550w PSU, enough?

[navyseal2101]

Would a 550w PSU support my new system...

AMD X2 3800+ OC's to 2.7GHz
1024 MB RAM
250GB DiamondMax HD
XFX 7900GT 256MB

 

[Mobius]

550 is overkill.

450 is more than adequate.

 

[pcrig]

Would a 550w PSU support my new system...

AMD X2 3800+ OC's to 2.7GHz
1024 MB RAM
250GB DiamondMax HD
XFX 7900GT 256MB

550 W for the AMD X 3800 + is a bare mnimum I would recommend.

PSU is the most important componnent of any PC to assure proper operation and system stability.

I have non SLI system 600 W and I wish I would have just another 50 W for future expansions. However as a hair line of CPU goes down the power consumption should go a little down.


Buy thew best PSU you can afford and never look back at the ice.

Don't ever allow yourself to be caught with pants down!

I am using EG701AX-VE SFMA and I wouldn't trade for less.

ELT620AWT

Good PSU mean super quiet PC!

For the same reason I do refuse to consider other brands than Enermax.



You might also want to play with differrentPSU calculators:

PSU calculator

 

[pcrig]

550 is overkill.

450 is more than adequate.

ehhhhh

In your case you do not need PSU you may use the sheep manure to heat your shack!

It is better do not give advices rather than to mislead others.

There are other considerations that just maximum load PSU might handle.

I wouldn't ever buy anything less than 550 W, it is always better to have cusion than to fight frustrating freezes.

The few bucks one pays in the diference for good branded 600 W is not worth even any discussion about lesser PSU qualiy!

You get what you paid for and no more!

David Hammock Power Supply Guide for Today's & Tomorrow's Computers

 

[michaelahess]

Heck with that you NEED a 700watter, no less, seriously no less! :twisted:

 

[pcrig]

550 W for the AMD X 3800 + is a bare mnimum I would recommend.

Whaaa?? No. 350W would be bare minumum, ONLY if the power supply is a high quality, top brand. 450W would be more than enough, providing the PSU is very good. More W doesn't mean anything if the PSU is from a dollar store.

350 W ? say what?

The almost perfect PS will have about:
+3.3V@30A, +5V@35A & +12V@33A

ONLY if you overdose on PROZAC but than you do not need any more any PC! as you will be either suicidal either locked up!

David Hammock Power Supply Guide for Today's & Tomorrow's Computers


Kiddo do not voice what you can't understand!

Stay on PROZAC as long as you can!

 

[michaelahess]

I don't care what anyone here says, I've seen good 350's run everything but SLI'd systems. If they are solid I don't give a shit what the ratings are, they will run fine. Everyone seems to overrate the output of ps's, the quality is what counts.

 

[jaguarskx]

Would a 550w PSU support my new system...

AMD X2 3800+ OC's to 2.7GHz
1024 MB RAM
250GB DiamondMax HD
XFX 7900GT 256MB

550 W for the AMD X 3800 + is a bare mnimum I would recommend.

PSU is the most important componnent of any PC to assure proper operation and system stability.


What the hell are you smoking?

A stock X2 3800+ consumes 65w of power.
A stock X2 4800+ consumes 96w of power.
A X2 3800+ OC'ed to 2.7GHz will probably consume 115w of power.

CPU power consumption chart.

An overclocked 7900GT will consume around 57w of power. This chart shows theEVGA e-GeForce 7900 GT CO SuperClocked consuming 57w of power.

Add in the following:

Motherboard.........................20w
2 sticks of RAM.....................10w
Sound Card..........................10w
2 120mm case fans..............12w
1 DVD Drive........................16w
1 Raptor 74GB HDD..............39w
1 300GB HDD (or smaller).....16w

That adds up to a max 295w of total estimated power. Maybe 285w because I don't think RAM draws power from the 12v rail. That is assuming every single component is being stressed at 100% all at the same time. That is unlikely.

Any good quality PSU that can deliver at least 300w on the 12v rails can power this system. For example:

Seasonic S12 430 430w PSU. It can deliver a total of 29 amps on the 12v rails for a total of 348w of power.

Antec TruePower II-430 430w PSU. It can deliver a max of 17 amps on each 12v rail, but only a total of 31 amps when both rails are stressed. That a total of 372w on the 12v rails.

Enermax Noisetaker EG495P-VE SFMA 485w PSU. It states 18 amps for each 12v rail, or a total of 36 amps. But 18 amps could be the max for each 12v rail, but when both are stressed, it may only produce 32 amp or 384w of power. That's just a guess since it does not explicitly state that the 12v rails can provide a total of 384w on the sticker.

