Hey guys i was wondering would my antec earthwatt 500 handle another 9800gtx? nvidia recommends 550watt for sli but isnt the earthwatt series really efficient.
this is my current spec
intel core 2 quad q6600
ASUS P5N-D
4gig of OCZ
Nvidia 9800gtx
Lite-On Blue-ray
500gb x1
80gb x1
Window vista Ultimate 32-bit
GIGABYTE 3D Galaxy II Liquid Cooling
22" lcd acer monitor
Logitech X-540 5.1 Speaker System
Antec earthwatt 500watt

500 watts is cutting it close. It should work, but ideally, you should get around 650watts, depending on 12v rail ratings. Also, note that 9800gtx have 2 pcie power connectors per card, so it's 4 total.

u no how nvidia says 550watt needed is that including the entire computer, and if they do what cpu r they using for that standard.

500W should be plenty, the Antec has great efficiency and single card setups don't use all that much power. The 9800GTX loads at around 100W due to its smaller manufacturing process then the 8800GTX it uses less power. The CPU is rated for 95W for the G0 stepping, so at max load together you only get 195W of power use between them. Assuming you overclock both you still are looking at a little over 200W for the two most power consuming components.

550w is for the entire system. IIRC it states something like 26-28A for 1 GPU and the Antec Earthwatts PSU has 41A on the 12V rails. Like Dagger said though, you will need 2 more PCI-e power connectors to make things work and I'm not sure you should do that. Have you order your parts yet, or are you just doing some research first?

Here's the adapters needed for 2 more 6 pin PCI-e power connectors:
Link Depot POW-ADT-PCIE PCI Express power adapter - Retail

Honestly, this option below would be the way to go. It has 4 x 6+2Pin PCI-e connectors, which means you could have 4 x 8 pin PCI-e connector available. It has a 5 yr. warranty and has 60A on the 12V rail!! $130 shipped - $10 MIR = $120!! Not a bad price at all
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX ATX12V / EPS12V 750W Power Supply 100
Zipzoomfly Price $120-$10 MIR = $110!!

I believe OP is talking about a second 9800GTX in which case i wouldnt trust the Antec Earth to do that. If you like the Antec's i would stepup to say a Trio650w (which i own 4) havent had any issues with these. Other than that id look at a 600+ corsair or PCP&C PSU

The Wattage that NVIDIA give you is based on an entire system. The forum post below show wattage usage for any setup (card/s only)

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums [...] c=7&t=9354

Only issue I have the the Antec Trio 650w is that it only has 2 PCI-e connectors (at least the one I found on newegg). The one that I linked has 4 PCI-e connectors, so he wouldn't have to buy 2 adapters to hookup the other GPU. That difference in price would be moot, since he'd have to spend more for the adapters. Please correct me if I'm wrong on this.

Yes, the Corsair is going to be the best performer linked to here, didn't notice the need for the second 9800GTX, thought it was just one. The Corsair TX650 would even be enough for both 9800GTXs and has a mail-in-rebate also to make it cost $90 after that(on newegg).

But if you have to add 2 more 6 pin PCI-e adapters for the 2nd 9800gtx than the price would jump close to the tx750w one linked. That is why I suggested it. Yeah it's overkill, but it'll have all of the connectors needed and won't overload any of the other connections. Even the vx550w Corsair would be able to support both GPU's, but you'd have to get the 2 4pin to 1 6pin converter cables to allow the 2nd 9800gtx. Just was trying to make a simple solution for the problem, but it'll be up the th OP to decide what he wants to do.

I stand corrected sir, i didnt even think of that... yes the Antec Trio only has 2x6pin PCI-e connectors and an 8pin for the CPU

well the 9800gtx i have has a pcie adapter so im sure if i get another 9800gtx ill have another adapter so ill have 4 pcie in total.
im doing some research before i buy another 9800gtx.
The thing is im on a tight budget any good power supply 50$ or less or can my antec earthwatt handle both 9800gtx. If it isnt enough power can it damage my computer?
Anyone no how much watt a 9800gtx uses?
http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums [...] c=7&t=9354
this website said (9800 GTX SLI_____##############¦)#############}' 115W-229W ^)

By the link it states that a single 9800gtx consumes up to 99W by itself, but if you put them in SLI it's at 229W. Your Antec 500w PSU would be pushing it with the 2nd 9800gtx, but this is all up to you. If you stress the PSU too much than you might damage other parts. IMHO I think you'd be better off with just the 1 9800gtx and upgrade to the latest single GPU when it comes out. Unless your on a very large monitor, I think a single GPU solution is best. This way you can save up your $ for the latest GPU to come out. nVidia will probably be this summer and AMD should be soon (1 - 2 weeks, from what I've read). You have a pretty good setup right now, so I'd just stick with it for a bit and use your $ for a newer GPU, when they come out.

If you decide not to overclock you can get away with running them all on the Earthwatts, but just barely when you get up there with system load. To be safe it would be best to get something a bit more powerful when you want to overclock and once you get the money, just so your components are all going to be definitely safe. The rating for SLI says a minimum of 30 amps, the Earthwatts has 34 IIRC it actually has each of its 17 amp rails rated for what they can actually output at load together.

alrite so ur saying it will work but just barely and oc is out of the ?.
the q6600 uses 95 watt i believe
2 9800gtx 230 watt
mobo, ram, 2 fan, 2 hardrive, watercooling, blue ray player. uses about 125watt? correct me if im wrong.
450watt total. dont i still have about 50 left?
i forgot to mention i have another extra psu.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817152028
is this one better or worse then the antec eartwatt 500?
is there a way to put 2 psu in a computer. sry for the noob questions.

The Raidmax is worse, and there isn't a good way to use 2 PSUs unless you buy a specific cable to make them both start at once, and also your case would need a place to put the second PSU.

do u no where i can get this specific cable? maybe newegg?

http://www.performance-pcs.com/cat [...] s_id=21193

That cable will enable you to have both PSUs start at once, so you could hook the drives and graphics card to one and the motherboard and other graphics to the other assuming you can get your case to hold both and get an external power cable to each.