That's one of my old boxes. Its' just what I ran back then.
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Powersupply Requirements are Overstated
- Thread starter Spare-Flair
- Start date
That's one of my old boxes. Its' just what I ran back then.
Ive killed a couple of PSU from a large amount of hard drives in the past, quality PSUs too. I ran too many drives because the larger capacity models werent widely available or affordable. I blew through 3 PSU in a summer and ended up replacing all the drives when 250GB models fell into an affordable range. Love it now days, 1 hard drive holds nearly as much as the 11 I had going that summer.
NKDietrich
Supreme [H]ardness
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- Jul 25, 2004
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- 5,442
We're living in the age of 750w PSUs that can't handle 350 watts. Manufacturers overstate the requirements so that they don't get bitched at when someones PowMax 350w catches fire and burns their house down.
But what about my $35 380 watt PSU? Then again, it's an Antec Earthwatts and currently on sale at newegg. I have one running a system that's not even close to taxing it I'm sure (as I haven't hooked up my Kill A Watt to it since I hate to lose folding time). I have another one coming in for another rig I will have. The newer rig should give it a bit more of a challenge but I'm still betting it's not even going to get close to taxing the PSU.
honestjohn
Gawd
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- Jul 28, 2004
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- 864
But what about my $35 380 watt PSU? Then again, it's an Antec Earthwatts and currently on sale at newegg. I have one running a system that's not even close to taxing it I'm sure (as I haven't hooked up my Kill A Watt to it since I hate to lose folding time). I have another one coming in for another rig I will have. The newer rig should give it a bit more of a challenge but I'm still betting it's not even going to get close to taxing the PSU.
As stated by a few individuals in this thread already, in the "average" system, wattage takes a backseat to the +12V rail amperage and build quality of the power supply. Your Earthwatts for example may only have 380w but more importantly it also has a very healthy 27a on the combined +12v rails and is suitable for almost any single-card config and maybe even SLI in some cases.
Where's Jonnyguru? He'd love this thread ....
Red Falcon
[H]ard DCOTM December 2023
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- May 7, 2007
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- 12,449
LOL
Everything in my sig (plus a LOT more crap that I don't have listed such as cards and optical drives) is running on a PSU with only a 16 amp 12v rail.
Theoretically, my machine should have blown up about two HDD's ago. When I here that gunshot go off next to me, I'll know my machine doesn't like me anymore.
MrGuvernment
Fully [H]
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- Aug 3, 2004
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- 21,817
quality over quantity..
why i think my corsair 520 runs my
q6600 @ 3ghz (going for more)
4g ram
LG DVD burner
8800GT overclocked nicely
2 x 250 perps in raid 1
500g perp
160g perp
750g perp
in my rig in an antex p180 with 2...4 fans going
just fine... cause it is a quality PSU.
why i think my corsair 520 runs my
q6600 @ 3ghz (going for more)
4g ram
LG DVD burner
8800GT overclocked nicely
2 x 250 perps in raid 1
500g perp
160g perp
750g perp
in my rig in an antex p180 with 2...4 fans going
just fine... cause it is a quality PSU.
jaegertech
Gawd
- Joined
- May 10, 2005
- Messages
- 603
Two things to keep in mind when considering PSU inflation:
Most PSU wattage ratings are utter fucking lies. Maybe that no-name can ouput 500 watts if you run it in a 5C room and don't stress any particular rail, but in the real world, in a hot case and biased load, its a 300 watt unit.
It is a good thing to have more PSU than you need. The PSU will last longer and you will get better quality power from it.
My q6600/8800gts watercooled system draws between 350-400 watts under load. I took that figure, doubled it, and looked for a good value in that ballpark, hence my Quattro 850 for $130. Maybe that seems like too much money for a power supply, but it comes up to less than 10% of the total system cost, so I think its fair enough.
Most PSU wattage ratings are utter fucking lies. Maybe that no-name can ouput 500 watts if you run it in a 5C room and don't stress any particular rail, but in the real world, in a hot case and biased load, its a 300 watt unit.
It is a good thing to have more PSU than you need. The PSU will last longer and you will get better quality power from it.
My q6600/8800gts watercooled system draws between 350-400 watts under load. I took that figure, doubled it, and looked for a good value in that ballpark, hence my Quattro 850 for $130. Maybe that seems like too much money for a power supply, but it comes up to less than 10% of the total system cost, so I think its fair enough.
Red Falcon
[H]ard DCOTM December 2023
- Joined
- May 7, 2007
- Messages
- 12,449
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp
This site is awesome for doing rough estimates on how much power one's system is using. It might not be exact, but it's a good 'average'.
