other than the wattage and the quality of the components, what is it to take in consideration when buying a PSU?
also, for this build, what wattage or which specific PSU would you suggest?
E8400/500 overclocked
SLI GF9800GT (when it is out)
4x2gb 800/1066mhz
prolly creative xtrem gamer soundcard... not sure yet
1x barracuda 7200.11 500gb
Depending on the case you choose, other things to consider include cable length and the number and type of connectors, including whether or not it has modular cables.
Given that we don't know specs on the 98xx yet, off the top of my head, seeing that you're going to SLI high-end cards, something like a Corsair 620HX might be enough.
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There is ALWAYS a drone. Exactly where, or how many drones you will encounter may vary, but that there will be at least one will not.
I'll go ahead and say clearly that anything which delivers 1000W or something around that number is either vast overkill or very inefficient for anything you can build together using Intel technology these days.
If you ignore the other lines, and just concentrate on the +12V, then 1000W would be roughly 80A on the 12V line(s). 80A! That is an incredible amount of current. If you have 2 12V rails, that's still 40A per rail, which is twice as much as the 20A a single-VGA system should have.
You can drive a single GF8800 or maybe even the GF9xxx (who knows...) and a high-end'ish CPU with 500W easily if the PSU is well-made, heck, there are plenty of successful reports of 350W's running this (not OC'ed, and at the limit, but they do). Just by adding another GF, you don't need another 500W.
What you need is exceptional quality in all the PSU components, which means a very solid design and production. And a certain minimum of A on the 12V line. That's it. The W don't matter that much, you'll probably get by in the 550-650W range (though I have not calculated your needs, you'll have to do that yourself, and maybe do it by hand).
