new computer concerns

[Berg]

alright im building my college computer for spring and wanted to get everything just right for an around $850 budget without hd and monitor. So far i have everything set but the psu concerns me a little since i dont know much about them. So far my system is

A8N Asus SLI -deluxe
6600gt leadtek
Generic 3200 ram
3500+ Venice Core
Raidmax 10 bay case

I know a atx 2.0 psu for the A8N is not required but i want to get a pretty good psu due to the fact my atx cable melted on my mb on my current comp. I dont have a huge budget and am looking for a psu in the 80-100 dollar range. These were the only 2 i could find that matched my criteria and i was hoping for some input on which one is better since i dont really know what the waltage and current transfer in terms of proformance and reliability and theres only a 4 dollar difference inbetween them. i want to be able to run 2 leadtek gts in the future and wanted the power to be sufficient enough for future upgrades as well.

True Power II 430 From Antec ($90)

or the

W0068 Thermaltake PurePower 460W ($85)

Also i heard active pfc is better in psus but is that in europe only? and should i look for a psu with active pfc?

 

[biostud]

Seasonic S-12 380 or 430W

 

[imported_Kensai]

The first one is bettah.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Welcome to AT.

Are you really set on that Raidmax case?

You could get a Sonata which comes with a very nice 380watt PSU with 24A on the 12V line.

Nothing wrong with those PSUs you have selected, but this is a great deal on a 430watt Seasonic

Are you sure you want an SLI motherboard? Are you starting with 1 6600gt with the intention of adding another later?

I'd suggest getting a single faster card if you can work it into your budget. You wont have to spend extra on a PSU that can handle SLI or a motherboard that supports SLI.

An X800XL is a great card for around $300.

 

[Berg]

thxs alot guys =D, damn, very fast replys

Yeah im not really set on the case or the psus yet those were just some options i found cause i didnt know better. I picked the 6600gt leadtek and a SLI mb due to the fact that in a couple years when they get cheaper i can pick one up for my system without shelling out 2 much cash. Im gona probaly be on a pretty low budget in college and need this system to last me 4 years with only doing some minor upgrades. The Seasonic S12 is great but with shipping isnt it the same price as The Antec TPII with free shipping? and if both end up the same price, which is better for me? Also in teh sonata psu enough for sli?

 

[Berg]

a lil off topic, but they just raised the 6600gt Leadtek 12 dollars on me since they ran out of refurbished on newegg since yesterday but there is a special on the MSI 6600gt for 177 after shipping. The 6600gt Leadtek will cost me 200 after shipping. Im afraid of getting the msi because it got a bad rap from th anandtech reviewers but it is like 23 bucks cheaper. Im already 50 bucks over budget since i decided to get a better psu compared to teh 20 dollar one i was originally gona get. Is the MSI that much worse then the leadtek?

 

[Berg]

bump

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I still think you'd be better off getting a single faster card.

For example.. you're saying you want to get a 6600gt ($180)
You're going to need a powersupply that's $100 or so instead of $60-ish to run SLI.
An SLI motherboard is going to run about $30 more than a regular one.

So, you're paying $250 to get a 6600gt for now. In the future if a 6600gt is $100, you'll have ended up spending $350 for a 6600gt SLI setup.

For $270-ish, you could get an X800XL right now which is an excellent card and should actually perform similarly to how two 6600gts in SLI would perform on today's games.

 

[shoRunner]

Originally posted by: Berg
alright im building my college computer for spring and wanted to get everything just right for an around $850 budget without hd and monitor. So far i have everything set but the psu concerns me a little since i dont know much about them. So far my system is

A8N Asus SLI -deluxe
6600gt leadtek
Generic 3200 ram
3500+ Venice Core
Raidmax 10 bay case

I know a atx 2.0 psu for the A8N is not required but i want to get a pretty good psu due to the fact my atx cable melted on my mb on my current comp. I dont have a huge budget and am looking for a psu in the 80-100 dollar range. These were the only 2 i could find that matched my criteria and i was hoping for some input on which one is better since i dont really know what the waltage and current transfer in terms of proformance and reliability and theres only a 4 dollar difference inbetween them. i want to be able to run 2 leadtek gts in the future and wanted the power to be sufficient enough for future upgrades as well.

True Power II 430 From Antec ($90)

or the

W0068 Thermaltake PurePower 460W ($85)

Also i heard active pfc is better in psus but is that in europe only? and should i look for a psu with active pfc?

when you say "generic ram" do you mean like cheap corsair/muskin/pdp/pqi value ram or the crap generic ram from pricegrabber or something. cause you definately don't want the crap when you can get a gig of good stuff for under a $100

 

[Berg]

Cheap ram as in the Rosewill 184pin 512 pc3200 for 34 bucks + 5 shipping one day sale. The x800XL is a far superior card compared to the 6600gt but it runs about 300 cheapest on Newegg. The reason i went with the leadtek is that it was only 187 dollars. Now they raised the price to 195 but there is the one day special on the MSI nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT for 176. The X800XL is a really good card but for the card and mb it will cost me around 400 bucks while the 6600gt + A8N deluxe will cost me 340. Im willing to sacriface the 60 bucks for a lower level card cause its cheaper and i cant go over 900 dollars with total system cost without the hd and monitor.

 

[qbek]

I second YOyoYOhowsDAjello.
SLI in a 850$ budget computer just does not sound right.

 

[alien42]

a great cheap psu i am currently using for my a8n sli dlx, 3200+ rig. its heavy, has solid big components, the voltage is steady and it has enough juice in the 12v to run any current sli setup.

 

[imported_rod]

Im in basically the same position as you. Im at university and I needed a PC. I got a 3200+, an A8N-SLI deluxe (more because of it's other features, but SLI support is nice) and a 6600GT, coupled with some dual-channel corsair RAM. This sytem is powerful enough for any game out at the moment, lets me upgrade to SLI in the future, and will Overclock nicely when i get a better HSF for my CPU.

Anyway, I got an Antec True Power 480W, which gives 28A on the +12V. A True Power380W (24A) would have been enough, but I got a good deal on the 480W.

Actually, according to ASUS, an SLI system with a 3500+, 2x 6600GT's, 2x RAM DIMMS, 2x Opticals and a HDD will only consume about 17A, so 24A is an adequate safety margin, especially if you're going to be adding extra fan, lights, neons etc...
Power requirements for SLI

RoD

 

[Berg]

i know, i know, its not practical to build a SLI based system for 850, but like rod says its powerful enough for now and if i need to in the future, i can just do a 100 dollar upgrade and be set. But im still a lil confused still. The 12v <17 amps is only required for non atx 2.0 psus? The antec 430 Truepower has 26A on the 12v but the 430 Truepower II only has 17A on its 12v even though its ATX 2.0. Would getting the truepower I be better then the II since Truepower II doesnt meet the <17 requirement? Is the 17a requirement for each of te 12vs on ATX 2.0 psus or is it only for non-ATX 2.0 psus? Im askig this because i already own a spare TruePower 430 thats not 2.0.