Tom's Hardware > Forum > Homebuilt Systems > New System Build > How much PSU power to run this...?

How much PSU power to run this...?

Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - How much PSU power to run this...?

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 :           
 
davidstone   08-30-2009 at 03:31:40 PM

Hi Everyone,

I’m building a new desktop PC and these are the components I’m putting in:

MoBo: ASUS P5QL PRO
CPU: Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 2,83GHz
VGA: ASUS PCIe EAH4850/HTDI/1GB DDR3
HDD1: WD SATA2 1TB 32MB 7200RPM CAVIAR BLACK
HDD2: WD SATA2 1TB 32MB 7200RPM CAVIAR GREEN
RAM: KINGMAX DDR2 2GB/1066MHz PC2-8500
I’ll be also throwing in a wi-fi card: ASUS WL-138GE 54g Wireless PCI Card
In addition I frequently have an external USB HDD and HTC Touch HD WinMo phone plugged in via USB.

I am not gaming (except for the Vista Ultimate Extras, such as Chess and MahJong…), but I am frequently working with photo/video editing apps.

My question is how powerful PSU I have to install to run this baby w/o a problem…?

Any suggestions on BUDGET case and PSU are more than welcomed.

Many thanks,
David

Add a reply
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
Bronze Home Brew badge obsidian86   08-30-2009 at 03:39:53 PM
- 0 +

a good(corsair.pc power&cooling,antec earthwatts,seasonic,ocz.silverstone) 500-600 watt psu will be fine and the best budget case is the antec 300

Reply to obsidian86
masterjaw   08-31-2009 at 11:01:45 AM
- 0 +

Quote :

WD SATA2 1TB 32MB 7200RPM CAVIAR GREEN



You sure about this? IIRC, Caviar Green has 16mb cache, not 32mb.

Case: +1 on Antec 300
PSU: Antec EA380 / Corsair CX400

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to masterjaw
alikum   08-31-2009 at 03:12:19 PM
- 0 +

Are you planning to overclock? If you are, you can consider Corsair HX450, which is a modular.

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to alikum
Bronze Home Brew badge Transmaniacon   08-31-2009 at 03:30:17 PM
- 0 +

+1 on the Antec 300 & Antec EA380

Theres probably a combo on those two right now

Reply to Transmaniacon
Bronze Home Brew badge Shadow703793   08-31-2009 at 05:26:21 PM
- 0 +

^EA380 is too low for a 4850.

@OP: A COrsair, PC Power, OCZ, Antec, SeaSonic 450-550W unit will do.

------------------------------ http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2617/3815217176_0a5be7955d_o.gif
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3553/3818083596_1a772f7162_o.gif
 Reply to Shadow703793
DeW itt right   08-31-2009 at 08:27:11 PM
- 0 +

eXtreme Outer Vision has an awesome free PSU calculator that is very accurate. The lite version (free) gives you a minimum wattage required but the pro version ($10 lifetime access) gives you required amperage on each rail. Very good utility to use if you plan on overclocking, watercooling, or upgrading...

------------------------------ Intel Core i7 920, Zalman CNPS9700 HSF, eVGA X58 E758-TR, 3 x 2Gb OCZ Platinum DDR3-1600, Asus GTX 275, 60Gb OCZ Summit SSD (system), 640Gb WD Caviar Black WD6401AALS (storage), Antec CP-850 850W PSU, 24" Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP LCD, Antec P183 Case, Win7
 Reply to DeW itt right
Bronze Home Brew badge Shadow703793   08-31-2009 at 08:37:30 PM
- 1 +

^lol! Why pay $10 to find the amps? If wattage is known you can use this equation:
W= V*A.

To find +12 rail:
W/12= Amps
do that for the +5,+3.3.

------------------------------ http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2617/3815217176_0a5be7955d_o.gif
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3553/3818083596_1a772f7162_o.gif
 Reply to Shadow703793
DeW itt right   08-31-2009 at 08:51:08 PM
- 0 +

Yes, but from the total wattage needed you don't know what the breakdown is between the 3.3V, 5V, and 12V rails. It just gives a generic total PSU rated wattage. If you're smart enough (and have enough time) you can add up the required amps from all of the components voltage/amperage requirements but I don't mind paying $10 for a lifetime license to have something else do it for me instantly. I'm constantly upgrading so i use it regularly to make sure my existing PSU will be able to handle the new loads...

------------------------------ Intel Core i7 920, Zalman CNPS9700 HSF, eVGA X58 E758-TR, 3 x 2Gb OCZ Platinum DDR3-1600, Asus GTX 275, 60Gb OCZ Summit SSD (system), 640Gb WD Caviar Black WD6401AALS (storage), Antec CP-850 850W PSU, 24" Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP LCD, Antec P183 Case, Win7
 Reply to DeW itt right
ill b ben   08-31-2009 at 08:53:25 PM
- 1 +

actually a earthwatt 380 could run that, i agree give it some headroom but still.

