Corsair cmpsu-620hx and AGP video card

[Rosalee]

Can some much better informed person tell me whether this psu will go with my "old" AGP video card, sata drives(3), iede dvd roms(2)? I read where it has TWO nifty floppy connectors(head scratch) but I'm confused the more I look at it whether this highly rated psu is right for my needs?

To answer the possible question: Yes, I need the power and I run my pc 24/7, so a cheapy psu isn't the way to go. I do A LOT of bitTorrent traffic, so the psu gets run hard. Also, I have up to ten(10) external hard drives going at any given time to do transfers(burning to dvd, and converting flac and shnfiles to wav files).

Please, if anybody can help me out, I'd be VERY grateful for the advice.

Thanks,
Rose

Okay, it's a dumb question, but I'm not sure since this is the first time I've had to look at a new psu since '03. My old Antec True Blue 480 died, finally. I'm only a n00b when it comes to the building of custom machines.

"Can someone please help me?"

 

[KyleSTL]

The Corsair 620 is a very respected PSU, it should be able to handle any video card for the AGP interface (including the X1950XT, *glug* *glug*), as well as the other components you listed, so long as you have all those external HDDs running on seperate power plugs (not running off of the USB 5V power - which some 2.5" HDDs do).

 

[Rosalee]

Thank you so much, KyleSTL I am, as I said, VERY grateful for the help clearing this up in my head. Think I spent waaaay too much time looking at the features, that I started second guessing myself since my system now is so antiquated..... flippin' old.

I actually "built" my present pc(P4, 3.2E, 2gb ram, Raptor74gb in raid 1:1) with the help of a friend, but with all the newest, faster, better components out now, I feel like I'm driving a '62 Chevy. Pretty blue, limited edition Cooler Master, but everything else in my case is dated.

And I do appreciate gamers and the mod'ing you guys do. Last game I bought(and played) was Far Cry. But I no longer have time for such sport. It was good fun. Maybe someday I can build a better, faster machine but for now......

Thanks again, you are most kind.

Rose

 

[KyleSTL]

First off, the 7300GT doesn't use any power at all. Secondly, your X2 3800 uses a lot less power than his P4 3.2 (89W). Depending on his video card, those FSP PSUs may not be enough. They are good units, but they might not be enough juice for him (especially if he has, say, a X1600 or X1900). Rosalee, follow this link and plug in as much info as you know about your computer and follow up with us about the wattage it says your computer requires, from there we can suggest a good PSU that may be less expensive, but still fit your needs.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

[Rosalee]

Thank you for all the technical assistance and advice! I haven't as yet made a purchase, so I'll educate myself some more. Thanks for the link.

 

[antifanboy]

Good call kyle.
300 Watt PSU wouldn't even run a larger card.
People don't understand that just because they have
a 7000, 8000 card from Nvidia; or an x1000 or x2000
card from ATI that it may still be worse than
say a 5950 or (God forbid) a Ti 4600 256MB,
or a radeon 98oo or x850
Where as the cards i mention where top of thier
class for thier day and are still often listed as Minimum
spec to run graphics, the 7300 sometimes is listed as too weak
and not even listed as a supported card.

 

[Rosalee]

Not knowing whether I have a "Northbridge" or a "Prescott" so I'm only guessing it's a Prescott. Don't know what "stock Vcore" means but it the assigned value was 1.4. Totaling up as best as possible all the usb's plus they didn't give me enough fire wires in the drop down, so I added onto the usb total, I got an approximate psu usage of 454watts.

So maybe I don't need such a fatty psu? But a reputable one, first or second tier brand.

Any thoughts are very welcomed. And my thanks in advance.

 

[KyleSTL]

It is a Prescott, they added the "E" designation after they introduced the 90nm parts. I would probably say go for a PSU in the ~500W area. My signature has my whole setup, and it is running on the factory installed Delta 400W (367W actual) PSU. If I start running extra fans, or if I install another HDD to transfer data, I can hear parts of my computer start to spin down (I know, BAD news). Since you run many more HDDs, and many more peripherals, I would say step it up a bit.

@mpilchfami ly_v2 - I know most computers run idle ~90% of the time, but average power consumption is nothing we should pay attention to (except for calculating how much it costs to run your computer /year). What really matters is the peak power consumption under full load (maximum instantaneous power comsumption). That is what you base your PSU sizing on. Truly bad advice to give someone who's trying to size a proper PSU, because the minute they start encoding a video or running two instances of prime95 their cheap, undersized power supply is going to fail and probably take other parts down with it, because it doesn't have enough juice to power the computer under full load.

 

[Rosalee]

Thanks. This has been a good learning experience for me.

I think then: I will get the Corsair's next psu down which I think was around 500watts(save some cha-ching). I was running for years on the Antec True Blue 480w without issue with fewer drives. Now I run A LOT of external drives looking for data, all ac powered on their own, but they obviously are drawing some power(I never knew). The 500watt range is better. I suppose my major concern getting past my head spin with all the connectors which in retrospect seems really, really dumb would be stability and enough power. Man, what an education!

Thanks for the good discussion that got me thinking and made me smarter about this issue of estimating power consumption based on usage. Being smart about it and not simply spending a fortune just to be safe 'cause I don't know what I'm doing.

Thanks guys, and 'KyleSTL'!! I really do appreciate it and I like this forum.