Power Supply Recommendation

[bozoisundead]

Hey all, I am in the process of building my new computer and making all those tough decisions associated with this long and arduous process. I have a few things already locked in such as my processor, case, ram, and hard drive. The variable aspects of my build are the video card, motherboard, and power supply.

During my research for my build, I stumbled across this calculator that several people have linked: http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

My question is how accurate is this calculator?

My desired computer is as follows:
Core i5-2500K
Antec Three Hundred Illusion Case (with 2 120mm LED fans, 1 120mm fan, 1 140mm LED fan)
4 sticks of 4gb DDR3
500gb 7200RPM SATA HDD
AMD Radeon HD 6850

Entering my desired build resulted in a minimum psu of 286W and a recommended psu of 336W.
Based on these calculations I would purchase this psu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371034

However, based on various forum posts regarding the PSU requirements of the HD6850 the recommendation was a minimum of a 500W psu and many people recommended 600-650W ones.

Would this Antec 430W psu work? If not, does this mean that the extreme psu calculator inaccurate?

Finally if the 430W psu does work, how much room would it allow me to upgrade my computer in the future such as adding a SSD (which I understand is very power efficient) and possibly a newer video card in a few years.

 

[Silvune]

I don't really know how accurate that calculator is, but I would tend to accept its recommendation in this case. As 6850s are not power hungry at all, so people recommending 600-650W PSUs are overestimating power consumption, or possibly they believe that all units below that wattage level are not high quality.

So yes it will definitely work and there won't be any problem adding HDDs or SSDs (as long as you only use ~5 of them, as that is how many SATA connectors the EA-430D has). It would be fine with any graphics card that only requires one PCIe connector. Which I suppose could be quite restrictive as for instance 6870s aren't always that much more expensive than 6850s, but that requires two PCIe connectors, which might be beyond a 430W PSU.

I would like to share my experience at this point. The first GPU I bought was a 4890 which is relatively power hungry and requires two PCIe connectors. Soon I will be replacing it with a 6850 (mostly to reduce noise levels), it is less power hungry, cooler but it outperforms 4890s. So I think it will be entirely possible for you to remain in the 6850 power level and be happy with GPU upgrades.

 

[chesteracorgi]

The Antec will do the job, but I recommend that you consider this PCP&C 500 W unit which is a dollar diffenent (after rebate): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703025

It will give you a little more headroom for expansion and it is well reviewed by users.

 

[phatbuddha79]

The 430 is more than enough for your build, trust me on this.

 

[davcon]

Better deal
Antec Earthwatts Green 650W - $49.99 USD
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=59339&vpn=EA650Green&manufacture=Antec&promoid=1339

 

[bozoisundead]

Thank you all for the quick and helpful feedback. Since it would be cheaper for me to order the 650W Antec Green, I think I'll be going with that.

 

[bozoisundead]

Best answer selected by bozoisundead.

 

[davcon]

Gee thanks lol!