StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Hi, I am currently running a 500W Antec SmartPower 2.0 PSU and am wondering if that will be enough to say run some of the upcoming GPUs, namely 8900 (or whatever the competitor Nvidia throws out to match the R600) and R600?

Contemplating an upgrade from a x1900XT 512 to the next mid-high end card and trying to figure if I should grab an Antec 650W TrioPower I have been eying.

Hard to know. The HD 2900 XT's power requirements are still unknown, and the specs of the 8800 Ultra are a complete mystery. Should be plenty for anything bar AMD's dual-processor setup or SLI'd 8800 GTX's, though.

Antec's quality control has gone downhill in the last few years, unfortunately.

phongn wrote:Antec's quality control has gone downhill in the last few years, unfortunately.

How bad is it these days? Seems that getting a good PSU is a bitch with the costs and what not.

They're not on the recommended list on ArsTechnica anymore, for one. Seasonic tends to dominate the enthusiast market today.

Are there 2nd best solutions? Seasonic is rather pricey, though you pay for what you get.

As far as I know, Fortron is the cheapest reputable one, but I've never actually owned one to back that up.

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:As far as I know, Fortron is the cheapest reputable one, but I've never actually owned one to back that up.

They're good.

Quick question: Does one just total up the total Amp for the +12V rails or take each rail as discrete? I don't plan to have anything fancy like SLI (though it seems a phenomenon to smack 2 chips onto one board and I remember rumors that R600 will have something of that variety and no doubt the 8900.)

Personally I'd consider getting a more powerful one Fingolfin, if only to be on the safe side. 500W isn't amazing these days, especially if you're after a new GPU - PC Power & Cooling have gone from a 950W peak to 1100W peak PSU now for the real nuts.

Teleros wrote:Personally I'd consider getting a more powerful one Fingolfin, if only to be on the safe side. 500W isn't amazing these days, especially if you're after a new GPU - PC Power & Cooling have gone from a 950W peak to 1100W peak PSU now for the real nuts.

You're judging how big a power supply he should get/have merely by the fact that one or two companies decided to put out retardedly huge power supplies?

Seeing as how the total power drain for an entire system, even with an 8800 rarely breaks 300-350 Watts at load, I just don't see the need for one of these uber-PSU's. Even what most enthusiasts consider mid-ranged nowadays is totally unnecessary.

If you have an old PSU in the 300w range, you can dedicate it the video card alone leave your current PSU hooked up to the rest of the system.