GTX 260 / Quad-Core: Earthwatts 500?

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fcwedd

Weaksauce
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Hey all, I posted a similar question yesterday and got some great feedback from you all. I thought I had my mind made up on what power supply to buy; however, newegg just released a pretty nice sale on the following item: Sonota III 500 Black ($99 w/ coupon & free shipping). It states that a 500w Antec Earthwatts power supply ships with the case.

Here is my system:

CPU: Q9550
MB: ASUS P5QL Pro
GPU: EVGA GTX 260
SC: Creative X-Fi
RAM: 4GB G.Skill DDR2 1066
HD: 320GB Western Digital SATA 3.0
1 DVD/RW Sata

I was in need of a power supply and case. However, I'm worried that this 500w Earthwatts won't be enough. I rarely overclock and won't be running in SLI; I just want to be on the safe side without worries. The 260 manual states that it requires a 500w PS. This is why I'm nervous, as I don't like to be on the edge. Will this take me to the edge?

What say you?

Thanks!
 
I'm pretty sure a gtx 260 require a 500w psu with 36amp on the +12v. You should just buy a stronger psu, and be more future proof.
 
Agreed, I don't think the Earthwatts 500w would be able to power the GTX 260 efficiently. Rarely any 500w can supply the power required for the GTX 200 series cards (however, my Corsair HX520 can but its a beast of a PSU).
 
Thanks for the replies :)

I've also asked this question in a few other forums. Some say that it will work just fine, whereas others state it's too risky. I'll just fork over some extra and get the HX620. I've never really had a nice PS before.

I've had an old 300w no-name power supply blow up like a fricken grenade before. This was years ago when they released the ATI 9800 Pro. Anyways, I've always been a bit scared when it comes to the insurance police (PS).
 
I dunno, the Earthwatts in all it's versions is a pretty decent line of PSUs. I'd give it a try myself before plopping down more cash on a new PSU.
 
I agree. I asked the same question, but with a GTX280 as the video card...with a Q6600 and a Earthwatts 500.

I think most people figured it would work. --- just to test and see. The Earthwatts 500 is a really decent PSU. I ended up getting my order cancelled so I never tried it out --- BUT I would have tried it given the replies given.
 
It will work, but at full load it might run loud and hot. Right now I have my gtx 285 in the e8500 machine in my sig and it is fine.
 
I'd go with the Corsair HX520/620 or TX650 to be on the safe side.

Corsair make good quality PSUs, and I like how they be single rail.
 
Antec Earthwatts PSUs, like most Corsair PSUs, are made by Seasonic, who are very consistent about delivering high quality PSUs. (Edit: I wasn't aware that some Earthwatts are now made by Delta. See posts below. But Delta is a good maker too anyway.)

I would feel very comfortable with recommending an Antec 500W for any single-GPU video card on the market today, including the GTX 260, GTX 285 and ATi 4870. It's not for SLI or Crossfire setups, of course, and I would include the 4870X2 and GTX295 in that category.

With their rear-venting fans, the Antec Earthwatts line is an excellent choice for cases that put the PSU on the bottom of the case.
 
the Antec earthwatts is basically just a Corsair 450 but with cheaper caps. OP your system would likely only pull about 250-275 watts at the wall during gaming so yes you would be fine. that being said if you have the option to go with a Corsair 520 watt or above then I would certainly do that.
 
It will work. The rig I built for my couz has the same case w/ the antec 500 psu for a quad setup (Oc'd) on a Biostar p43 mobo with a gtx260, WD 640gb, and Ocz 4gb and it has been working for more than 4+ months. But I haven't OC'd the gtx260 yet.

I am planning to get another gtx260 for another rig, and saw that the recommend power was like 535watts. :confused:
 
Raiden911 said:
It will work. The rig I built for my couz has the same case w/ the antec 500 psu for a quad setup (Oc'd) on a Biostar p43 mobo with a gtx260, WD 640gb, and Ocz 4gb and it has been working for more than 4+ months. But I haven't OC'd the gtx260 yet.