Id say get a nice case like the antec soneta III ( it comes with a quallity antec 500 psu wich would b great for this build)

Although seeing your not gaming on that system , wouldnt you b better of with a 4670 or a 9600 gso?

Also imo get 2 caviar blues, i have both the black and blue edition , and speed wise they differ very little

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to ill b ben
ill b ben   08-31-2009 at 08:56:41 PM
- 0 +

EDIT: also go for atleast 4 gigs of ram rather then 2 (dont need pc8500, go for pc6400)

Reply to ill b ben
Bronze Home Brew badge Shadow703793   08-31-2009 at 09:23:55 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

Yes, but from the total wattage needed you don't know what the breakdown is between the 3.3V, 5V, and 12V rails.


Why not?

------------------------------ http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2617/3815217176_0a5be7955d_o.gif
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3553/3818083596_1a772f7162_o.gif
 Reply to Shadow703793
DeW itt right   08-31-2009 at 09:42:54 PM
- 0 +

Because the various components installed determine how much of your actual wattage used is 3.3v, 5v, and 12v. This table is definitely outdated but but does a good job of illustrating my point. Neglecting overclocking, the PSU calculator tells me my minimum PSU wattage is 434W with minimum 3.3v/5v/12v amperage ratings of 8.2A/11.5A/29.2A resulting in wattage percentages of 6.2%/13.2%/80.6%. Just by overclocking the CPU or GPU the 12V percentage will rise. Using the free version is safe because today's PC's and PSU are only limited by the 12v rail (heavily used by the CPU and GPU) so a detailed breakdown isn't really necessary. I just thought I'd let you know a more in depth evaluation is available with the paid version. For most systems and PSU's the free version would work just fine.

------------------------------ Intel Core i7 920, Zalman CNPS9700 HSF, eVGA X58 E758-TR, 3 x 2Gb OCZ Platinum DDR3-1600, Asus GTX 275, 60Gb OCZ Summit SSD (system), 640Gb WD Caviar Black WD6401AALS (storage), Antec CP-850 850W PSU, 24" Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP LCD, Antec P183 Case, Win7
 Reply to DeW itt right
Bronze Home Brew badge Shadow703793   08-31-2009 at 10:14:20 PM
- 1 +

^Ahh.... I see what you mean.

At any rate, it's not all about the amps,watts,etc listed on the box. What really mattes are:

 

1. Can the PSU ACTUALLY deliver the needed wattage/amps? Many low quality PSUs can't deliver their advertised wattage.

 

2. How stable are the lines/rails?

 

3. How good are the internal components, esp caps?

 

These are the things that count. It doesn't matter if you'r PSU has the needed wattage, but it can't provide it with out going out of specs on rail stability,etc. That's why one should take a look at LOAD TESTS done by people like jonnyguru: http://www.jonnyguru.com/

 

{H] OPC also does load testing.

 


Message edited by Shadow703793 on 08-31-2009 at 10:14:51 PM
------------------------------ http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2617/3815217176_0a5be7955d_o.gif
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3553/3818083596_1a772f7162_o.gif
 Reply to Shadow703793
davidstone   09-03-2009 at 08:51:17 AM
- 0 +

masterjaw wrote :

Quote :

WD SATA2 1TB 32MB 7200RPM CAVIAR GREEN



You sure about this? IIRC, Caviar Green has 16mb cache, not 32mb.

Case: +1 on Antec 300
PSU: Antec EA380 / Corsair CX400



I'm positive Caviar GP has both 32 and 16 Mb cache:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/pro [...] riveid=576

Reply to davidstone
davidstone   09-03-2009 at 08:52:22 AM
- 0 +

alikum wrote :

Are you planning to overclock? If you are, you can consider Corsair HX450, which is a modular.



No, as I don't play games...

Reply to davidstone
davidstone   09-03-2009 at 09:00:59 AM
- 1 +

ill b ben wrote :

actually a earthwatt 380 could run that, i agree give it some headroom but still.

Id say get a nice case like the antec soneta III ( it comes with a quallity antec 500 psu wich would b great for this build)

Although seeing your not gaming on that system , wouldnt you b better of with a 4670 or a 9600 gso?

Also imo get 2 caviar blues, i have both the black and blue edition , and speed wise they differ very little



Hi Ben, thanks... indeed 4850 is an overkill... I opted for 4670 w/ 1GbDDR3 instead (1/2 price)

I am opting for Caviar Black though, as there is a 5 year (limited) warranty on it and data security is a priority for me. Don't mind paying a bit extra for that.

many tnx

Reply to davidstone
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Homebuilt Systems > New System Build > How much PSU power to run this...?
Go to:

There are 1308 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.279 seconds
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?