Need a good PSU suggestion...

[hdawg06]

Computer Specs:

CPU: Intel Core2Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4ghz
Motherboard: Asus P5B-E Socket
Video Card: X800GTO 256MB DDR3
Ram: Crucial Technology 2gb(2x1gb) DDR2
Hard Drive 1: Seagate Barracuda 320gb
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
Case: Thermaltake Armor Black w/ 25CM fan
DVD: Samsung DVD Burner

I will probaly eventually add another Hard Drive, DVD drive, and a DX10 card eventually. I won't ever use SLi, but I would like enough power to run all the stuff I plan to add in a year or so. Any suggestions are welcome. Will it fit in that case?

 

[Guest]

I like the Corsair 620W

should be plenty for this rig even adding a DX10 card, a bit expensive but I think it's future proof.and it's modular

Otherwise Im sure other like mpilchfamily
will pitch int but any quality 500W PSU will do, Antec/Seasonic/ThermalTake/FSP/enermax and so on.

 

[hdawg06]

Should I go for something with more watts than 500? Also, is 30amps with the 8800 or without?

 

[sailer]

As long as you keep the total hardware down and do not go SLI, anything in the area of 600-650 wt will do. You might get away with less. Antec, Enermax, Seasonic, Thermaltake are all good.

 

[hdawg06]

Is this good enough to handle the computers specs?

Thermaltake 700watt

 

[sailer]

That should provide plenty of power and allow for future expansion. Good choice in my view.

 

[hdawg06]

I actually think I'm going to go with the OCZ GameXStream 700w PSU. The only thing is, it doesn't have the modular cables. Does that make a difference? I have built computers without modular cabling before, but with the PSU being on the bottom of the case, would it be better to go for a different PSU?

 

[sailer]

I'm planning for moduler cables on my next build so as not to have the case cluttered with cables I don't use. OCZ makes some good stuff, same as Thermaltake and others. You make a choice among good quality companies and things should work ok.

I'm not sure about the new cases that put the psu at the bottom. Psu's make heat, heat rises and then it goes over the motherboard, cpu, graphics card, etc. I'd rather have the psu at the top of the case with a fan above it to vent the heat out. At least that's my opinion, which might change is enough evidence is presented to change it.

 

[Guest]

Bottom PSU: you need to make sure the cables will be long enough, especially the 4/8 pin EPS12V cable.

I like the TT ThoughPower better then the OCZ, same price, modular. Still think the Corsair Rox =)

To be taken with a grain of salt, a newegg user review for the Corsair

Other Thoughts: Excellent power supply. In the last 2 months I have been through 3 PSU's and this one is by far the best. The OCZ GameXstream 700 was very disappointing to me. I was picking up noises through the PSU from my video card. I have NO idea how that can happen. I've also owned an AC Ryan moduler PSU and that was a piece of junk compared to this Corsair PSU. Take my word, you'll be happy with this PSU.

 

[cdonato]

You might want to check into the Hiper Modular Type-R 580W Power Supply. Its a little on the lower side of power but it's steady, reliable & very nicely modular. A side benefit is that they have a builtin LED light which lights up the case nicely if you've got a window. They also come in a box that resembles a tackle box for fishing, & makes a nice parts box for all the little additional parts & tools.

 

[Doughbuy]

Modular is all up to you, I like the GameXStream, and I would pick that. However, if you want a modular and go with the Toughpower series, I'd recommend the 750W they have if your going to do 2 DX10 in SLI...

PSU on the bottom is supposed to keep the PSU cooler and more stable instead of pulling all the hot air from the CPU.. shrug, 2 different schools of thought.

 

[flasher702]

PSU on the bottom should keep the PSU cooler, which is nice, and most cases with the PSU on the bottom put a rear exhaust fan right at the top which should do an even better job of exhausting heat from the CPU then the PSU could. Also, a lot of cases that put the PSU at the bottom compartmentalize it so that it's just cooling a couple HDs and heat from the HDs and PSU does not make it to the GFX or CPU. Compartmentalization is kind of a brute-force solution as it may require more fans to accomlish the the same amount of airflow/component (instead of 1-3 fans per case you need 1-3 fans per compartment) so it's not my favorite solution, but if you're running really hot CPU and GPU you definately want to keep that heat away from other components/eachother and run cooler air to them.

If you're not running SLI you don't need quad-rail or super-high wattage. PSUs run most effeciently at around 80% load (that's where they are generally benchmarked for effeciency, the range for top-effeciency is something like 60%-80% load but varys from one model to the next). You don't want to run peak load over 80% as you will loose effeciency, run hot, and possibly run into voltage stability issues, but there isn't much point in running significantly below it.

No one has asked yet: are you overclocking? Probably not since you picked the e6600 instead of the e6400 or e6300, so I'll run with that assumption.
This is a pretty good calculator:
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp
I specced out your system with all of your planned upgrades (8800, extra HD, extra DVD-rw), aged the capacitors, added fans for all the slots on that case, added a memory card reader and you should be able to encode video while burning 2 DVDs, transfer files to a memory card and play Crysis all at the same time at 82% load on a 1year old 600w PSU. 700w certainly won't hurt, but informed decisions are good decisions As you can see from my example of an unrealisticly maxed-out usage senario if you aren't overclocking 600w is plenty. A 600w PSU with better effeciency and modular cabling might give you better bang/buck if you're working on a budget here. You could also consider just buying a new PSU in a year and avoid capacitor aging entirely. Without capacitor aging you could run that same senario on a 500w PSU and if you end up not buying an 8800 and never feel the need to burn 2 DVDs at the same time while gaming (I don't reccomend it) 500w would probably be enough, barely, for the next year or more.

My final reccomendation: A nice PSU with at least two 18a 12v rails >550w.
Seasonic s12 550w quad rail Has almost exactly the same amperages as the Thermaltake one you linked, 41amp total on the +12v lines (TT doesn't give a rating for their total 12v line amperage, should be >50a for a "700w" model, but they don't say, they don't say what the combined 3v+5v amperage is either) , slightly more effecient, no modular cabling, $20 less than the TT. For $10 more than the TT you can get 600w with 52a on the 12v rails. Any of those three will work perfectly for now, a year from now with capacitor aging and a new monster GFX card you might wish you had bought the 600w s12, but unless you run your system hot for a year the 550w should still be strong enough. And really, I'm hoping that a year from now there will be high-end GFX cards that are more energy effecient... I'm allowed to dream, right?

 

[sailer]

I've used that psu calculator. On my present computer, it estimates 652wt, so I use a 680wt psu. Going up to a DX10 card, the 8800 for example, pushes it to 738wt, and going to SLI puts it all the way up to 1001wt., though I might use two ATI R600 cards instead of the Nvidia cards.

For myself, it looks like my planned move to a 750wt would be a minimal psu.

 

[sailer]

Part of it is that I don't list all my hardware in my sig. I actually think that particular psu calcuator reccomends too large a psu. Can't say for sure.

I did input only a single cpu, but multiple hard drives, several fans with LED lights, overclocking, watercooling, and more push the watt load up very high. Thing is, since most hardware is not being used all the time, the realistic load is quite a bit smaller than that psu calculator recommends.

Though I used that psu calculator when I bought my 680wt psu, I've since seen a number of others that rate the power load as less and therefore I could have used a 600wt instead. My actual guess when I rebuild my computer in the winter or spring for a psu size is somewhere between 750-850wt with dual graphics cards, not the 1001 wts that I got on the etreme psu calculator.