Should I upgrade my PSU for 8800GTS_512MB?

[LazyDreamer]

Hi,

Intel Penryn 8400 will be announced soon. I will have a new rig build with this CPU next month or the one after.

The following is my current proposal:

1) Penryn 8400
2) Crucial Ballistic PC8500 - 2GB
3) EVGA 8800GTS-512GB
4) Asus P5E (X38)
5) WD 500GB SATA II & WD 320GB SATA II

Currently I have a Seasonic S12 500W (80% effeciency), I know 8800GTS-512 is very power hungry, should I upgrade the power supply?

zzf has special deal for cooler master 650W. If I need to upgrade, is this good PSU I will go for?

CoolerMaster650W

Thanks!

 

[Doclife]

The Seasonic S12 500W you have is more than enough to handle your new system. Actually, the 8800GT 512MB will consume less power than the previous released 8800GTS 640MB video card.

I suggest you get 4GB (2x 2GB) memory while prices are as low as they are now. It never hurts to have more memory. Vista will run much more smoothly with more memory (that is if and when you will move to Vista).

 

[DSF]

You don't need to upgrade. As Doclife said, you have plenty of power. You'd have plenty even if you wanted to put in an 8800GTX.

 

[LazyDreamer]

Hi Doclife and DSF,

Thanks for your advice!

 

[MarcVenice]

Yeah, one question though, why x38 ? Waste of money if you ask me, p35 will do just fine for now. And why p8500 ? I don't know the multiplier on the 8400, so you might actually need it, but if you're not overclocking, you definately want some ddr2 800mhz 2x2gb for 75-100$ instead.

 

[LazyDreamer]

Q: why x38 but not p35?
A: 1) X38 by default supports Penryn 45nm while P35 was developed for Conron 65nm. Compability is one concern although bios update could be one way to go;
2) X38 supports FSB1333, which is better for overclocking;
3) most importantly, X38 comes with PCI-E 2.0, which is the configuration for 8800 GTS-512. P35 only came with PCI-E 1.0. BTW, PCI-E 2.0 has twice bandwidth as PCI-E 1.0;
4) Asus P5E has discrete audio card

Q: why 8400 but not 8500?
A: 1) 8400 is priced around $183 while 8500 is round $266
2) 8400 has multiplier of 9.0 and 8500 has 9.5

Q: why PC8500 (DD2-1066) but not PC6400(DDR2-800)?
A: 1) for X38 of FSB1333, it's better to overclock with PC8500
2) PC8500 is not very expensive now. 2GB is around $110 from newegg.

I am not saying I must be completely right and this is my proposal after research.

BTW, sorry to put down the overclocking/graphic related stuffs on this power supplies sub-forum.

 

[MarcVenice]

Even 680i from nvidia is going to support Penryn, p35 is a total no brainer and will support Penryn 100% gauranteed, x38 might support fsb 1333, but so does P35. And for now, PCI-E 2.0 is marketing talk. The 8800GTS and 8800GT are both PCI-E 2.0, but also work just fine on PCI-E 1.1 motherboards, without any performance loss. It might offer twice the bandwith, but we won't have a videocard that actually NEEDS more bandwith then PCI-E 1.1 can offer, for at least another year. What's a discrete audio card ? Most mobo's come with onboard sound, so unless there's a difference between a discrete audio card, and onboard sound, the point is moot. CPU, good choice if you ask me, but as for the ram, ddr2 800mhz will do just fine. Since it has a 9 multiplier, ANY ddr2 800mhz ram will allow you to overclock to 3.6ghz, and for 100$ you can get 2x2gb ddr2 800mhz instead of 2gb of ddr2 PC8500 ram.

I'm not trying to be demeaning in any way, just trying to save you some money. I don't see any reason to buy an x38 mobo right now and you could get double the ram for the same price.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Err... you can get 4GB of DDR2-1000 RAM for about $110 too... How's that work? (I am not a GSkill representative in disguise 😛 I'm 13)
link

 

[secretanchitman]

the new p35 boards support penryn...hell, even my asrock mobo supports penryn (or is it wolfdale...dunno, but i KNOW it supports some intel 45nm cpus). your current psu is fine...it'll definitely handle the 8800GTS 512MB fine and blueacolyte is right, you should go for 4GB. timings dont matter much in real world performance...only in benchmarks. trust me on that one.