Quadcore on 380W

[yottabit]

I know this sounds like a bad idea but if I could pull it off it would be nice...

I've got an old Antec Overture desktop case (which came with a Antec TruePower 380w PSU)

Now I need a machine for video editing that can also be quiet and stream to my TV.. so I'm wondering if I get something like a Phenom II or Athlon II x4 and stick it in there with a mobo on the amd785 chipset with integrated graphics I should be able to get away with it. Using some power calculators I've found that I'd be right on the edge with the Phenom 955 and conservatively under with the Athlon. The only other power-draws in the system would be 1 or 2 7200 RPM HDD, and a DVD-RW drive.

So what do you think- a stupid idea or a nice way to breathe new life into this old system?

This case has a special PSU mounting with custom cables so it would be difficult to upgrade the PSU... if this one can't serve the purpose I'll likely go back to one of my old Antec SOHO cases.

On a side note, is it worth it to get a decent video card for video editing? My friend seems to think its an important factor, and I told him I didn't think it was. I'm not planning on using any GPGPU accelerated programs.

 

[Rifter]

I would go with a low wattage part(605e). Then you really dont need to worry about it stressing the PSU or generating much heat. Should work fine i think.

 

[Accord99]

45nm quad-cores don't use that much power:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article978-page3.html

 

[Zap]

Normally a good 380W would have no problem powering a rig as you've described (quad core with integrated graphics and 2 HDDs). However, it is an original Antec TruePower. Those were known to have short-lived capacitors. Do a search for "antec truepower fuhjyyu" like this:

http://www.google.com/search?q=antec+truepower+fuhjyyu

On a side note, is it worth it to get a decent video card for video editing? My friend seems to think its an important factor, and I told him I didn't think it was. I'm not planning on using any GPGPU accelerated programs.

Bolded for emphasis. The short answer is no.

The longer answer is that if you want to eke out as much performance as possible (and are doing stuff like overclocking everything) then you would want to offload the onboard graphics requirement on your main memory bandwidth by either using a board with SidePort memory or a really cheap PCIe card.

Another thing is that if you need specific outputs that the motherboard doesn't have (such as dual DVI), get a PCIe card that has those outputs.

Here's an example of a board with Sideport memory:

GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H
"Built-in 128MB DDR3 1333MHz SidePort Memory"

Note that some boards might come with slower DDR2 SidePort memory. "Slower" meaning for gaming, probably won't affect anything else.

Also, on a more general note, you will want to research what wattage CPU a motherboard can take before purchasing. I used to have a Phenom X4 9850 which was a 125W processor. I choose a budget motherboard (that's the kind of person I am ^_^ ) and turns out it only supported "up to 95W" Phenoms.

 

[yottabit]

Hmm thanks for that info on the TruePower I never would have guessed... that could explain why I'm on my 3rd hard drive for this particular case. I probably won't take any chances on it if that's a known issue

 

[Engineer]

Hmm thanks for that info on the TruePower I never would have guessed... that could explain why I'm on my 3rd hard drive for this particular case. I probably won't take any chances on it if that's a known issue

Not sure why it would kill your harddrive, but I can vouch that I have had a TP power supply die after a few years because of leaky caps.

 

[yottabit]

Well I've read that low voltage on the 5V rail can cause hard drive corruption, and one of the symptoms listed on a forum (http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2225) as a sign of bad caps is low voltage on the 5V rail... could explain why I've had a string of hard drives become corrupted (It's fun to get error messages that say There is no disk in Drive C, but it could be just a coincidence

I might measure my 5V output if I ever have the time and update here

 

[dmxlite]

380W should be fine. HP and others are powering quad cores with HD43xx - 4650 on 300W to 350W power supplies with similar specs as your rig.

 

[frostedflakes]

Yeah a quality 380w should be more than enough, I've run a Phenom II X4 on a 300w PSU with no problems. You don't really have to start worrying until you add high-end video cards, some of those are very power hungry.

The hard drive issues you've been having are a bit disconcerting, though. I'd definitely get a multimeter or something and monitor the voltage on the rails, large dips or spikes aren't great for hardware.