Buying a premium or good quality PSU is always a good idea. But it's not necessary to go overboard on total power.

Also, the load on the PSU affects the efficiency of the PSU. The lower the load the less efficient the PSU will be. A Seasonic S12 PSU is typically at the higher end of it's efficieny when the PSU is stressed between 60% - 90% of it's rated power. That means the more power it draws the less electricity from the A/C outlet is wasted.

 

[pcrig]

I don't care what anyone here says, I've seen good 350's run everything but SLI'd systems. If they are solid I don't give a **** what the ratings are, they will run fine. Everyone seems to overrate the output of ps's, the quality is what counts.

I have also, and they made a great Freedom Fries (previously French Fries).

It's only money, but no headaches.

I wouldn't recommend to buy PSU with each upgrade.

Also if noise is of your concern don't ever buy BRANDs like "El Cheap".

Look at general picture of possibilities CROSSFIRE / SLI / Single

8 x hard disks 3 DVD RW 6 USB / 2 x 1934 , 2 PCI slots.

Wireless / 24 / 7 / 365 operation.

Do not learn on your errors learn on others !

Notice also he wants to OC to 2.7 Ghz, that is a demand for steady juice draw.

check extreme overclocking

You get an idea.

Keep in mind X2 means multitasking so you need good Power Factor.

I want to have at least 30% in reserve for expansions.

Also depending on your climate you might want better PSU.

In arctic climate you can cut 10% in tropics with no A/C ad 15% power reserve.

 

[pcrig]

Would a 550w PSU support my new system...

AMD X2 3800+ OC's to 2.7GHz
1024 MB RAM
250GB DiamondMax HD
XFX 7900GT 256MB

550 W for the AMD X 3800 + is a bare mnimum I would recommend.

PSU is the most important componnent of any PC to assure proper operation and system stability.


What the hell are you smoking?

A stock X2 3800+ consumes 65w of power.
A stock X2 4800+ consumes 96w of power.
A X2 3800+ OC'ed to 2.7GHz will probably consume 115w of power.

CPU power consumption chart.

An overclocked 7900GT will consume around 57w of power. This chart shows theEVGA e-GeForce 7900 GT CO SuperClocked consuming 57w of power.

Add in the following:

Motherboard.................20w
2 sticks of RAM..............10w
Sound Card...................10w
2 120mm case fans........12w
1 DVD Drive..................16w
1 Raptor 74GB HDD........39w
1 200GB HDD.................16w

That adds up to a max 295w of total estimated power. Maybe 285w because I don't think RAM draws power from the 12v rail. That is assuming every single component is being stressed at 100% all at the same time. That is unlikely.

Any good quality PSU that can deliver at least 300w on the 12v rails can power this system. For example:



Buying a premium or good quality PSU is always a good idea. But it's not necessary to go overboard on total power.

Also, the load on the PSU affects the efficiency of the PSU. The lower the load the less efficient the PSU will be. A Seasonic S12 PSU is typically at the higher end of it's efficieny when the PSU is stressed between 60% - 90% of it's rated power. That means the more power it draws the less electricity from the A/C outlet is wasted.



Peace man peace!

I've been there ok.

What the hell are you smoking?

A stock X2 3800+ consumes 65w of power.
A stock X2 4800+ consumes 96w of power.
A X2 3800+ OC'ed to 2.7GHz will probably consume 115w of power.

CPU power consumption chart.

An overclocked 7900GT will consume around 57w of power. This chart shows the EVGA e-GeForce 7900 GT CO SuperClocked consuming ... of pow

Add in the following:
1 x OC to 2.7 Ghz
Crossfire or / SLI ?

Motherboard.................20w make it at least 40 W

Specs - M2N32-SLI Deluxe/Wireless Edition

2 sticks of RAM..............10w make it (2Gb / 128Mb) x 8 W (DDR 2 / DDR 3) each 128 Mb will fly easy 8 W

Sound Card...................10w make it 25 W
2 120mm case fans........12w negligent
1 DVD Drive..................16w make it 3 x each up to 35 W
1 Raptor 74GB HDD........39w make it 8 HD SATA10 @ 35 W each
1 200GB HDD.................16w included (use at least 40 W)

Than add:
Wireless (30 W) AP / client
RAID on board
Add 6 USB 2 @ 3.5 W
ad 2 1934 @ 5 W
Bluetooth 15 W

So what for this noise is for?

PSU calculator

M2N32-SLI Deluxe/Wireless Edition
I am ALREADY exeeding 725 W on my rig!

You see you can rant but is it worth it?

