power supply question

[MrPink077]

Originally Posted by Power666

Bwahahahahahahahaha. My quad system has a 1000W power supply to feed its 2.5 Ghz processors, 4 GB of RAM and Radeon X1900XT video card.

Anyway, I do think a 850W power supply would be a bit over kill. A power supply doesn't continually draw its maximum rating (thankfully) so going into overkill terroritory won't be that bad. It is just that such high rated power supplies tend to command a very high price premium and you're not going to really be getting your moneys worth.

There are some handy online PSU caclulators. Note that this one does a good job of telling you what the continual power draw of your system will be. (Right now I have your configuration at 346W with a few USB devices and a few fans). You don't want to get a power supply that'll be continually running near its peak output. In all honesty, a good 550W power supply (example one, two, three) would do you fine.

Nice find... according to my calculations I can run approximately 393W... of course my 650 is sufficient!

[Romanc]

Originally Posted by MrPink077

Nice find... according to my calculations I can run approximately 393W... of course my 650 is sufficient!

Ran the same test, 454W, I've only got a 580W PSU, so not much leeway...

[Power666]

454W? That's a bit high. What video card and processor are you running? Remember that a dual core processor only takes up one socket so single processor should be selected in system type. The same goes for the Core 2 Quad Q6600 - despite being a quad core chip you select single CPU as it takes up only one socket on the motherboard.

[Romanc]

Originally Posted by Power666

454W? That's a bit high. What video card and processor are you running? Remember that a dual core processor only takes up one socket so single processor should be selected in system type. The same goes for the Core 2 Quad Q6600 - despite being a quad core chip you select single CPU as it takes up only one socket on the motherboard.

Pretty standard Core 2 Duo, with GeForce 8800 GTS, no overclocking and of course registered as noted over (no newbie when it comes to self-assembled PC systems). I've got a pair of 120 mm fans (iirc, at work now..) with fan controller, maybe this weighted in?(huge case!) In addition i listed up pretty much every USB thingy I have attached (usually 4/5 extra at the same time). 454 isn't to far from the 440 I calculated manually pre assembly. Added the link to favourites, because it was a damn sight quicker this time over!

[MrPink077]

Originally Posted by Romanc

Pretty standard Core 2 Duo, with GeForce 8800 GTS, no overclocking and of course registered as noted over (no newbie when it comes to self-assembled PC systems). I've got a pair of 120 mm fans (iirc, at work now..) with fan controller, maybe this weighted in?(huge case!) In addition i listed up pretty much every USB thingy I have attached (usually 4/5 extra at the same time). 454 isn't to far from the 440 I calculated manually pre assembly. Added the link to favourites, because it was a damn sight quicker this time over!

But with those USBs attached, they all pull power from the board? Because I have a ton of USBs but mostly they use their own power supply. Still seems high to me!

[chedabob]

Put it this way: The X1950 Pro 512mb takes a 450w PSU.

Also, OT slightly, but if I only ran my GFX card with a 400w PSU (I own the X1950 Pro), would I got better performance if I used a more powerful PSU?

one last question, does my graphics card
PNY VCG8600GXPB GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
require a 6 pin plug from my power supply?

[chedabob]

By the looks of it, no.

[Power666]

If that picture matches the actual care (sometimes they differ due to new revisions), then no, you don't need an additional 6 pin PCI-E power cable for it. Though I'd still get a power supply that has one for future upgrades.

[chedabob]

Originally Posted by Power666

If that picture matches the actual care (sometimes they differ due to new revisions), then no, you don't need an additional 6 pin PCI-E power cable for it. Though I'd still get a power supply that has one for future upgrades.

Not really much point, you can buy a 6-pin to 4-pin molex cable for a couple of dollars.