antec 500 review!

[invisik]

this is pretty interesting review of the antec eathwatt 500. one powerful psu.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/526/7
im gonna try running 2 gtx 260 in sli on them think it would work? (including q6600 oc 3.0 4gig 2hd 3 120mm fans 1blueray drive

 

[Dameon_Bananaman]

are you sure that the psu will handle 2 gtx 260? i think its not powerful enough but i could be wrong. your system will b really powerful though with those 2 cards in

 

[spuddyt]

I would doubt that the PSU would supply enough juice, your welcome to try, but I would think it wont manage and will be unstable, you'd do better with at least a 850 watt unit... say a PC power and cooling one.

 

[3Ball]

I doubt I would run one 260 on that PSU, especially with the rest of your system. Much less 2. I would recommend either a PC Power and Cooling 750w or Corsair TX750w PSU. The Corsair will probably be cheaper and has a similar quality of build to it. I actually run the TX650w myself for the system that you see in the sig.

Best,

3Ball

 

[invisik]

I doubt I would run one 260 on that PSU, especially with the rest of your system. Much less 2. I would recommend either a PC Power and Cooling 750w or Corsair TX750w PSU. The Corsair will probably be cheaper and has a similar quality of build to it. I actually run the TX650w myself for the system that you see in the sig.

Best,

3Ball

im pretty sure it would run 1 considering i have 9800gx2 installed with it right now and oc @ 735/1125 i can also oc more but i chose not to because it generates to much heat and fan makes to much sound. i remember ppl doubting me when i put a 9800gx2 and it worked fine and alot of overhead for overclocking.
=]
check out the review site i posted they got that ea500 able to give 577watts total and 12v1 20a (240w) 12v2 20a(240w)
the gtx 260 in sli uses 468watts and thats with a high end cpu like those intel extreme billion dollar cpus. lol

But anyways if it doesnt work wats a good psu my budget is like around 60$ the ones u guys suggested wats the price on those?

 

[nukemaster]

i would guess that 2 260GTX would come in just under 300 watts(about 150 per card) at full(i mean like furmarks, under average use it will be lower) load.

Now the power supply has 408Watts(34 amps) of its total able to be channeled into its 12 volt rail(I say rail because it is ONE rail with 2 virtual rails for safety.)

Your cutting it very close, and overclocking the cpu does not help your power use.

I would not recommend running 2 of those cards and a Q6600 OC'd with that psu. It will most likey work, but put a large strain on the power supply(it would vary with what you use, i have never seen a game heat and power waste like AtiTool, then i found Furmark). Its nice to be able to pull extra power out in testing, but how a psu holds up under constant use is another story.

1 card would run with power to spare.

To put it into perspective

P35 DS3L
Q6600 @ 3.0 on stock voltage(Be warned 3.6 at 1.5 takes over 100 watts more)
HD 4870 @ 790 1050mem
4 Hard drives
DVD Burner
SB Audigy

While folding SMP on 3 cores and GPU on 1 core and the video card(this is not a high load since F@H does not yet use the card fully) only takes 310 watts from the plug. So people over estimate on some things. I CAN get it over 400 from the wall. There is at least 20% on new power supplies and 30-40 on older ones from the power conversion, so systems are not as power hungry as people guess.

Quick test, all cores full load and furmark = 410 watts from the plug. still under 350 watts of actual power use.

 

[inquisitor03]

lol @ nukemaster.

Love the signature... makes me giggle stupidly to myself everytime I see it!

 

[Zorg]

(I say rail because it is ONE rail with 2 virtual rails for safety.)

That PSU is really a true single rail, with only one current limiter on the 12V, even though they spec it as a dual rail.

The newer Earthwatts EA-500D is OEMed from Delta, instead of Seasonic.

Your cutting it too close on that PSU with two GTX 260 SLI. ~308W/12 = 25.6A just for the cards. That leaves you 34A-25.6A = 8.4 amps for the rest of the system. Or if you want to use the absolute maximum from Hardware Secrets load test 40A - 25.6A = 14.4A for all other components. Those numbers are absolute maximum and you would be a fool to consider them in real use scenarios, although averages will be below max numbers.

Here is another review of the Seasonic built EA-500


Try it and let us know if it blows up.

 

[nukemaster]

Its all to say its meets the ATX specs.

I never noticed then make a switch to Delta. Interesting.

 

[lasttarget]

I have the Earthwatts power supply that came with my antec case and ive ran 4850s in crossfire and it worked. I only used it for like 15 min tho because i didnt see much improvement so gave my bro back his 4850

 

[Zorg]

It may run, the question is how long.

 

[Zorg]

Its all to say its meets the ATX specs.

