PSU problems in a new system

[mandanclan]

I have just finished putting together a brand new system. It's been 3 years since I have really put a computer together and it's been really fun; however, i salvaged (or at least tried) the psu that had supported my old system pretty well. Its a thermaltake 430w supply. it didn't even boot this system that i finished today:

Intel core 2 duo 64 bit 3.16 Ghz processor
GIGABYTE EP45-UD3P motherboard LGA 775 PCI-E2.0 x 16/ 4 DDR 2 dual-ch 8 ch HD audio
GIGABYTE GeForce 9800 GTX+ 1GB GDDR3 PCI-E2.0 256 bit direct X-10 w/ PhysX acc.
4GB of OCZ 2x2GB DDR2 1066
Antec 1200 steel black case (amazing)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE

I wanted to hear some suggestions as to how many watts I should have to support this system. If you feel like you know please let me hear it!

 

[mandanclan]

i was thinking around 700-800W....

 

[btc2008]

i was thinking around 700-800W....

I don't think you even need that much, but the 430 W is far too little. Don't think in terms of wattage, but think in terms of efficiency rating and how much amperage you can get off the 12 V rails.

Basically, get a PSU that is:
-80 plus certified
-If you're running one GPU, you should have at least 24A on one 12V
-If you're dual GPU, then at least 34A
-To find that stuff, look on newegg's specification page of the PSU under Output, and find the +12V Amperage value.

There are two PSUs below that should meet your requirements; one is 610 W and another is 750 W that is SLI Certified. Both are 80 + and I would personally get the 610 W one b/c I have it and it's a great PSU.

PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail +12V @ 60 A

PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W Continuous @ 40°C EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail +12V @ 49 A

I got the above information about amperage values on 12V rails from this very useful link at newegg:
Newegg: Power Supply Buying Guide

 

[mandanclan]

thanks for the feedback that was very helpful. i tried sticking a 550W PSU into it and i got the same results, a failed bootup. I've been reading quite a bit about people who have similar system specs and it seems like they are in between 650W and 800W PSU's. I went ahead and ordered a Zalman 750W SLI Ready 80 + certified PSU with 4 12v rails ($120 <--damn good price). I am only running one GPU so i'm pretty sure i'm ok amperage-wise. I feel like this was a good buy and I hope it proves right!

 

[croc]

Let us know how the Zalman PSU fares, as best as you can. Jonnyguru has only one recent review of a Zalman, the 610W unit and that looked interesting to me. Heatpipe cooling in a PSU? Rated 9 overall, Db levels were 'way down there....

 

[mandanclan]

Will do. One thing that caught my eye is that there weren't any bad reviews of this one out of 50. In terms of efficiency Zalman seems to have it together. I just hope I can report the same about the performance.