Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods > Building a PC - Power Supply Question

Building a PC - Power Supply Question

Forum CPU & Components : Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods - Building a PC - Power Supply Question

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!
Ask the community Add a reply
Word :    Username :           
 
Brianish   03-03-2009 at 11:10:50 PM

I took a look at the Power Supply FAQ, but I'll admit that my brain shut off by the end of part 1. Electricity was never my strong suit. So, if anyone could give me a ballpark as to what kind of power supply specs I should look at, I'd appreciate it.

To start, I'm going to be running an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 3.0 GHz LGA 775 Processor.

I'm planning on this card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130365

It recommends a minimum of 550 Watts, but I'm planning on buying another and running them with SLI in the future, probably 4 or 5 months down the line.

The case has a 120 mm fan and a 250 mm fan, the larger with LED lights. I'll be using 4 sticks of 2 GB DDR2, planning to upgrade to 4 sticks of 4 when the price drops. I'm using a 16x/48x DVD Burner, and an 18x/48x DVD Rom. I'll also be running 1 SATA 7200 RPM hard drive, and 1 IDE hard drive, which I believe is also 7200 RPM.

I've checked out some power supply calculators, but I'm not sure they're giving me enough information.

If anyone could just ballpark the sort of specs I should be looking for, I'd be really appreciative. I intend to top the necessity by a bit, just to be safe, so an estimate would probably do.

Add a reply
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
Brianish   03-03-2009 at 11:12:27 PM
- 0 +

I should mention I might add a second 120 mm fan to the case, just to be on the safe side.

Reply to Brianish
theAnimal   03-03-2009 at 11:54:12 PM
- 0 +

You should get a GTX285 instead for around the same price as that card.

A good quality 600W+ PSU with the required PCIe connectors would be sufficient. Corsair TX750, Seasonic M12 700 or Silverstone ST60F or ST60EF would be good choices.

------------------------------ *How To Ask For New Build Advice*
HAF 922 | HX750
Rampage2Gene | i7 920 D0 | 6GB Gold 1600 | Hyper 212+
Caviar Black 640GB | HD3870
 Reply to theAnimal
Brianish   03-04-2009 at 01:18:05 AM
- 0 +

nvidia's SLI site recommends quite a bit larger. Are they just looking to make money off of it and/or cover themselves by erring deep into the side of caution?

Also, I notice that the 285 here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130442

doesn't have a minimum recommended wattage. Is it likely that by upgrading to that I could save myself money on the power source?

Reply to Brianish
dirtmountain   03-04-2009 at 01:39:10 AM
- 1 +

An overclocked Q9550 with 2 GTX 280s in SLI would draw about 610w at full load. With 2 GTX285s it would be about 560w. That's with 2x 120mm fans, 1 hard drive, 2 sticks of DDR2 800RAM. I'd go a minimum of 750w especially if you add a couple more HD and some fans, even a 850w wouldn't be excessive.

 

http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/index.php?showtopic=264
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 46-14.html
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139009


Message edited by dirtmountain on 03-04-2009 at 01:39:56 AM
Reply to dirtmountain
Brianish   03-04-2009 at 01:55:22 AM
- 0 +

I was looking somewhat idly at this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817815003

But I know nothing about the brand. Are they any good?

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to Brianish
theAnimal   03-04-2009 at 01:57:28 AM
- 0 +

THG had an OCed 9550 with a 4870x2 (close to 2 GTX285) and it only used 530W at the wall, which is ~450W DC. A 600W would have no trouble with that.

------------------------------ *How To Ask For New Build Advice*
HAF 922 | HX750
Rampage2Gene | i7 920 D0 | 6GB Gold 1600 | Hyper 212+
Caviar Black 640GB | HD3870
 Reply to theAnimal
theAnimal   03-04-2009 at 01:58:36 AM
- 0 +

Brianish wrote :

I was looking somewhat idly at this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817815003

But I know nothing about the brand. Are they any good?



I would skip that one.

Do you want modular?

------------------------------ *How To Ask For New Build Advice*
HAF 922 | HX750
Rampage2Gene | i7 920 D0 | 6GB Gold 1600 | Hyper 212+
Caviar Black 640GB | HD3870
 Reply to theAnimal
dirtmountain   03-04-2009 at 02:00:37 AM
- 0 +

I haven't seen a quality review of that particular PSU, the Xigmatek 500w got an 8.5 rating from www.jonnyguru.com which is pretty good for a group regulated PSU, but i'd personally go with the Corsair.
Personally i'd prefer to run my PSUs at about 60% of their rated load, they get better efficiency, run cooler, run quieter and last longer.


Message edited by dirtmountain on 03-04-2009 at 02:03:50 AM
Reply to dirtmountain
Brianish   03-04-2009 at 02:01:15 AM
- 0 +

I'd prefer it for simplicity's sake but the case is big enough that I don't really care. Some extra wires hanging around won't be too much in the way.

Edit - Modular, that is.


Message edited by Brianish on 03-04-2009 at 03:24:56 AM
Reply to Brianish
jaguarskx   03-04-2009 at 06:38:09 AM
- 0 +

I recommend the following Corsair 650w PSU (made by Seasonic):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139005

It's not modular though.

------------------------------ Q9450 |Corsair XMS 4GB DDR 800 | ABit IP35 Pro | HD 5850 | Audigy 2 | Seasonic S12 550 | Cooler Master Centurion 532 | NEC LCD2690WUXi and Planar PX2611w | WinXP

Peace on Earth by means of the destruction of all life on Earth.
 Reply to jaguarskx
Brianish   03-05-2009 at 08:06:07 PM
- 0 +

The 650 actually doesn't have enough cables for 2 of them. I'm thinking the 850 but something a bit odd: I ran it through Corsair's calculator. When I ran my initial (285, non-SLI) setup, it said 520 would suffice. When I added in the SLI card, it boosted up to 1000. Adding one component nearly doubled the recommendation. Anyone know why? (Lacking other evidence, I'm guessing it's to make more money).

Reply to Brianish
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods > Building a PC - Power Supply Question
Go to:

There are 1164 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.395 seconds
Please mind

You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.

Add a reply Cancel
Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them
  • 01:00 Ckaz won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 james59 won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 snarl won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 patlabor44 won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 Kiren won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 WookinPaNub won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 kwadams won the Uniformed badge
  • 21:57 brockh won the Sophmore badge
  • 01:00 xpax won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 Mizoguchi won the Freshman badge