I never noticed then make a switch to Delta. Interesting.

Yeah, the ATX specs, then they lie on the sticker. That has to be a violation of some kind. Technically the 240VA limit is only a recommendation.

I was surprised about the Delta OEM change as well.

EA-500 vs. EA-500D - jonnyGURU Forums

 

[3Ball]

im pretty sure it would run 1 considering i have 9800gx2 installed with it right now and oc @ 735/1125 i can also oc more but i chose not to because it generates to much heat and fan makes to much sound. i remember ppl doubting me when i put a 9800gx2 and it worked fine and alot of overhead for overclocking.
=]
check out the review site i posted they got that ea500 able to give 577watts total and 12v1 20a (240w) 12v2 20a(240w)
the gtx 260 in sli uses 468watts and thats with a high end cpu like those intel extreme billion dollar cpus. lol

But anyways if it doesnt work wats a good psu my budget is like around 60$ the ones u guys suggested wats the price on those?

I didnt say that it would run one. I said that I wouldnt run one. I had an Antec NeoHE 550w PSU for the system you see in the sig, but I didnt want to use it for when I got my 4870, since I was pushing my CPU higher, the GPU higher, and I had 3 hard drives to go with all of the other stuff in there. Could my old PSU have ran the system...sure, but it would have been a heavier load on the PSU than I wanted. That is what I meant by I wouldnt run one of them on there.

Unfortunately the PSU prices of the 2 that I recommended are well out of your price range. They are $130 - $160 US depending on which one you get and where you order from. I dont know of a $60 PSU for your system. Hopefully someone else can recommend one as I have never paid less that $100 for a PSU. I paid right at $100 for the TX650w that I am using, but I had a 10% off coupon from newegg, which helped keep the cost slightly lower. I will look around and see what I can find. Sorry to not be of more help.

Best,

3Ball

 

[random_2]

The Corsairs are priced very well for what you get. I agree with 3Ball on this. I wouldn't run anything less than a 650 W high quality PSU like PC Power and Cooling, Corsair, Silverstone and a few others.
Not that I'm a great proponent of conserving electricity, but when you run these things at 80% + capacity, the efficiency deteriorates, the abilty to regulate voltage decreases, and the lifespan of the PSU takes a nosedive.
Oh, and when it does fail...If you're lucky it won't take any of your other more expensive components with it
I run a Q6600, with a single GPU, a couple of hard drives and I just installed a Corsair TX750 to handle future GPU upgrades.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26415&vpn=CMPSU-750TX&manufacture=CORSAIR

The Canuck

 

[invisik]

thanks guys im just doing this for the fun of it i want to see if it actually would run fine and i want to oc the cards. want to see how much the psu can actually take. if it doesnt work oh well ill just pick up something for like 100$.
3ball u helped me enough before dont worry about it man.
btw the 2 gtx 260 r superclocked versions god im gonna have fun with this.
yes this is wat im doing cuz im stuck at home due to gas prices so high. ill let u no if my computer blows up or wat not. card should be in by wed i believe.
ps if i dont come back on my pc blew up.
=D

 

[nukemaster]

Your crazy, thats like my E6600 + 2 hard drives + 8800GTX system on the infamous Smart Power 450. Its still kicking 8800GTX just wedges into that Sonata II(with a 80mm fan to cool the drives)

 

[invisik]

u no u gotta live on the edge by pushing ur psu to the limit? wow that sounded gay. lol

 

[nukemaster]

u no u gotta live on the edge by pushing ur psu to the limit? wow that sounded gay. lol

I have to prove the point that computers do not use as much power as some would think.

Keep us posted

 

[invisik]

ya i agree with u i here ppl saying u need like 1000watt for 2 gtx 280 in sli when they both consume like 500w and thats with a high end cpu that most ppl dont have. of course ill keep u posted.

 

[invisik]

update:
so just received the 2 gtx 260 and so far they run fine. i have run 3dmark06 and it completely passed without any problems.
also i have played crysis and the card maintained stable. have oc them from 602/1026 to 640/1050 and there still working fine.

 

[inspector71]

Good to hear. Tell you what that antec eartwatts 500 is a very good psu. I am glad to hear that it is pushing what you have with no problem i also have one and i have my favorite overkill psu my antec true power quattro 850.

 

[yukss]

i have my two gtx260 runing in sli with my antec true power trio 550 w.. max amp 42amp .. no problems so far..

and according to tomshardware review about the gtx260 in sli:

"If you wish to operate the GTX 260 OC in an SLI configuration, you will need a branded power supply with between 510 and 550 watts and 42 to 46 A on the 12 volt rail."