How much does this build require?

[blue-lynx]

Hey all..

These are the components for my current build. I am a casual pc-gamer and I play games only during vacations however I do have photoshop running most of the times while I watch a movie or research articles on the internet and also on the side, I am usually downloading movies, music and old school emulated games mostly (which i play either on a weekend or during vacations ofcourse).

I tried to gather components that dont suck up alot of power while delivering performance. Please do note that I will not be overclocking any of the components ever and will be runing everything at stock speed. Kindly, recommend a suitable psu for the system.


Motherboard: ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X38 / SE

Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775

GPU: SAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express

RAM: 3 GB ( 2gb x1 and 1gb x 1 - G.Skill DDR2-800 PC2-6400 )

Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache

DVD-Burner (internal): ASUS Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X
(external): PHILIPS Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional



* I wonder if I should get another hard-drive

 

[Dangman]

Any of these power supplies would be good choices and should be enough to power your rig:
Corsair 550VX 550W PSU - $89
Corsair 520HX 520W PSU - $106
Corsair 650TX 650W PSU - $130
Corsair 620HX 620W PSU - $139

Just an FYI: Going with a higher wattage PSU will give you more headroom for future upgrades

 

[blue-lynx]

550 watts? lolz I was thinking of getting something along the 500-520 watt lines...
what do you think ?

 

[Dangman]

I did link to a 520W PSU FYI.

Remember that wattage doesn't mean as much these days. What matters most is where those watts are being delivered. For current rigs, it's all about how much amps are on the +12V rail since most PC parts draw their power from there. The more amps you have, the more upgrades (hard drives, video cards, PCI cards, etc) you can add. You determine the amperage on the +12V rails by first finding out what's the total combined, max load, combined or max wattage aside for the +12V rails/section alone. Then divide that total by 12 and you get how much amps the PSU has on the +12V rail.

That's the correct way to find out how much amps a power supply has. Don't add up the amps on the +12V rail to figure out the amperage. Doesn't work that way. If the total combined or max wattage can't be found on the power supply, check the manufacturer's page for that PSU for that info. If the manufacturer doesn't provide that information, it's generally a good sign for you to drop that power supply from consideration.

So just to save you some time, here's the amperage on the +12V for each of those power supplies:
550VX: 41A
520HX: 40A
650TX: 52A
620HX: 50A

That's why I recommended the above PSUs. They all have significantly higher +12 amperage than many other PSUs out there.

 

[kush]

It would be fine. Hell, you might even be able to get away w/ the 450VX with those components, and not overclocking. But as the previous poster said, more headroom for future upgrades is always a good idea. Highly efficient across most/all operating range or not (in the case of all the noted units), it's best to overbuy to some degree because:

a) generally the sweet spot efficiency wise is usually somewhere in the middle of the capacity range
b) not a good idea to max out a PSU all the time
c) the noted upgradability - if you decide to go CF later, add more HDs and/or overclock parts, you may not have enough power.
[edit] And with a 5 year warranty on Corsair units, I wanted to think much farther out as to any power needs - that's why I opted to WAY overbuy and go for the 750TX (@ $100.45 AR recently).[/edit]

Oh, and yes I'd definitely get a different HD. If you do alot of downloading, that 160GB will fill up VERY fast. I'd recommend at a minimum a 500GB these days - they're cheap enough and all - $100. If you want to go all out, check the [H]ot|Deals forum, there's a thread there on a (rebadged) WD 1TB drive for ~$180 shipped. On a related note, if you plan on going Vista for your OS, with your choice of HD, there's ~10% of the space gone right there on a bare install.

And personally, unless you have a high end speaker setup or something, I wouldn't bother w/ the sound card, onboard sound isn't all that bad these days.

 

[blue-lynx]

so the 550VX: 41A (Corsair) should do fine if i wanted to add a second hard-drive and a cpu cooler?
On another note, do i even need a cpu-cooler for a processor running at clock-speed?

your suggestion would be highly valued..

 

[brysig228]

hx520 can be had for 89 bux and free shipping at buy.com

 

[Dangman]

so the 550VX: 41A (Corsair) should do fine if i wanted to add a second hard-drive and a cpu cooler?
On another note, do i even need a cpu-cooler for a processor running at clock-speed?

your suggestion would be highly valued..

Yes the 550VX is more than enough. You can probably add another 2-3 hard drives if you need 'em.

You mean 3rd party CPU cooler right? Because all Intel and AMD desktop CPUs do require CPU coolers in order to keep the temps under control. Anyway, the stock HSF that comes with the Q6600 is good enough if you're not planning on overclocking.