You know the diference between a real man and the boy is only the age of his toy!


extreme overclocking


What you are trying to prove that your PC is hauling like a diesel engine?



All Major BRAND PCs and laptops between 1995 and 2005 had underdesigned PSU for at least 35% ! stalling all the time when you at most need the PC - You need that 30% reserve for proper operation !

 

[michaelahess]

First off, don't quote long posts like that, it's annoying.

Second, settle down, you are wrong, deal with it.

Many, many real life experiences have led me to the same conclusion, a high quality 300-400 watt supply will EASILY handle any non SLI load, search for my name and you will see a post that has "How much crap can you run off a 300 watt ps" or something like that. Plenty of people have done it and will continue to do so. If you want to overpay for unnecessary equipment fine, but don't give bad info to other users.

A buddy of mine just built a dual opty with 4 gig ram, 4 wd raptors and ati x1900xt and he's running it off a fortran 400watt ps that hardly gets warm.

 

[pcrig]

First off, don't quote long posts like that, it's annoying.

Second, settle down, you are wrong, deal with it.

Many, many real life experiences have led me to the same conclusion, a high quality 300-400 watt supply will EASILY handle any non SLI load, search for my name and you will see a post that has "How much crap can you run off a 300 watt ps" or something like that. Plenty of people have done it and will continue to do so. If you want to overpay for unnecessary equipment fine, but don't give bad info to other users.

A buddy of mine just built a dual opty with 4 gig ram, 4 wd raptors and ati x1900xt and he's running it off a fortran 400watt ps that hardly gets warm.

So what? why should I care?

And his rig noise level ~ 87 dB?

My PC is whisper quiet! HD make more noise than CPU / PSU!
That is your buddy who built it and not you.
He might like the sound of a tractor, I don't, I want to listen the music
in pristine silence and not a howling PC.

Friend of mine built a rig with P4 3.2 Mhz with 450 W Fortron PSU, I thought that some one parked a truck in front of his bed!

The combined noise level between CPU Fan (@ 5200 RPM @ 64 degree) and Fortron 450 W PSU reminds me an airpport noise.



You know that opinions are like a$$holes everyone has one.


Act like a man and not like a boy chasing his noisy toy!

PS.

A buddy of mine just built a dual opty with 4 gig ram, 4 wd raptors and ati x1900xt and he's running it off a fortran 400watt ps that hardly gets warm.

make it FORTRON not FORTRAN!

 

[michaelahess]

Uh, it's not that noisy actually, you can hear the dvd spin up over the noise of the fans for christ sake. I'd say uper 40db range at most. Good case and 120mm fans keeps it quite. Cheaper than a much larger ps too.

 

[pcrig]

Uh, it's not that noisy actually, you can hear the dvd spin up over the noise of the fans for christ sake. I'd say uper 40db range at most. Good case and 120mm fans keeps it quite.
Cheaper than a much larger ps too.

So what?

Your argument is MOOT.

40 dB?

I guess you have no idea what 40 dB is!

40 dB is a level below the background noise in a very silent
professional office!

Wait for major freeze, you will learn that ione PC freezes when you ned it the most will cost you more than the cost diference on any PSU!

My recommendation BUY only the best and do not rant that you could get cheaper.

 

[michaelahess]

Dude, you just said that system would be too loud, now you say it's quite, what are you smoking?????

By the way, I used to design SPL and SQL systems for competition vehicles, I know what

upper 40db

sounds like.

 

[pcrig]

Dude, you just said that system would be too loud, now you say it's quite, what are you smoking?????

Read one more time and try to understand correctlybefore you rant!

By the way, I used to design SPL and SQL systems for competition vehicles, I know what upper 40db

sounds like.



I am inhaling only your vapors when you think so hard!

Don't argue if you do not know what are you talking about!

Get a real sound meter and measure dB(A) at 5 feet, than we could talk.

 

[Thorax]

How many a$$holes do you have pcrig? You have more than your fair share.

Going back to the original topic, 550W is definately enough for your setup.

 

[pcrig]

How many a$$holes do you have pcrig? .

Since you've asked I can assure you that one less than you!

 

[jaguarskx]

So what for this noise is for?

You see you can rant but is it worth it?

You know the diference between a real man and the boy is only the age of his toy!


extreme overclocking


What you are trying to prove that your PC is hauling like a diesel engine?


All Major BRAND PCs and laptops between 1995 and 2005 had underdesigned PSU for at least 35% ! stalling all the time when you at most need the PC - You need that 30% reserve for proper operation !

The point is you don't know what you are talking about.

