Will an SS S12 500W be enough?

[Fedaykin311]

I'm building a new system with the following:

i7 920 CPU
6GB DDR3
nVidia GTX 260 (216) (might step up to a 275)
OCZ Vertex 60g SSD
1 TB SATA Internal
1x optical drive
3-5 120 MM Nexus fans

Now, I have a brand new SeaSonic S12 500W Modular power supply that I'd like to use if possible, though I am uncertain that it is adequate for this system. According to the specs of the 260, this PS barely meets the minimum requirements, though I am uncertain if nVidia's "minimum" is a real minimum and if I'd be staking on thin ice especially with the power hungry components I am using elseware.

Any advice? If this is inadequate, what's a decent wattage that will give me a bit of headroom for things like additional optical drives, hard drives tv tuners, etc. I won't be overclocking or doing SLI

 

[HOOfan 1]

nVidia's minimum takes into account that some might not buy the best quality PSU. You should be fine, although if you want to OC, I would get something rated a little higher.

 

[Proximon]

Yeah I certainly wouldn't throw that one out.

If I were buying a new PSU for that system, I would likely look at something stronger. I just noticed that Corsair has a promo code floating around for the 650TX at newegg. That's going to cover any single card setup you like.

 

[piston2001]

Same boat here. I have the same question but with a slightly different config.

I'm planning to upgrade to a new system with the following:

i7 920 CPU
6GB DDR3
Current video card: GeForce 8600GTS => Future upgrade: nVidia GTX 260
2 SATA Internal HDD
2 PATA Internal HDD
2x optical drives
4 120 MM fans

Any idea if my current power supply is ok with the new config ? or if I need a brand new power supply ? Thanks.

I might stay with my current video card for now and upgrade to something better later. Since I am not a gamer, I don't need a high end video card. I just need something that can play HD video properly without delays.

My main purpose for my rig is to be able to encode videos quickly. (current CPU is Athlon 64 3700+ so it is very slow)

 

[theAnimal]

Originally posted by: piston2001
Same boat here. I have the same question but with a slightly different config.

I'm planning to upgrade to a new system with the following:

i7 920 CPU
6GB DDR3
Current video card: GeForce 8600GTS => Future upgrade: nVidia GTX 260
2 SATA Internal HDD
2 PATA Internal HDD
2x optical drives
4 120 MM fans

Any idea if my current power supply is ok with the new config ? or if I need a brand new power supply ? Thanks.

I might stay with my current video card for now and upgrade to something better later. Since I am not a gamer, I don't need a high end video card. I just need something that can play HD video properly without delays.

My main purpose for my rig is to be able to encode videos quickly. (current CPU is Athlon 64 3700+ so it is very slow)

You'll be fine even with a GTX260.

 

[piston2001]

OK. Sweet. I was hoping so. I spent good money on the Seasonic PS so I was hoping to keep it thereby keeping my upgrade cost low.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I use the "Extreme Outervision" freebie PSU calculator available on the web. Most here would agree that EO grossly overestimates PSU requirements, even for the nifty way it accounts for every little detail of your system and allows you to punch in over-clock data for the particular processor you select.

I think power requirements are different for I7 cores, but not sure how much. I've got an OC'd Q6600, a power-hogging 680i motherboard, 4GB of RAM, USB fp hub, nVidia 8800 GTS (OC'd), a PCI-E hardware RAID controller, a PCI-E tuner-capture-card, Creative X-Fi PCI audio, four SATA2 HD's, one optical DVDRW, a floppy, six fans (2 @ .50A and 4 @ .28A) and bling-bling cathode ray tube. The PSU is a Seasonic M12 700.

The UPS system for the beast has software that measures power-draw at any given time. I may -- or may not -- have my 35W LCD monitor plugged into the same UPS unit, but it shows about 320W at idle, and it pushes toward 400+W under the load I mentioned.

Outervision says I need something between a 600 and a 650W PSU. I think a 500 or 550W unit would probably have been just fine.

So -- ditto to Eric Burdon there -- as long as it's a "Seasonic." I luvs dem Seasonics, foah shuah.

EDIT: HEY!! CORRECTION! My UPS is providing about 280W now at "business-software-idle."