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How much power will I need?

J

Joni Nitro

Gawd
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Messages
820
Ok so I am sure this gets asked all the time, but try and help me out anyways. For a normal PC I could pick PSU's all day, but this is a little different.

Here is the planned system. Tyan dual socket A MB, 2 MP 1900's, 9800XT or equivelant, 4-8HD running raid 5, air cooled (as silent as possible), one DVD combo drive, and 4gb of ddr 2100 ram. So I am looking for something that will power this system and be some what silent, and if I can help it some that is insanely expensive. I have an Antec 550 slientpower or something like that. Would that even be close to having enough power? Thanks
 
Does the motherboard have the 2x2 connector? If so, a dual-rail PSU will be best. Otherwise a single rail will be needed to prevent crossloading.

Are you using this for a recording studio or HTPC or something where noise is a high priority, or just out of general principles? Not really relevant, just curious.

 
Joni Nitro said:
Ok so I am sure this gets asked all the time, but try and help me out anyways. For a normal PC I could pick PSU's all day, but this is a little different.

Here is the planned system. Tyan dual socket A MB, 2 MP 1900's, 9800XT or equivelant, 4-8HD running raid 5, air cooled (as silent as possible), one DVD combo drive, and 4gb of ddr 2100 ram. So I am looking for something that will power this system and be some what silent, and if I can help it some that is insanely expensive. I have an Antec 550 slientpower or something like that. Would that even be close to having enough power? Thanks
Click to expand...

550 are you kidding? thats utterly excessive, thatl tooooootally be fine.

EDIT ohh 4-8 hard drives, which models are they? thats your biggest one i think....
 
Socket A dual-cpu board... You need a powersupply with enough 5V rail.
 
ohh 4-8 hard drives, which models are they? thats your biggest one i think
Click to expand...

I am not exactly sure but the Samsung pinpoint 250GB SATA drives are looking good.

This is the Motherboard that I am using. I am not sure if it has 2X2's or not.

Yes, this will be an HTPC/meadia server. I know it not the best choice, but there are reason for my madness. I dont mind if there is some noise just at long as its not crazy and can be drowned out at a resonable volume. I am going to be moving from a house to a dorm in Korea for 2yrs and want to take my 200+ DVD library with me on the HDD.

Anymore input? I really dont want to under power this system.
 
It doesn't appear to have the 2x2 connector. Therefore, a single-rail PSU is the only way to go. I have this Enermax, and it's very good except for noise (where it's not too bad - I can't hear it over the air conditioning, if that's any indication). Highly recommended.

Is the Korean electric grid 220 or 110? You'll almost certainly want a PSU with active PFC; this helps a lot on the power bill in Europe (where they charge based on the power factor of your devices) and the active PFC makes this .99 or so. I'm not sure if this is the case in Korea, but it can't hurt.

 
Well Uncle Sam picks up the tab for the eletricity so no worries there. I do believe it is 110V 60hz on base. How do I know if a psu has one or two 12v lines. Is my 550 single or dual?
 
Well, if you're shopping on Newegg, filter by "dual +12v"->"No" and it'll eliminate the dual- and triple-rail PSUs. And in general, if it has seperate listings on the sticker for +12V1 and +12V2, it's dual rail.

All the Antec power supplies with 550 watts on Newegg are dual-rail. Check the sticker, but my guess would be dual-rail. I still recommend the Enermax I linked - I listened a bit closer to the machine it's in, and the noise seems to be mostly from the pair of 1u heatsinks :p And you can always swap out the fans for quieter ones if it's annoying.

 
How about this one from OCZ ? The Enermax seems fine, but I like the modular diesign becuause I will be putting some windows in the case. It just looks nicer that all.

Thanks Mage you have been a lot of help to me lately.
 
I was wrong about my psu I have right now. It is a Vantec Stealth 520W so I am not sure if this one will work with the Tyan mb. It has a 24pin connector and single 12V rail. That OCZ is looking good though, but if I can use the one I got I will. It has served me well I think, I have never had any problems that I know of, but maybe its not that great.
 
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