PSU for a 20 Drive Fileserver?

[poofyhairguy]

I am planning on building a file server that I want to max at 20 drives. That is all this computer will do- it will have a old PCI graphics card, a low end dual core CPU, and 20 5400 RPM HDs. Mostly 1.5tb and 2tb WD Green drives.

After doing some research I did discover on my own that the best PSU will be one with a single rail. By FAR my favorite PSU maker is Antec, and their best single rail PSU is this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371031

Is its +12V@48A enough to power this system? Or do I need to step it up to another brand and get something with 60A like this?:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139010

I will get the Corsair if I have too, but I do really much prefer Antec. This will be in a Antec 1200 case. When I used this calculator it recommended that I needed 375 watts:

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rifter]

Im thinking the Antec will be fine. Stagger the spinups if you can, any raid controller card that can handle 20 drives should be able to do this.

 

[Modelworks]

I don't like calculators for things like this because they are too generic. Instead add up the components you will use yourself.

Look on the hard drives you intend to use and they will be marked for their usage.
A seagate I have here is +5V .72A, +12V .52A

So 20 of them would be
20 x .72A = 14.4A @5v
20 x .52A = 10.4A @12 V
Add 10% for startup surges and you get
14.4 + 1.44 = 15.84A @ 5V
10.4 + 1.04 = 11.404 @ 12V

So 16A @ 5V and 12A @ 12V is all these drives would need for themselves.

 

[faxon]

that calculator app hes using actually isnt bad, it's really not far off from what i estimate my system will draw at 100% maximum theoretical load. in reality, my system draws quite a bit less than that maximum however, about 33% less. this holds true for a lot of other things as well. for example my 24 fan wall that i use to cool my room out with (intake/outtake) draws 60w at the wall, but each fan is rated @ 12v .3 amps, which comes out to 86 watts, which i have never seen it draw. in reality, with that PSUs horrible efficiency factored in, load is probably closer to 45-50w.

 

[sonoma1993]

just curious thought for this kind of setup. Would it better to have the OP go with some kind server case that can take dual or triple powersupplies? for the redundancy and if a single powersupply fails for some reason, it doesn't by chance take the hard drives with it.