8800 GTS 320mb - power supply advice required

[martianrobot]

Hi,

I've got a 8800 GTS 320mb arriving tomorrow, to replace my much loved but frankly rather lacking 7600GT.

Now, I'm a bit confused about power issues, 12v rails and what have you, and need some advice.

I currently use a 420w Xilence PSU with this written on its side:

+12v1 13A 156W
+12v2 14A 168W

I also have a 350w Hiper PSU that says the following:

+12V1 15A
+12V2 15A with max combine wattage of 300W

I initially used the Hiper but was not impressed with its stated 'inaudible' Low Noise feature... so I replaced it with the Xilence which is quite a lot quieter, but I'm not sure that the build quality is quite as good. Both have a dedicated PCI-Express connector.

So, which would you recommend for me to use? The Hiper obviously has lower watts, but it says it has higher amps on the 12Vs. Which is most important?

Or are they both crap and need replacing?

See my sig for other specs - I also have an 80gb, a 250gb, a DVDRW and a 3-port PCI Firewire card. It's all stuffed into a small but sturdy and cool running Chieftech case, just about deep enough to fit my 8800 into!

Any advice appreciated.

Ta

 

[mrk]

the 8800 is more efficient than the 7900 series IIRC so you should be just fine with either PSU though 350watt is a bit low considering!

 

[Spetznaz]

Bin them both and get a corsair 520w or similar. Sorry not what you want to hear.

 

[blakka]

A better PSU like the Corsair would be a good investment however it looks like your Hiper PSU gives out 30A on the 12v rails so should be ok.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

350w psu is really pushing it.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-061-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=103

above is a good psu for not too bad a price and should be enough to do the job.

 

[hp7909]

See here

EDIT: Both PSU don't meet the requirements. The 420w Xilence combined +12V Rails = 27A which is below the recommended 28A & don't forget that the combined value is not the 'real' amount. On the latter the 350w Hiper is perfect example because you'd think that it has a combined value of 30A, but if you divided the 'max combine wattage of 300W' by 12 you only get 25A. Besides all that, they are both below the recommended 425W.