Online powersupply calculators

elgigtarr

Distinguished
May 23, 2009
7
0
18,510
I have just done a full uppgrade of my old computer, i uppgraded everything accept the harddrives, dvd reader, chassi & my powersupply(500w)

this is my current confugiration:


Asus P6T Deluxe V2
I7 920
corsair ddr3 1600 MHz 2GB 3x
sapphire Radeon HD 4890
3 fans including the standard cpu fan, the other 2 is 120mm blue led
3 sata harddrives
+ 4 usb devieses

The problem:
before i bought the new parts i checked this configuration with http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine
it showed 482w with 30% in Capacitor Aging,
so i figured my 500w would do but...

During installation i read the manual for my motherboard and it said i needed at least 600w otherwise my computer would become unstable.
in the manual there was also a link to asus own calculator
http://support.asus.com/PowerSupplyCalculator/PowerSupplyCalculator_right.aspx
which showed i needed 650w at least, which agrees quite well with the manuals recomendation.

Now my questions are:

How much power does my powersupply need to provide?
And why does asus & extreme calculate such a difference in watts?

 
Solution
Anyway I am not so sure how reliable the psu is and probably it will be a good idea to think about buying a good psu in the near future.

hefox

Distinguished
Jan 24, 2007
798
0
19,060
What PSU do you have?
Your system will not use more than 400W.
If is a good psu then is nothing to worry about. It's fine.
Probably Asus is thinking that not everybody is buying a good PSU so they just increase the power to make sure that the PSU has enough amps. My guess anyway.
 

elgigtarr

Distinguished
May 23, 2009
7
0
18,510


my powersupply is an AXP Simple Power 500W
 

elgigtarr

Distinguished
May 23, 2009
7
0
18,510


sure

3.3V 23A
5V 28A
12V1 17A
12V2 18A
-12V 0,6A
5V 2A

I'm not sure if this is what you request but I couldn't think of anything else.
 

SpadeM

Distinguished
Apr 13, 2009
284
0
18,790



To answer your questions:
1. http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine is one of the best power supply calculators out there and the rating it gave you is ok because it take into consideration the lowest PSU wattage needed:
- ATI 4890 uses 2x 6-pin 75W power connectors + the 80 or so watts from the PCI-E slot .. that's a total output of 230W give or take depending on the supply voltages and amps for those voltages. Even so it's plenty for a 500W PSU.

Now the amp thing, most ppl think bigger is better, like putting a 1000W PSU in a system with an SLI or Crossfire configuration, but that is plain stupid. Again, your card needs 75W on a 6pin connector and that means it needs 2x75Watts/12Volts = 12.6 Amps on the 12 volt rail minimum to be able to start it up. Since u have a multiple rail configured PSU that is able to deliver 17+ Amps on your 12V line u're ok with 500W of power.
 

elgigtarr

Distinguished
May 23, 2009
7
0
18,510


Thank you I was considering buying a new powersupply but I'm going to test my current and i did a little research myself and I found out that gigabyte only write minimum 500w in their manual. So it's probably so that Asus minimum limit is more like a just to make sure limit ;)

 

theAnimal

Distinguished
Jan 21, 2009
2,370
0
19,810


How many PCIe connectors does your PSU have? If it doesn't have 2, I would recommend buying a good quality PSU that does.
 

elgigtarr

Distinguished
May 23, 2009
7
0
18,510
Half a day later and my computer is up and running, things didn't turned out as we discussed, after a closer look at my powersupply I realised it wasn't a 80 PLUS.
so I didn't want to gamble. I bought a quiet cheep 620w with plenty of resources.

thanks again =)
 

elgigtarr

Distinguished
May 23, 2009
7
0
18,510


a good PSU costs and this was a pretty unexpected error. so my economy doesn't allow me to choose 80plus PSU.

And my PSU is of some quality anyway & it have all the necessary connectors except 8 pin CPU connection. I haven't thought of overclocking my I7 right now so it's unnecessary.
 

theAnimal

Distinguished
Jan 21, 2009
2,370
0
19,810


80Plus does not necessarily mean good quality. Cheap PSUs are never a good idea, it's the most important component in your system. When poor quality PSUs fail there's a chance they'll take other parts with them.
 

elgigtarr

Distinguished
May 23, 2009
7
0
18,510


I know 80plus only means the PSU provides at least 80% of the input power at 50% load.

and I know a cheap PSU can ruin your computer that is why I bought this upgrade in the first place. (My motherboard & GPU stopped working when I installed a new CPU fan, my PSU couldn't provide enough power and it died along whit the rest)
thanks for the update though ;) but if I'm going to buy an expensive PSU I think I prefer an 80plus ;) because of 2 things, heat & environmental reasons.