Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods > Power supply suggestions

Power supply suggestions

Forum CPU & Components : Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods - Power supply suggestions

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 :           
 
massec   05-13-2009 at 09:11:50 PM

I am replacing my power supply now to a quieter one, and am looking to upgrade to an i7 920 in the future. My pc specs are currently an e8200@3.4ghz, 4gb corsair 800mhz ram, asus P5N-D, SLi 9600gt and a dvd dual layer rw drive.

When upgrading to an i7 I was planning to overclock it using an aftermarket cooler. I was looking at power supplies in the 600-750W range, particularly the coolermaster silent pro. But when checking a power supply calculator it comes up with the required power at 420W!That can't be right can it, and if so would I be better off buying a lower rated powers supply such as the 500W from the coolermaster silent pro series?


cheers massec

Add a reply
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
jive   05-13-2009 at 09:36:47 PM
- 0 +

The evaluation given bye the psu calculator is ok, but it's just an evaluation, if you enter all disk drive and all hardware as ask by the calculator. But, it will not hurt to go i litlle bit higher just to be sure the wattage his ok. Also think may be in the future you will ad an other video card gtx or 48 something and it wll required more power from de psu. I have in my second rig a silverstone 750w, and I install all my hardware on it and everything works well. gtx295 , 3 hdd, 2 dvd player, non stock cooling. So I think if you can get a deal on a 750 w. you will be at ease.
Bye

Reply to jive
Outlander_04   05-13-2009 at 10:05:35 PM
- 0 +

Theres an excellent article on anandtech about power supply myths

http://www.anandtech.com/casecooli [...] spx?i=3413

for some reason people seem to think that bigger is better . its not , its just bigger . I'd be really surprised if your system could draw 450 watts . And if you buy too powerful a psu then it wont be running efficiently .
A good rule of thumb would be to add about 50% to your calc so your psu isnt running at full speed ,but is still running efficiently
Have a look at the Corsair 650 TX . It will be plenty

Reply to Outlander_04
Silver CPUs badge JohnnyLucky   05-13-2009 at 10:07:55 PM
- 0 +

You mentioned SLI 9600GT. Those are not power hungry video cards. Two of the 9600GT video cards used in dual SLI mode only use a combined total of about 125 watts and 10 amps at full load. That's low compared to some of the other cards. The source of the information is the video card power requirements article publish by Tom's Hardware last January.

Even if you overclock, the rest of the components will probably only use about 275 watts during a gaming session. That's a grand total of 400 watts. A high quality 500 watt or 550 watt power supply such as the Corsair VX 550 or the Antec Earthwatts EA500 would not have any problem delivering power to your system.


Message edited by JohnnyLucky on 05-13-2009 at 10:08:41 PM
Reply to JohnnyLucky
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods > Power supply suggestions
Go to:

There are 1205 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.619 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
Related Topics
See all relatives topics
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them
How do I win badges?