Power supply question

[shropshireinc]

I am building a new system and I am not sure what wattage I should be looking at. The parts I will be installing are:

Intel Quad Core Q6600 Processor
EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Lite-On DVD-RW drive
Seagate Barracuda 320 gig HD
EVGA 8800 GTS (waiting for prices to drop on the Ultra or GTX) in the future possibly in SLI mode.

Will 800 watts be enough or will I need more if the prices indeed drop on the more expensive models?

The suggestions from Nvidia's SLIzone is rather confusing with the different PSUs that they recommend. Any help is really appreciated. Thank you

 

[Gneisenau]

Short answer is 800 watts is more than enough for your needs. 600 watts is probably more than you need.

The thing you need to check into is how many rails of 12 volts your have and will one rail support your video card. If you get a good PS 600 watts is fine, if you get a crappy/cheap one 800 watts may not be enough.

 

[shropshireinc]

Now is it true that a single 12v rail PSU will be better overall or a PSU with multi 12v rails? The brands I am looking at are Corsair, ThermalTake, OCZ, Cooler Master and Antec.

 

[John]

Single 12V rail is better since there will be no wasted power. A Corsair HX620 ($117 AR @ ZZF) would be a solid choice for your current rig & G80 SLI down the road. Modular cables, 12V rail @ 50A, quiet 120mm fan, solid rails, low ripple, and a 5 yr. warranty make it one of the best psu's in its class.

 

[shropshireinc]

Thank you Gneisenau and John for the advice you have given me. I went ahead and purchased a Corsair HX620 and will be waiting for it to be delivered. Now all I have to do is purchase the rest of the components. I might order a better cpu fan and some thermal compound.