The above is not my rig, but a hypetheticial one. It demonstrates that a PSU of less 550w is more than capable of running an X2 3800+ OC'ed to 2.7GHz, with an overclocked 7900GT. Those are the two most power hungry components that the original poster listed in his rig. See the first post.

The USB ports do not run off of the 12v rails. They run off of the 5v rail, so it is not necessary to take thier power draw into consideration.

The average hard drive power consumption of 16w may be a little low, but your 40w each is way, way to high. Refer to the following article:

Hard Drive Power Consumption and Heat Dissipation.

RAM runs off of the 3.3v rail, so it's power consumption can be excluded from the 12v rail power calculation.

From jonnyGURU:

I have mixed feelings about adjustable voltages. First off, a solid power supply shouldn't need to have it's voltages adjusted. There's the argument that the adjustment can "help overclocking RAM," but the adjustments an only be made so high and one has to keep in mind that there's more than RAM running off of the 3.3V rail.

Unfortunately, there are no resources for how much a typical motherboard will consume so I won't argue the point.

Same thing can be said for a typical sound card. It obviously draws no where near the power of a GPU. But since a budget video has more transistors than a sound card, a sound card should draw less power. As can be seen in this chart from Xbitlabs, the weakest GPU uses 24w. I would think that a sound card with less transistors will consume a lot less than that.

I agree that all PC rolling off the assembly line has poor PSU for upgrading purposes, but they do provide enough power to run the components that they are built with. Are they good quality PSU? Well, that's a different story.

 

[MrCommunistGen]

550W should be more than enough. I'm sorry that this little argument has come between you and a straight answer. I have a rig very similar to the one you are planning on building with some differences.

I am running an X2 3800+ (not OC'd), 7800GT (470/1100), 2GB RAM, and 4 7200RPM drives. I'm using a 500W Antec SP2.0 power supply. Most of this is in my sig. I also run it 24/7 at full load (on the CPU).

I admit my rig is louder than I'd like it to be, but that's because the NB fan on my crappy ECS mobo is loud, and I have 4 case fans, 3 of which are using fan filters. The filters are on the intakes since I have uber dust where I am currently living (the filters saturate in about 3-4 days) so I have to run the fans relatively fast to keep airflow decent. That said, before I moved here I only used 3 fans (all at lower speeds) and no filters. My (stock) CPU fan isn't really audible, and neither is my PSU's fan or the fan on my 7800GT... and my temps are reasonably low.

OK, I've said my piece for now... pcrig flame on.

-mcg

 

[pcrig]

So what for this noise is for?

You see you can rant but is it worth it?

You know the diference between a real man and the boy is only the age of his toy!


extreme overclocking


What you are trying to prove that your PC is hauling like a diesel engine?


All Major BRAND PCs and laptops between 1995 and 2005 had underdesigned PSU for at least 35% ! stalling all the time when you at most need the PC - You need that 30% reserve for proper operation !

The point is you don't know what you are talking about.

The above is not my rig, but a hypetheticial one. It demonstrates that a PSU of less 550w is more than capable of running an X2 3800+ OC'ed to 2.7GHz, with an overclocked 7900GT. Those are the two most power hungry components that the original poster listed in his rig. See the first post.

The USB ports do not run off of the 12v rails. They run off of the 5v rail, so it is not necessary to take thier power draw into consideration.

The average hard drive power consumption of 16w may be a little low, but your 40w each is way, way to high. Refer to the following article:

Hard Drive Power Consumption and Heat Dissipation.

Really?
Read your own soiurces before you rant!
and the most important try to understand!

Thus, the most correct measure of hard drive heating is the electric power it consumes. But power consumption of hard drives is also important for us because power saving in modern computers is becoming an issue of primary concern. Power consumption of processors and video cards is growing, a couple of dozens of Watts in a hard drive against these nearly-hundred-Watt ovens does not seem so critical. But it depends: in case of a low end PSU (250-300 W), an additional hard drive (or even the simplest RAID) may result in the necessity to upgrade a power supply unit to a more powerful one. Besides, no one abolished the problem of high start-up power consumption – for example, the plain Barracuda 7200.8 may draw up to 2.5A from the +12 V line at start-up. Add 3 W drawn from +5 V to get the peak start-up power consumption of 33 W! What if there are two or three such drives in a system? In this case you should play safe and take a PSU at least by 100-150 W more powerful than processor+video+motherboard require. Food for thought.

Don't ever tell one that he doesn't know what he is talking about.
You might piss higher but not necessarily further!

Back to your school shack kiddo and first do your own homework!
You are speculating about the matters you have no idea!

I am not interesting with your anecdotal hear say!

All you've said below is only CRAP!

