Power Supply $$$ ???

[Arclight]

Running 8800GTS, 3 HDs, SB X-Fi, C2D @ 3.2GHZ and a boatload of fans from a 520Watt Corsair (Seasonic parts). >Plenty of power<

Why does everyone insist on Gaziljon Watts of power?!

dualGPU/crossfire/SLI is a different story though.

Again, watch the Amps and know what you buy.

@ arclight You haven't heard of Ultra ?

What you talking 'bout?

Doubt you mean the British intelligence agency during WWII.

[FIREWALL]

Originally Posted by Arclight

Running 8800GTS, 3 HDs, SB X-Fi, C2D @ 3.2GHZ and a boatload of fans from a 520Watt Corsair (Seasonic parts). >Plenty of power<

Why does everyone insist on Gaziljon Watts of power?!
What you talking 'bout?

Doubt you mean the British intelligence agency during WWII.

And no margine of power to run another 8800 sli

Your psu wouldn't even boot my new rig.

[Arclight]

What kind of fool spends money on 2 cards if 1 does the trick? (not a fan of multi-crap)

And I reckon I could run 2x 8800GT easy.

Seriously, you people underestimate what a good (can't stress that enough) PSU can do. This rig with 2x 8800GT would likely draw about 350Watts at max load. That would put my PSU at 2/3 load. I know it can handle 80% load easy, so even 2x 8800GTS would be possible, I reckon.

[porphy]

I was recommended a Seasonic S12 600w about two years ago, and I'm very happy with that one. It's silent and powerful enough, with headroom, for my 8800 GTS, core duo @ 3.18. Sure, I don't run a very demanding machine by today's standards, but I have had enough of cheap, loud and dying power supplies during the years.

cheers porphy

[Arclight]

Whoever recommended a Seasonic PSU knows what he's talking about.

[Task Force]

Im useing a BFG 650 w powersupply, seems to be doing well. http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgr650wpsu.aspx (and here is bfgs info page on it.)

Im also useing a 8800gts with 640mb. that is overclocked to 550MHz, and a Intel E 8400 3.0ghz. Ive had no issues with this powersupply. not super loud ither.

[Arclight]

Nice case of point; that BFG has 38Amps while a 520Watt Corsair has 40Amps. You'd think that the 650Watt PSU is per definition "better", but it's not.

Not saying it's a bad PSU, just that there's more to it than Watts. A PSU that delivers little Amps will still crap out in "hardcore" systems. Another thing is the Corsair has 1 rail; all 40 Amps are available to the whole system. The BFG has dual rails, meaning the available Amps are distributed. Not a bad thing, but it does make it more likely to overload one of them (not gonna happen with 38Amps total, so no worries).

Yes you may have used one of these brands for years without problems but bear in mind that no PSU lasts forever. Some PSU's die gracefully, quietly and alone while others commit murder, arson and suicide in that order.

In practice only certain dual rail units have much risk of exceeding an individual rails' limits. A PSU with three or more 12V rails will have much lower currents across its' rails then a dual rail PSU powering the same system. However a PSU with two 18A-20A rails that puts the CPU connector/s on one rail and all of the other connectors on the other rail can easily overload that other rail with dual graphics cards or a single very high wattage card like the GTX 295. But since PSU's with two 18A-20A rails naturally top out at around 550W most users will recognize to begin with that the PSU is too small for such a high end system.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=287485

Nice read.;

It is true that marketing folks have told us that multiple +12V rails provides "cleaner and more stable voltages", but this is usually a falsehood. Quite frankly, they use this explaination because "offers stability and cleaner power" sounds much more palletable than "won't necessarily catch fire".