PSU Calculators

[Pacal]

According to the PSU Calculator over at http://www.extreme.outervision.com/, a computer with 5x1TB Drives, Quad Core CPU, High-End Desktop Motherboard, 3 Video Cards (SLI) and Sound Card only amount to ~650Watts. Can this really be accurate?

Sharp AQUOS 42" 1080p LCD LC-42D64U
SeaSonic M12 SS-700HM ATX12V / EPS12V 700W PSU
Asus Striker II Forumla 780i
Intel Core 2 Quad Core CPU Q9450
Thermalright Ultra-120 CPU HSF
GeiL Evo One 8GB (4x2GB) DDR2-1066 CAS 2
LG Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA
Seagate Barracuda ES.2 5TB (5x1TB) ST31000340NS
Asus GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB @ 740Mhz (Until the next-gen GPUs then 3-SLI)
AuzenTech Prelude 7.1 Sound Card
Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Ultimate DVD
Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution

Are there better PSUs available for this particular build. This build prety much maxes out all the features available on the striker 780i.

~Pacal

 

[Quiksilver]

1 System Type: Based on physical processor(s) or # of sockets. Multicore CPU counts as a single processor. For example: for a single Core 2 Duo you should select 'Single Socket' as System Type.
2 TDP - Thermal Design Power. We recommend 85-90% since it is very rare that CPU will utilize 100% of TDP.
3 System Load: 100% (peak load) - all components are at 100% load, including start up surge current compensation.
4 Electrolytic capacitor aging. When used heavily or over an extended period of time (1+ years) a power supply will slowly lose some of its initial wattage capacity. We recommend you add 10-20% if you plan to keep your PSU for more than 1 year, or 20-30% for 24/7 usage and 1+ years.
* See our Terms of Service for details

Bother reading that before doing the test? and no their usually not accurate.

 

[mpilchfamily]

Its not all that far off really. A good quality 700W PSU is fine for that system. Though personally I'd go with something with a little more power just in case you make any upgrades to the system.

 

[Pacal]

mpilchfamily,

Well for the price an Antec TruePower Quattro 1kW makes for a nice substitute but if my actual draw is closer to 650W, it seems like overkill. Are we *really* expecting GPU's and CPU's to tap a 1kW in the next 6mo-1year ?

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: Pacal
mpilchfamily,

Well for the price an Antec TruePower Quattro 1kW makes for a nice substitute but if my actual draw is closer to 650W, it seems like overkill. Are we *really* expecting GPU's and CPU's to tap a 1kW in the next 6mo-1year ?

Q9450, 8gb RAM, Blu-ray, 5tb storage (and no RAID controller :| ), plans for 3-SLI video....
AND YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT OVERKILL ON THE ONE THING POWERING ALL OF THAT?. Seriously... Think about what you are spending on everything else, and then remember that your PSU is powering all of that. I'd be going overkill like hell on the PSU if I were you.

 

[PCTC2]

it's not that far off. It gave me a 528W PSU for my system and I used a Kill-A-Watt and my system uses 360-440W at load. That gives it a max of 83% load.

 

[JohnMD1022]

A hefty power supply is cheap insurance. A few bucks for a bigger PSU insures it will run under a lighter load, e.g., less stress and less heat.

We always specify at least 50% safety factor.

 

[Pacal]

LoL

All very good points... I suppose then I will go with the Antec's TruePower Quattro 1kW PSU. I thought my HTPC chassis had a dwarfed size PSU cage so I was shopping for something quiet and compact, but it turns out the cage is actually rather generous in size with 3in. (depth) to spare on the quattro 1kw.

Fullmetal Chocobo
Are there any performance advantages to be gained using a dedicated raid controller off the PCI v2.0 slots? Otherwise, I had just intended to use the onboard controller. I was hoping for raptor like performance off 5x1TB drives in a raid 5 configuration off the marvell (native 780i drive controller), but I'm receptive to alternative suggestions.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: Pacal
LoL

Fullmetal Chocobo
Are there any performance advantages to be gained using a dedicated raid controller off the PCI v2.0 slots? Otherwise, I had just intended to use the onboard controller. I was hoping for raptor like performance off 5x1TB drives in a raid 5 configuration off the marvell (native 780i drive controller), but I'm receptive to alternative suggestions.

RAID 5 arrays suffer on onboard controllers due to not having a dedicated processor for the parity calculations. RAID 5 on the mobo's controller will be functional at best. What is your primary goal--performance or functionality? You can get functionality rather easily, but performance is a bit more complicated (and expensive).

 

[Pacal]

tell me more about performance enhancig options.

I had looked into the Areca 1231ML at one point but it seemed like a lot of money at 775.00. I wonder what the performance difference looks like, marvell versus areca 1231ml.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Okay, I did some quick benchmarks on my system, just as a reference.

WD 150gb Raptor, connected to motherboard (Asus P5N32-E SLI)
WD 150gb Raptor, connected to Areca ARC-1220 RAID controller
5 x WD 400gb RE2, connected to Areca ARC-1220 in RAID 5

I don't have any RAID on the motherboard, but maybe someone else can give you a benchmark for that.

Also, that Areca 1231ML is a SAS controller, so the performance is on that controller will be much faster than the Marvell w/ SATA drives.

 

[newbie628]

A PSU calculator that only has total WATTAGE recommendations is rarely(if lucky) accurate.

You would want something similar to this.

 

[John]

Guys, please start a new thread if you want to discuss raid arrays or something unrelated to the discussion of a power supply.

 

[Pacal]

Discussion continued here...

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2145022&enterthread=y