RAM runs off of the 3.3v rail, so it's power consumption can be excluded from the 12v rail power calculation.

From jonnyGURU:


I have mixed feelings about adjustable voltages. First off, a solid power supply shouldn't need to have it's voltages adjusted. There's the argument that the adjustment can "help overclocking RAM," but the adjustments an only be made so high and one has to keep in mind that there's more than RAM running off of the 3.3V rail.

Unfortunately, there are no resources for how much a typical motherboard will consume so I won't argue the point.

Same thing can be said for a typical sound card.

Are you trying to teach father of 12 how to make kids?

scram baby scram!

 

[pcrig]

550W should be more than enough. OK, I've said my piece for now... pcrig flame on.

-mcg

Why I shall flame on while your post basically is confirming what I have said.

You 've said

550W should be more than enough

I said that is a minimum I would recommend! I like a little overhead and I would use a litle higher Power Factor and reserve sizing psu.

THE ONLY DIFERENCE BETWEEN YOURS AND MY APRAISAL IS THAT YOU ARE USING HOME BUILDER STANDARDS WHILE I AM USING INDUSTRIAL COMMERCIAL POWER SIZING CRITERIA!

PEACE man! Peace!

 

[jaguarskx]

Really?
Read your own soiurces before you rant!
and the most important try to understand!


Thus, the most correct measure of hard drive heating is the electric power it consumes. But power consumption of hard drives is also important for us because power saving in modern computers is becoming an issue of primary concern. Power consumption of processors and video cards is growing, a couple of dozens of Watts in a hard drive against these nearly-hundred-Watt ovens does not seem so critical. But it depends: in case of a low end PSU (250-300 W), an additional hard drive (or even the simplest RAID) may result in the necessity to upgrade a power supply unit to a more powerful one. Besides, no one abolished the problem of high start-up power consumption – for example, the plain Barracuda 7200.8 may draw up to 2.5A from the +12 V line at start-up. Add 3 W drawn from +5 V to get the peak start-up power consumption of 33 W! What if there are two or three such drives in a system? In this case you should play safe and take a PSU at least by 100-150 W more powerful than processor+video+motherboard require. Food for thought.

Actually, I did read part of the article. As for the part of the article you quoted here is the important fact:

Barracuda 7200.8 may draw up to 2.5A from the +12 V line at start-up.

That’s for a total of 30w off of the 12v rail. If you recall my power calculations are for the 12v rail because it is the one that is being stressed the most. There is an additional 3w of power drawn from the 5v rail.

Also, I stated in my previous post that the 16w estimate I used was actually on the low end. Your estimate of 40w is a bit high. Based off of the power charts the real answer is in the middle, with faster and higher capacity hard drive consuming more power of course.

All you've said below is only CRAP!

RAM runs off of the 3.3v rail, so it's power consumption can be excluded from the 12v rail power calculation.

From jonnyGURU:


I have mixed feelings about adjustable voltages. First off, a solid power supply shouldn't need to have it's voltages adjusted. There's the argument that the adjustment can "help overclocking RAM," but the adjustments an only be made so high and one has to keep in mind that there's more than RAM running off of the 3.3V rail.

Unfortunately, there are no resources for how much a typical motherboard will consume so I won't argue the point.

Same thing can be said for a typical sound card.


So how is that fact that RAM is drawing power off of the 3.3v rail crap? If it does not draw from the 3.3v rail then let me know.

Regarding both the motherboard and sound card: Since I can’t find a power measurement that is within the ballpark of my 20w and 10w estimate, respectively, how it is that my estimates are crap? Yet you state that the motherboard consumes at least 40w, and that the sound card uses 25w? Isn’t that crap if you cannot back it up without some type of documentation?

If you have links to that can provide that type of information, then I would appreciate if you can post them.

===================

Lastly, you say that I am ranting, but have you checked the meaning of the word "RANT" recently?

The meaning of "rant' from Webster's Dictionary:

1 : to talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner

2 : to scold vehemently

transitive senses : to utter in a bombastic declamatory fashion

 

[michaelahess]

Based on this guys grammer, I would suspect a dictionary definition is beyond his comprehension. This thread should stop now, we've determined a 550 is enough; enough said.

 

[ZOldDude]

Gee I am almost afraid to comment.

HD's use an average of 16 Watts...after they spin up to speed. Untill then they tend to use three times the power.
Just keep that in mind when you do the math to see if the PSU will be big enough.
I fill my Coolermaster Stackers with drives and all my Optrons have about a 1Ghz OC so I use real PSU's.

Get a PC Power & Cooling 510 as that is the rated pwr output @ 50C not the 22-25C all other supplys are rated at.