Can i use my old psu?

[JeffL3]

Hi guys, sorry for such a noobie question, but the computer im replacing has a 550W Antec PSU ive never had any problems with, on the new computerim building i planned on buying a PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W PSU, For a new system am i better off using a new PSU? My Current one is....about 2-3 years old.

 

[JeffL3]

One more question i have is ive decided to try out Vista 64 Premium, the system i was going with uses 4GB of RAM, would it hurt to boost it to 8? Or is that just pure overkill?

 

[Proximon]

Unless you post specs I can't say if your PSU is enough. Is it a Trio?

4GB is enough for most. 8GB can be good... but you'll want to be extra careful about it, as most boards need a little tweaking to fill up all the RAM slots.

 

[kubes]

First we would need to know the specs for the rest of the computer to know how much power it would require. Antec has come a long long ways in PSU making, so something also that would be helpful would be knowing what module of the 550w antec psu that you are talking about. The PC Power & Cooling one you have noted is a very solid PSU. Its one I regularly reccomend. So depending on the rest of your system specs and what module of the PSU will determine if you need to upgrade your PSU.

For the ram question it'll probally be overkill. The question to ask here is what do you plan on doing while on your computer? gaming, vidoe editing? ..ect

 

[JeffL3]

Since im at work i cant be specific on the number of the Antec 550, the system im building is as follows and im mainly wanting it for gaming

Case:
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Monitor:
ASUS VH222H Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor

GPU:
ASUS EAH4870 DK/HTDI/1GD5 Radeon HD 4870 1GB

PSU:
PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W

RAM:
G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800

MOBO:
ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

Proc:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W

OS
Vista Premium 64

Im using 2x WD Sata 500g Hds and 2x 20x Lite-On DVD burners w/lightscribe from the previous computer.

 

[kubes]

Seeing the specs for this computer I would reccomend going with the pc power and cooling 610. Nice build btw.

@zipzoomfly
don't get me wrong i'm a big antec fan. I just thought that ther tpq 2 &3 series could have been better. Had a few that I had to return because of failed psu's. Felt like their quality control had slipped a bit. The tpq 4 and the new signature series are up there as being the best imo. TPQ 4 I'd say is a teir 2 psu and the signature series a teir 1.

 

[Proximon]

A 3 year old Antec Trio might be near the line with that GPU. If you would like to save the money, I would say go for it. If any instability crops up in gaming, just suspect the PSU first.

Since you are buying a crossfire board, I would suggest upgrading to a Corsair or PCP&C 750W when you do buy a PSU. It will cover a second card should you get one.

 

[JeffL3]

That was actually my plans, come february and income tax i planned on getting a second 4870 and running them crossfire. Most of the builds ive read so far are all using Sapphire GPU's, is ASUS a bad brand when it comes to GPU's? Ive always used ASUS MOBO's and they seem to be high quality.

 

[Proximon]

ASUS is OK, but the cooler on the Sapphire 4870 1GB is exceptional:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801

 

[kubes]

No, its just the sapphire is cheaper. Asus makes solid GPU's as well. Just pay a bit more for the exact same thing. If you plan on doing the 4870's in crossfire then you want to step up to a 750w+. 4870 is one of the more demanding cards on the market. Might want to even wait for newegg to have one of its antec cases and psu combo deals to go on sale. Try for the antec 900. Gives you a little bit more room to play with inside the case and improved air flow. I know they do regular specials with the antec 900 and TPQ 850w out the door for ~$200 bucks.

 

[JeffL3]

If i get the sapphire card listed and the CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC as a combo im only spending an extra 20$ on the deal...worth it for future upgrading to 2x Sapphire 1G GPU?

 

[JeffL3]

The First Machine i built was a full tower so i had more room to work in, i know the 300 is only a mid, is there a huge difference?

 

[kubes]

Yes that's a good deal to look into. That would be a good setup.

It depends. I think you'll see that there is a lot less space, but it should fit everything. The Antec 300 is the encomoy case. The antec 900 and 1200 are the gaming cases, and the Antec 180's are the bussiness cases. That's how i would classify the cases. I'm in favor of suggesting to you to grab an antec 900(mid) or 1200(full) because you plan on doing crossfire. I think it'd help with air flow in your case quite a bit. But it all depends on your budget really.

 

[JeffL3]

I actually have about 300$ more budget then my current system config requires. I just wasnt ready to hop into crossfire considering i dont even have any experience with SLI, kind of afraid ill mess up the two cards.

 

[JeffL3]

The new Setup after changing a few things would be:

Case:
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Monitor:
ASUS VH222H Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor

GPU:
SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5

PSU:
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V

RAM:
G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800

MOBO:
ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

Proc:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W

OS
Vista Premium 64

I dont mind upgrading to a better case, the only problem with the two cases listed, the 900 and 1200 is that this computer goes in my bedroom, and the Blue LED's tend to keep me awake during the night which is one of the whole reasons i was going with the 300. Would you recommend any gaming cases without LEDs?

 

[Proximon]

You betcha:

Cooler Master HAF

You can disable the LED in the fan. As you can with the Antec 900.

Just one other suggestion, if there are no combo deals involved, get a Gigabyte UD3P as it's an upgrade over the older ASUS P5Q Pro.

 

[JeffL3]

My current case ive looked everywhere to try to figure out how to disable the LED's and was never able to find it. If the LEDS are able to be disabled, which case would you recommend out of the 4? The Antec 300,900,1200 or the Cooler Master? Long as i can turn the LED's off then i have no problem, and they are all easily within my budget, the upgraded MOBO is only $10 more after the rebate so that's easy enough.

 

[kubes]

You can either buy case fans that would replace the ones that have led's or you can snip the wires. The leds are ussualy covered with some sort of tape or glued in. Snip the wire right where it plugs into the led. (I'm not saying snip the fan wires!!). I'm not sure but that's the only way i know how to disable them, maybe proximon knows a better way.