Need advice on PSU for a build

[Kamrooz]

I'm currently upgrading my rig and looking for a psu that can hold it well. I'm planning to overclock and haven't picked out the mobo yet. Currently going with a e6600 and probably an asus board. 2 cd drives as well as 5 hard drives. 2 sata in a raid 0, 1 sata for mass storage, and 2 ide drives for storage as well. There will be a 7600 GS card in there as well. My price range is around 100-180..The lower the better though. But I'd like performance and reliability over cheaper psu's.

I never really understood the rails and all that info. I'm currently running a Vantec 520W in my current rig, is has 4 drives atm...not 5. It also has everything else I mentioned with four 512 modules, as well as a x700 pro and a 3.2 prescott which will be replaced in the upgrade. So yea...Any ideas?...I'm a idiot when it comes to power supplies..I really should study into the voltages and rails to understand everything better...lol..



.Hmm...Curious though. Do you guys thinks my psu could actually power a rig like this?. It's a 520 watter like I siad before..I don't know much about the rails buit I'm looking at it right now.

It has 3 modes. 420, 470. and 520 watt mode.

Here's a link to the manufacturer site.

http://www.vantecusa.com/product-powersupply.html

I've always found all this info confusing, If you click the Van-520a then click specifications it should give all the info. If I could ditch a psu and go ahead with what I have...it would save some much needed cash for other parts....But if not it's no problem. It'll just mean I have a spare psu to use for a alternate rig I'm building. But I still can't even decide which to buy..::sighs::...really need to learn psu talk.

 

[jaguarskx]

Your PSU should be able to handle your new system. One good thing is that the E6600 will consume less power than your old Prescott.

Here's what I estimate your max power consumption will be on the 12v rail assuming a small overclock:

E6600 @ 3.GHz.................................................68w CPU Power Consumption Chart
GeForce 7600GS................................................28w GPU Power Consumption Chart
5 Hard Drives (16w x 5)......................................80w
2 DVD Drives (16w x 2)......................................32w
2 120mm Case Fans...........................................12w
1 120mm CPU Fan...............................................6w

Total Estimated Power Consumption 12v rail........226w
Total Esimtated Amps Consumption 12v rail.........18.8a

Your actual power consumption will be much less since all 7 drives will not be spinning at the same time in most situations. I would guess a max of 180w if you were simply play a game.

The Vantec 520w PSU you have is able to supply 336w or 28a on the 12v rail. That's assuming the 3.3v and 5v rails do not draw more than 184w which is very unlikely to happen.

 

[Kamrooz]

You rock man!..I was beginning to think I wouldn't get a reply...lol

This saves me a much needed 150 dollars that I can spend on a graphics card upgrade. The only thing I'm worried about is using asus probe shows the 12+ dipping to around 11.87 and 11.66...But I've heard a lot of these monitors are wrong and you need a multimeter to check actual voltages. I just wish I had one so I could to make sure this psu isn't dying on me...lol.

Once again thanks for the info...saved me big time. now I just gotta buy a multimeter...I wish newegg had'em..that's where I'm getting all my parts.

 

[Kamrooz]

I think you might be looking at the wrong area of the page. On the right it does show 520W in big bold letter...But the actual models are on the left hand side in tiny letters...I have the van 520A which has the big numbers of 620W on the right..it has a 28A on the 12+ rail...

I'm slowly understand psus..LOL...although I'm still confused about them.

 

[jaguarskx]

Yeah, you made the same mistake I made when I first looked at the chart. I was immediately drawn to the bolded numbers on the right side of the chart. But those numbers are for peak wattage, not the actual model number. The left side of the chart has the model numbers.