PSU sufficient?

[UrbanKiwi]

Hi again.

Thanks to everyone for their input on my previous post, everything has arrived and construction can almost begin!

One possible problem I need some advice on first though please

I have bought Gecube HD 3870X2 1GB GFX card

However my PSU 520W Corsair HX appears to be a tiny bit underpowered as the GFX card manual says it is recommended to have 550W? Will this be a serious a problem ????

Advice please!

[Hunain]

Mike knows about ATI cards and HX520, personally I wouldnt say anything since I havnt tried it, yes, it might be an issue since its an X2, I think HX520 would be enough to run any single card, but this is more like, dual, I wouldnt try it though untill someone comes and gives some reliable advice. Hold on id say

[Hicks12]

it shouldnt be a serious problem but it could be, if your system is not stable then it is a problem. Also note that the higher wattage being used from your psu the less life span it has, so say if the system uses 80% of the 520w psu, it would last a shorter amount of time if the load was only 60%, you may be better off getting the 620w version but wait till other people say

[UrbanKiwi]

Thanks Hicks & Hunain

I just went and got a 720W Thermaltake Toughpower from a local supplier. I thought it was better to go in for some overkill as they were out of 600w models.

Cheers

[this_is_gav]

It would have been fine unless you've got something like 5 hard drives or loads of fans and things. It's AMD playing it safe due to the plethora of cheap and nasty supplies out there.

[Hicks12]

Thanks Hicks & Hunain

I just went and got a 720W Thermaltake Toughpower from a local supplier. I thought it was better to go in for some overkill as they were out of 600w models.

Cheers

should last you a long time then . I have a 700w and so far its good but tbh wish i went up to some better make, not that they are not good but just dont really trust it xD. Till it goes then i will have an opinion on it, if it takes my parts then god dam it .

[Pob255]

the HX520w should of been fine as long as there was only 1 HD3870X2 just wouldn't of been able to cope if you put two of them in.

The GPU and CPU make up about 85% of the power draw in the majority of PCs
even 6 hard drives don't use that much power.

[Blitzen]

Hi again.

Thanks to everyone for their input on my previous post, everything has arrived and construction can almost begin!

One possible problem I need some advice on first though please

I have bought Gecube HD 3870X2 1GB GFX card

However my PSU 520W Corsair HX appears to be a tiny bit underpowered as the GFX card manual says it is recommended to have 550W? Will this be a serious a problem ????

Advice please!

That PSU is plenty for that card.
Dont worry about it.

Thanks Hicks & Hunain

I just went and got a 720W Thermaltake Toughpower from a local supplier. I thought it was better to go in for some overkill as they were out of 600w models.

Cheers

Why?
That Corsair (and im not the biggest fan to put it mildly) is a far superior unit to any ThermalTake PSU i can think of.

[Hunain]

Hey Blitz I told him to hold his horses, he went ahead and got it :S

[Hunain]

Well, good, hope the new PSU lasts you long, and yeah, I told you to hold it lol, but anyways now that you have got a new one, use it.

[this_is_gav]

The GPU and CPU make up about 85% of the power draw in the majority of PCs
even 6 hard drives don't use that much power.

Plainly they take up enough as my old Enermax 600W (or 650W - I still can't remember) couldn't cope with a P4 2.4c, 1GB RAM, X850XT with more than 4 hard drives. Add a 5th and they'd randomly start switching off. Either that or this was roughly when Enermax started over-rating their PSUs.

[neonplanet40]

Really i have the setup below on an Enermex Liberty 620watt and i used to have 7 Hard drives connected to it before i got my Home server and i never had one problem with it. By far the best power supply i have ever owned.

[this_is_gav]

Yeah, we're talking a while back now - probably 3 maybe even 4 years (when were the X800s out?). The Liberties are fine - seemingly their top-line models were never really handicapped in such a way (or at least to such a degree).

[Pob255]

Ok it looks like the power usage on hard drives has gone up a bit since I last looked (I seem to remember older HDs never useing more than 8w under load)

It varies between make and model but most of the current hard drives use around 7-8w idle and 9-12w under load

a 8800GT 512 uses roughlty 40w idel and 80w underload
So 5 hard dives to the 8800GT

The 3850x2 being a dual chip card has higher numbers, 65w idle 188w load
so your looking at 10 odd hard drives to the 3850x2

CPU's are harder to gague or find solid info on, esp the effects of overclocking on cpu power consumption.
They are however a single high power consumeing component.

[Lord Midas]

I had a generic 5 year old 500w PSU running an o/c E4300 @ 3GHz, 8800GT and 5 hard drives. No problems were encountered.
It was a noisey SOAB though. And to be safe I got a Corsair HW620W. Still fine, but I just feel better having that in there than some old thing. Quiet too

[Pob255]

Only reason I got my current PSU was that it was on sale half price and is a decent model&make, couldn't resist for £35 (and I was considering a 7950GX2)