I am planning to get another gtx260 for another rig, and saw that the recommend power was like 535watts. :confused:
Click to expand...


nobody is saying that it wont work but if he has the option to get a better psu than he should. a 500watt Earthwatts only has one 6 pin connector too so he would have to use a splitter just to power a card like the gtx260. not that it really matters but I am just saying. ;)

the card companies try to overestimate because there are so many pc configurations out there. an overclocked i7 rig with a gtx260 will pull way more power than an e8500 rig with a gtx285 so its not just the cards that matter. video card companies also have to compensate for the many shitty power supplies on the market too.
 
cannondale06 said:
a 500watt Earthwatts only has one 6 pin connector too so he would have to use a splitter just to power a card like the gtx260.
Click to expand...

The 500W Earthwatts has two 6-pin PCI-E power connectors, though. You must be thinking of the 380W and 430W Earthwatts PSUs - they have only one.
 
You'll be fine, unless your really OC'ing things and have lots of other things running on the PSU, like HDD's and fans

My Q9650 and 4850 both OC'd, 3HDD's, 5x 120mm fans, 2x dvd burners pulls ~350w+ from the wall using OCCT's psu stress tester, so figure 400w and the GTX 260 pulls ~25w more(assuming they scale the same when OC'ing. This is worst case, the only time your going to pull that many watts is when you use the PSU stress tester as gaming or running P95 or other constant use situations will be much lower. Also this is at the wall so figure the 80% efficiency and your fine.

If your running them stock your fine. If you only have 1hdd and a couple of fans and OC everything you should be fine also.

I'm getting a GTX 260 later this week to test. So far my Antec 550w is solid.
 
evilsofa said:
The 500W Earthwatts has two 6-pin PCI-E power connectors, though. You must be thinking of the 380W and 430W Earthwatts PSUs - they have only one.
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yeah my bad. I was actually thinking of the Corsair 450 watt unit that the Earthwatts 500 is sort of based on. :eek:
 
isnt the earthwatts dual 12v rails? my bro had problems with it running a oc e8500 and a 4870 oc setup. He put the earthwatts in his kids pc, and all was ok. Put the corsair hx520 in his, and problems solved. For the record, i used a corsair vx450 with a oc e8400 and a gtx 280 for moths with no problems. corsair psu is one of the best for sure.
 
dccmadams said:
isnt the earthwatts dual 12v rails? my bro had problems with it running a oc e8500 and a 4870 oc setup. He put the earthwatts in his kids pc, and all was ok. Put the corsair hx520 in his, and problems solved. For the record, i used a corsair vx450 with a oc e8400 and a gtx 280 for moths with no problems. corsair psu is one of the best for sure.
Click to expand...
besides some slightly lower quality caps, the Antec Earthwatts 500 psu is the SAME unit has the Corsair vx450.
 
cannondale06 said:
the Antec earthwatts is basically just a Corsair 450 but with cheaper caps.
Click to expand...

cannondale06 said:
yeah my bad. I was actually thinking of the Corsair 450 watt unit that the Earthwatts 500 is sort of based on. :eek:
Click to expand...

cannondale06 said:
besides some slightly lower quality caps, the Antec Earthwatts 500 psu is the SAME unit has the Corsair vx450.
Click to expand...
Wrong.

All of the newer Earthwatts 500W PSUs are made by Delta now, not Seasonic. Only Earthwatts 430W and 500W PSUs circa early 2008 and earlier were made by Seasonic. More than likely that Sonata III comes with the Delta made EA500.

@ OP
Someone asked a similar question in the PSU subforum:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1400417

The verdict was the same: The EA500 is enough.
 
Danny Bui said:
Wrong.

All of the newer Earthwatts 500W PSUs are made by Delta now, not Seasonic. Only Earthwatts 430W and 500W PSUs circa early 2008 and earlier were made by Seasonic. More than likely that Sonata III comes with the Delta made EA500.

@ OP
Someone asked a similar question in the PSU subforum:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1400417

The verdict was the same: The EA500 is enough.
Click to expand...
yeah I was looking at info from early last year and didnt know they had changed to Delta. so is the change to Delta a bad one?
 
cannondale06 said:
yeah I was looking at info from early last year and didnt know they had changed to Delta. so is the change to Delta a bad one?
Click to expand...

No. Delta makes Antec's Signature line of PSUs which have been shown to be of extremely high quality:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=113
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=101
http://hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTUzMywsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0

And the Delta made Earthwatts 650W is of good quality as well:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=110

So judging from the above, the change to Delta is not a bad one and the Delta made EA500 is still a good quality PSU.
 
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