How many Watts?

James^.^

James^.^

New Member
What PSU do I need to power eventually 2 hd 4870's, an E8400 (OC), 4gb ram, and an X48 mobo? 800w? 1000w?
 
It's not always how many watts you have but also how many amps you have on the 12V rail. You would need about 50A for that setup. So you would need a psu with many watts, but most 50A 12V rail psu's have many watts.
 
No way 600W. I have an 8600 and the box says it recommends a minimum of a 450W PSU. The 4870 is about 10 times as good of a card and he wants to put in 2 of them. Again it's all about the 12V rail. I would look around 800W but that's not all you look at.
 
kookooshortman55 said:
No way 600W. I have an 8600 and the box says it recommends a minimum of a 450W PSU. The 4870 is about 10 times as good of a card and he wants to put in 2 of them. Again it's all about the 12V rail. I would look around 800W but that's not all you look at.
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It depends what brand the PSU is.
 
cohen said:
There is a thing called a "budget" did you think of that?
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Meh, no said budget....

There's a thing called "reliability" and another called "efficiency". Efficiency meaning how accurate the 12v rail is to running constantly and exactly at 12v...

Sure, if the guy 'cheaps-out' on the PSU, he will be running back to this forum where you told him to get something cheap.

If you have an alternative, go ahead and post it. Otherwise, keep your skepticism to yourself, tu capisci?
 
/\E said:
Meh, no said budget....

There's a thing called "reliability" and another called "efficiency". Efficiency meaning how accurate the 12v rail is to running constantly and exactly at 12v...

Sure, if the guy 'cheaps-out' on the PSU, he will be running back to this forum where you told him to get something cheap.

If you have an alternative, go ahead and post it. Otherwise, keep your skepticism to yourself, tu capisci?
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Seriously, you can get a good PSU for $50, they work just as good as the $120 ones.
 
cohen said:
i have a $20 AU case with a 550W and have never had a problem!
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You're still not showing me a product... I want to see a product... I think you are still just blowing smoke. I don't care what kind of case you have, I want you to recommend this guy a PSU.

You say you're running a 550W on your system, I know very well that you aren't running 2 4870's... And funny how you don't mention a brand or any attributes that make a good PSU.

Kid, either give good advice or get out of the way...
 
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a quality psu like the corsair 620hx would work, if you dont think thats secure enough, you could get the 750 watt version
 
cohen said:
i have a $20 AU case with a 550W and have never had a problem!
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obo $140 US isnt actually that much to spend on a part so important, if your going to spend $1500 on a computer you can at least spend a tenth of that on the part that can make your computer go up in smoke in a second.

i mean, my computer was never really expensive, but i opted for the OCZ gamexstream 700W for future upgradeability, and for the insurance that the PSU will never fail me.
 
kookooshortman55 said:
No way 600W. I have an 8600 and the box says it recommends a minimum of a 450W PSU. The 4870 is about 10 times as good of a card and he wants to put in 2 of them. Again it's all about the 12V rail. I would look around 800W but that's not all you look at.
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that made me LOL
 
pick from seasonic, corsair, or PC P&C. they are all great quality and 80% efficiency certified. the general rule is that the best efficiency is around half load of max wattage output of the PSU. from the parts you listed, your computer will draw about between 350-400 watts at 100% load while gaming. most of the time it will not even come close to that. it's possible to get a good quality with high efficiency and good amps on the 12v rail that outputs only 500W, but you really don't need anything over 700W. it really surprises me how most people go way overboard on max wattage output instead of quality. if you want bragging rights, get a 1000W, if you want to save money, a 600W is more than enough.
 
forty said:
Hello! You must be new here, welcome to Computer Forum. Defending your competent (I use this term lightly, as I'll explain in a moment) advice here will only get you flamed and banned. In fact, most members who have even the foggiest idea what they're talking about have already been banned or left on their own accord.

This forum is a haven for children to spout off useless, irrelevant, and downright stupid suggestions (the majority of the time they tend to suggest a product they own, regardless of the application) and to "blow smoke" because they get pushed into lockers in their middle schools, and it helps them to feel like they can come on the Internet and be big men. Please do not attempt to interfere with this process again, or you'll be punished.

Lastly, power supply efficiency has nothing to do with "how accurate the 12v rail is to running constantly and exactly at 12v." This is quite clearly pulled directly from your ass, maybe you'll fit in here after all.

If a power supply's efficiency is 80%, it's able to use 80% of the power it pulls from the wall (it loses 20%). Higher efficiency power supplies generate less heat and, in theory, lower utility bills.
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Haha....I know what this forum is like... This is not the first time I have been here.

Your definition of efficient is applied the same way. But, mine works, too... My mentioning of efficiency was not intended to be simply for one aspect of the PSU. If the unit is not putting out the correct voltage when compared with the standard(12v), it is not considered to be efficient. Efficient being how effective it is when compared to that standard measurement.
 
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