PSU Requirements

[btran]

Hello All,

I just wanted the opinion from some of you hardcore system builders out there. My current setup is a Q9450 with 8GB (4 x 2GB) of DDR2 RAM, 2 x HD4870 in Crossfire, XFi Platinum, DVDRW, 640GB SATA HDD and an Antec 850W True Power PSU. All in an Antec 900 case.

I've recently decommissioned another system and was wondering if I added a 1TB Green SATA and 2 x 500GB SATA, will my PSU be able to handle the extra load and remain stable? You comments are very appreciated.

 

[hunter315]

You have the 850W TruePower Quattro i assume? The TPQ-850 wont have any problem with you adding 3 more hard drives, you have way more power than your system needs, you could add a third 4870 and still be safe, hard drives take very little power.

 

[btran]

Thank you hunter315. You sure know your hardware with identifying the PSU from what I wrote lol. My purchase was based on the consideration of future upgrades at the time (hence the over compensating).

I did use a PSU calculator and the entire setup (with the additional HDDs) came to 583W so I just got a little concerned should my system come under load. My only other concern now is how much extra heat the drives will generate.

Now to figure out on how to install these extra drives. It's a mess inside me case. A jungle of cables lol.

 

[hunter315]

Hard drives dont use much, if you look at the hard drive charts the most power hungry one they tested in 2009 used 10W when playing a video, i think the most a hard drive would ever use would be about 15W so its not going to be a noticeable amount of heat considering your 2 4870s each use about 150W under load.

 

[btran]

Thanks again hunter315.

Installed the extra drives in my rig this morning and it has been running for about 4 hours so far without any issues

 

[guanyu210379]

Now to figure out on how to install these extra drives. It's a mess inside me case. A jungle of cables lol.

Antec 900 is huge, you should have enough room for those HDDs.
Hmmm...try rewiring the cables, but this time make it neat
If you got a messy cable salad there, well...you are gonna miss the best feature of Antec 900, the air flow.
Get the cables going through the back (the other side of the mobo not the side where you plug the RAM, and the rest). You might need some cable extensions too.

 

[jsc]

guanyu, the problem is the Antec 900 doesn't have enough holes in the motherboard tray.

It's fairly simple to add them if you start with an empty case.
Antec 900 case mods for cable management:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/264112-28-antec

 

[guanyu210379]

guanyu, the problem is the Antec 900 doesn't have enough holes in the motherboard tray.

Yup, that is why a powerfull enough drill and metal hole saw come in handy.