PSU - Is 450W Enough?

[wingle]

I've just been reading Clunk's Overclocking Guide for Beginners and found it to be most excellent. He recommended that a newbie, such as myself, should post their new system specs to get some advice on the power requirements. So that's exactly what I'm doing...

I've read some reviews of the Corsair VX450W 450 Watt PSU and thought that it looked promising.(Again, I'm sticking to Clunk's advice of sticking to a solid brand, like Corsair).

The rest of the system will be:
MSI P6N SLI Platinum Motherboard
Intel Core2 Duo E6750
Corsair Twin 800MHz PC6400 2x1GB
Seagate Baracuda SATAII 500GB
Samsung Lightscribe 20x DVD Writer
Thermaltake Mambo Case
Novatech GeForce 8600GTS 512MB PCI-E

All of which can be found on Novatech.co.uk if you need to look up some of the technical specs.

One issue I've already looked in to with this PSU is that it only has 1x PCI-E connector (not great for my SLI-capable motherboard). But the review at PC Perspective stated that it worked fine on a pair of SLI Graphics Cards using a simple cable adapter. [EDIT] Getting another GPU to match the existing one is something that I will probably do in the near future. [/EDIT]

I'd like to undertake some simple overclocking such as the steps outlined in Clunk's guide.

So, what do you reckon then? It's a modern, mid-range gaming system and I have *no idea* what sort of power requirements it will have. I'm hoping some of the more experienced folks out there will be able to give me the benefit of their wisdom.

Thanks,
wingle

p.s.: I had provided some handy URLs to help you guys out but I'm not allowed to post them because I'm new!

[alsenior]

450w should be more than enough. just a side note get a 8800gt instead of the 8600gts. it would be more worth while investment than 2 8600gts'

[TooNice]

I'd say yes, it should be fine. For reference, I've checked a few reviews and the reported system power consumption is around 200-235 (using a Core 2 Duo @ 3Ghz, 2GB of RAM, give or take). Even with SLi, I don't see it go past 350W.

[wingle]

Wow - Thanks a lot for the fast responses! I'm glad to hear that PSU should be suitable. I didn't want to find myself in a situation where the PC worked nicely when I put it together and then packed up when I started tweaking the bus speeds/multipliers!

Regarding the 8800GT - it's £60 more - is it really worth the extra? I just want something that's capable of playing modern games at good resolution but not necessarily with all of the sexy-features turned on.

Again, I'm pretty out of touch with what is required these days so I'd welcome any input you have.
Thanks,
wingle

[alsenior]

the 8600 is a poor performer where as the 8800gt has a strong reputation as a very good performer. well worth the extra £60

[TooNice]

The 8800GT is about 2-3x the performance of the 8600GTS. Frankly speaking, there is no real need to think 8600GTS SLi.

[scrandman]

Then again, if you are running a monitor with a max resolution of 1280x1024 then a single 8600GTS will be fine, particularly if you don't mind losing some AA / AF.

The 8600GTS is on a par with the 7900GT of the previous generation.

[LegacyOne]

A Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R (or other) and a 8800GT I think would be better then getting a SLI board with a 8600GTS thats going to be pointless for SLI if & when you get another one.

[Pob255]

The 8600GTS is on a par with the 7900GT of the previous generation.

Actually it's around the 7900GS not GT but that said it will be fine at lower res (ie 17"-19" monitors)

The 8800GT would be a far better buy, only problem at the moement is getting hold of one, should be far eaiser in a week or two.

[iranu]

Corsair VX450W has 33A on the single 12v rail and comes with a 5 year guarantee so it will power that system and more with ease. I think it's a good choice for the outlay of @ £45.

As for the 8800GT then it's worth the money. 90%+ of a GTX for half the cost. Also bear in mind any future upgrade you may make to your monitor.

[TooNice]

Then again, if you are running a monitor with a max resolution of 1280x1024 then a single 8600GTS will be fine, particularly if you don't mind losing some AA / AF.

Depends on the game. For most, you would get 45-ish fps, for some (Oblivion) less than 30fps, a few exceed 60fps (UT3), yet others plain atrocious (World in conflict).

Between the GT and GTX, I took out some numbers from the Firingsquads and found that the difference is about 20% @1900x1200 (resolution relevant to me, and another thread I lost).

[scrandman]

Depends on the game. For most, you would get 45-ish fps, for some (Oblivion) less than 30fps, a few exceed 60fps (UT3), yet others plain atrocious (World in conflict).

Between the GT and GTX, I took out some numbers from the Firingsquads and found that the difference is about 20% @1900x1200 (resolution relevant to me, and another thread I lost).

Oblivion isn't a 100fps game on any system I'm aware of - it's just one of those games that plays absolutely fine at 25-30 fps. As for world in conflict, I've only played the demo on a 8600GT and it ticks along just fine @ 1280x1024 with some of the eye candy turned down. The OP already said he was quite prepared to do this. And as for 7900GS & 7900GT, the difference was ~5%, so hardly earth shattering.

Anyway, back OT. To the OP - a quality 450W PSU will be fine. Corsair have a reputation for quality, based on their HX series (520 & 620W) which were manufactured by Seasonic. A word of caution though- I read somewhere that the "cheap" VX series PSUs are made by CWT (read pants), although I've read no reports of duff ones yet.

Edit: I stand corrected - from Yellowbeard (Corsair rep) on another forum:

Just to be clear,the OEMs that build our PSUs are:

HX520 = Seasonic
HX620 = Seasonic
VX450 = Seasonic
VX550 = CWT (Channelwell)
TX650 = Seasonic
TX750 = CWT

So its the 550 & 750 to avoid.

[wingle]

OK - thanks for the responses on the PSU. It seems that everybody agrees that a) this PSU will supply the amount of current required and b) is of decent enough quality that it won't hurt me or my new PC. Great

The Graphics Card issue is separate and is something that is making my head hurt. I'm going to be driving the Samsung SM206BW (put 4JPMPZ as a quicklink into dabs.com) so need 1680x1050 Windows Desktop resolution. For games... Obviously the ideal would be this resolution but I don't mind if it ends up as a stretched 1280x1024 or something...

I set a budget for this PC of £500. With the 8600GTS it currently stands at £600. The extra leap to a 8800GT would be great given the improvements you guys claim it will bring but I don't think I can stretch the budget that far...

Am I going to be able to make games like Command and Conquer 3 look good with the cheaper graphics card? That's the clincher for me...

Again, all thoughts and advice welcome. Thanks,
wingle

[Pob255]

Ahh well if you're only looking at DX9 games, then an x1950pro might be a better card to look at.
a x1950pro 512mb will set you back around £90 and beats the 8600gts and at the meoment there are no dx10 only games

[wingle]

Presumably I need a DirectX 10 card to run Aero in Vista though do I?

wingle

[LuckyNV]

So its the 550 & 750 to avoid.

Any particular reason? Nothing wrong with Channelwell, and just because Seasonic is the OEM for a brand does not automatically mean any unit produced is top quality.