The lite version is free, but it doesn't compute how much power is being tolled on the PSU rails (which may be critical information depending on the user).
Check it out.
Acording to their stats, I am using 351 watts on a 350 watt psu, lol.
...*BOOM*
This site is awesome for doing rough estimates on how much power one's system is using. It might not be exact, but it's a good 'average'.
The lite version is free, but it doesn't compute how much power is being tolled on the PSU rails (which may be critical information depending on the user).
Check it out.
Acording to their stats, I am using 351 watts on a 350 watt psu, lol.
...*BOOM*
Nenu
[H]ardened
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- Apr 28, 2007
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- 20,315
+ 1
heavenlykid
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2005
- Messages
- 300
i totally agree with everything in this post. Many times i see people cry about there PS is not big enough when in fact its just over kill for what they are using. Also all these PS calculators on the internet are BS most of the time the rate things at higher watts then what they really are. Think about this if you were a power supply manufacter you would do that so people spend more money on the bigger PS's even knowing that they don't need em. I also agree as long as you do the math you'll know how much power your consuming and the buy a PS accordingly a litle extra on the watts never hurts. As time goes by your PS will degrade a little losing some of the watts so a little extra never hurts. But these guys bragging about 1k PS's are just that bragging all it really makes em look stupid because there is no need for it. Just my 2 cents
interesting thread. have to say, a cheap PSU won't always cut it. i had a 275w on my XPS 200 that started cutting out on me from day 1. their tech support is useless. at first it was only annoying. the PSU would die once after the first power-up of the day, then be fine. so i didn't bother going the 30th round with their tech support to figure it out.
by the time it got bad enough to really annoy me, i took it upon myself to figure out what was happening. lo and behold, i found their tech manual clearly stating that the blinking amber LED indicates system power needs exceed what the PSU can supply. of course, that was about a month after the warranty expired. i'm sure i could have just sent it back to them to fix it while it was under warranty, but the problem just wasn't annoying enough for me to do that.
anyway, point is, i think a quality 275W could have easily run that system. pentium D + radeon x600 + 1GB DDR2 533 (IIRC) + 1 SATA HDD + 1 slimline DVD-RW. nothing spectacular by any means. a shit 400W could have done it too. but instead i got Dell's shit 275W in a totally proprietary design, and i was boned. i look at it in hindsight as buying one of their horrible computers to get a discount on one of their excellent monitors (2405FPW).
c'est la vie, lesson learned. i may have been stupid, but at least it prompted me to take it upon myself to start learning about computers on my own.
incedentally, the student i manage who'll be buying my 8600GTS from me was worried about whether his PSU would be enough to run it. he's got a Dell of some sort. i told him to start looking at upgrades if he had the blinking amber LED, but not to worry about increasing wattage, just to get one from a good manufacturer (pointed him towards PC power & cooling).
by the time it got bad enough to really annoy me, i took it upon myself to figure out what was happening. lo and behold, i found their tech manual clearly stating that the blinking amber LED indicates system power needs exceed what the PSU can supply. of course, that was about a month after the warranty expired. i'm sure i could have just sent it back to them to fix it while it was under warranty, but the problem just wasn't annoying enough for me to do that.
anyway, point is, i think a quality 275W could have easily run that system. pentium D + radeon x600 + 1GB DDR2 533 (IIRC) + 1 SATA HDD + 1 slimline DVD-RW. nothing spectacular by any means. a shit 400W could have done it too. but instead i got Dell's shit 275W in a totally proprietary design, and i was boned. i look at it in hindsight as buying one of their horrible computers to get a discount on one of their excellent monitors (2405FPW).
c'est la vie, lesson learned. i may have been stupid, but at least it prompted me to take it upon myself to start learning about computers on my own.
incedentally, the student i manage who'll be buying my 8600GTS from me was worried about whether his PSU would be enough to run it. he's got a Dell of some sort. i told him to start looking at upgrades if he had the blinking amber LED, but not to worry about increasing wattage, just to get one from a good manufacturer (pointed him towards PC power & cooling).
I'll just chime in.
Ultra X3 1600w ftw!
(Q6600, 4GB, 10 hdds (3 IDE, 7 SATA), 2 opticals (1 IDE, 1 SCSI), dual 8800GTX's (Tri-Sli maybe), 6 PSU-Powered USB Devices (5w each), 3 PSU-Powered FireWire devices, 1x120mm, 4x 140mm, and a 44Lph pump)
I spend too much Money..
Yep, that is one heck of a good 800watt PSU there.