 assuming you ever get the rebate. The Silencer 610 is $119.99 from the PC&C website.

Don't get me wrong the Corsair 620 is a fine PS it just, in my opinion, falls significantly short of the Silencer 610 for the reasons just stated.

In Corsairs defense they do have a 5 year warranty compared to PC&Cs 3 year. Although, the whole idea behind buying a top tier PS is so that it doesn't blow up, because obviously any components that it takes with it are not covered under the PS warranty.

 

[Zorg]

God I wish you people would learn to read. I would not run two SLI's 8800GTX's on a 450 or 520w. I would go high quality minimum of 620-650w.

I agree, I would get the Silencer 610, as I have said many times on this thread. But maybe it is you that should learn to read because her link was to this card

XFX PVT80GGHD4 GeForce 8800GTS 320MB You see, GTS not GTX.

Although it is a moot point because loaded with 2 DVD drives, 2 cards in SLI, CPU utilization @100% and a couple of fans, the eXtreme Calculator is still coming up with 422w. Of course the minimum GTX in SLI drives it up to 475w.

This article posted by DellUser1 is kind of interesting. Real world power usage appears to be lower than the PSU calculator indicates.

http://www.overclockers.com/articles1452/

 

[lunyone]

God I wish you people would learn to read. I would not run two SLI's 8800GTX's on a 450 or 520w. I would go high quality minimum of 620-650w.

Look, I missed her last post of wanting to use 2 8800's later in life. I originally posted the PSU's for 1 8800 and not 2. If I hadn't of missed the requirement for 2 8800's than I wouldn't of posted the PSU's that I had. Sorry for the distraction, I usually am more cognizant of the questions at hand.

 

[englandr753]

Based on my current system configuration the calculator says I use 643 watts. I have a 700 watt and was using a 650 before moving it to another setup due to thinking I wasn't getting quite enough wattage.

Thats still too close for my comfort and I think I will start looking for a 1000 watt PSU. I plan to go SLI soon and it says I will use 763 watts.

I guess my intuition was on the money. Thanks for the link to that calculator. I will have to put that in my favs...

Antec 900 Gaming Case
Antec 700 Watt PSU
Gigabyte GA M55SLI-S4 Rev.2 mobo
AMD 6000+ AM2 CPU
4G OCZ 6400 800Mhz SLI Memory
EVGA 8800GTX ACS3 768MB Video Card
250G & 200G SATA WD HD
2 Sony DRU 710A DVD Drives
1 Sony DRU 835A LS DVD Drive
Media Center 2005 OS

 

[lunyone]

Based on my current system configuration the calculator says I use 643 watts. I have a 700 watt and was using a 650 before moving it to another setup due to thinking I wasn't getting quite enough wattage.

Thats still too close for my comfort and I think I will start looking for a 1000 watt PSU. I plan to go SLI soon and it says I will use 763 watts.

I guess my intuition was on the money. Thanks for the link to that calculator. I will have to put that in my favs...

Antec 900 Gaming Case
Antec 700 Watt PSU
Gigabyte GA M55SLI-S4 Rev.2 mobo
AMD 6000+ AM2 CPU
4G OCZ 6400 800Mhz SLI Memory
EVGA 8800GTX ACS3 768MB Video Card
250G & 200G SATA WD HD
2 Sony DRU 710A DVD Drives
1 Sony DRU 835A LS DVD Drive
Media Center 2005 OS

Did you read the link also posted in the forum?
http://www.overclockers.com/articles1452/

Not sure your going to need 1000w, but it's your money

 

[Zorg]

Based on my current system configuration the calculator says I use 643 watts. I have a 700 watt and was using a 650 before moving it to another setup due to thinking I wasn't getting quite enough wattage.

Thats still too close for my comfort and I think I will start looking for a 1000 watt PSU. I plan to go SLI soon and it says I will use 763 watts.

I guess my intuition was on the money. Thanks for the link to that calculator. I will have to put that in my favs...

Antec 900 Gaming Case
Antec 700 Watt PSU
Gigabyte GA M55SLI-S4 Rev.2 mobo
AMD 6000+ AM2 CPU
4G OCZ 6400 800Mhz SLI Memory
EVGA 8800GTX ACS3 768MB Video Card
250G & 200G SATA WD HD
2 Sony DRU 710A DVD Drives
1 Sony DRU 835A LS DVD Drive
Media Center 2005 OS

I don't know what you did, but you screwed up big time. I ran the calculator with your CPU, cpu utilization @100%, high end desktop board, 4 sticks of DDR2, 2 Sata HDs, 3 dvdrw drives, 3 led fans and an 8800 ultra and came up with 498 watts.

You probably set 2 processors and God knows what else, that is the number of sockets. Read the foot notes or you will get an erroneous number.

Edit: I ran it with 2 8800 ultras in SLI and came up with 612 watts. That is with 100% CPU utilization and 2 hotter graphics cards. I also believe the calculator has a little slop built into it. 87% of full load so you should be OK, although that is close to max.

By the way I can't find an Antec 700 watt PS.

 

[englandr753]

I stand corrected. My PSU was an Antec 650 watt unit and I switched to the Ultra XVS 700 watt unit. Good catch.

Also, I may have selected dual cpu thinking dual core but I went back and carefully selected my exact hardware specs and I came up with 536 watts with a single card and 657 with SLI. I use the card below the ultra that is 626 mhz.

I read thru it 3 times to make sure I got it right.

Also, I have 5 120mm led fans and 1 200 mm non-led fan. I chose the 250mm fan since there wasn't a better option.


Antec 900 Gaming Case
Ultra XVS 700 Watt PSU
Gigabyte GA M55SLI-S4 Rev.2 mobo
AMD 6000+ AM2 CPU
4G OCZ 6400 800Mhz SLI Memory
EVGA 8800GTX ACS3 768MB Video Card
250G & 200G SATA WD HD
2 Sony DRU 710A DVD Drives
1 Sony DRU 835A LS DVD Drive
Media Center 2005 OS

 

[delluser1]

I stand corrected. My PSU was an Antec 650 watt unit and I switched to the Ultra XVS 700 watt unit.

Switching to the Ultra was probably not such a great idea if you have thoughts about going SLI.
The Antec TPT 650 can provide up to 52 amps on the +12v rails and Ultra XVS 700 only provides 40.

 

[dobby]

in future just list the spec dont give links its such a waste of time for us.