Help with 1st time pc build!

Michael_10

Michael_10

Michael_10

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15 Jan 2010
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978
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Scotland
Hi everyone!
This is my first post so hope I've got it in the right place!

I recently got some parts to upgrade my pc, which is a MESH one from about 6 years ago. I don't have the money to upgrade it all at once, so I've been putting in new parts over the past couple of months, and I'm i the final stages of upgrading and I hope to be able to finish it in the next 6 months. Right now, as the PC stands it has a

AMD Phenom II X2 550 (with all cores unlocked) cooled by a Freezer 7 pro rev 2
2gb DDR3 1333mhz Kingston RAM
500gb WD Caviar Blue
ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO Motherboard with integrated HD 4200
360W PSU
Windows 7 Home Premium

All enclosed in a MESH case

Though PC runs windows 7 really well, I would like to be able to play games on it, in particular the upcoming Crysis 2. Since the 4200 can't handle very much, I thoguht my next upgrade could be a graphics card, and I have been looking at the HD 5850.
To get to my question, I'd like suggestions on PSU's that could power my system with a 5850, I've been looking at the OCZ StealthxStream 600w PSU, does anyone use this PSU who could give any feedback, particularly in the noise of the fan?
 
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600W is slight overkill for that system + 5850 GPU. You could go for a less wattage PSU if you wanted. For example, a 5850 in an i7 system @ 3.2Ghz draws under 300 watts.
 
600w isn't overkill as such like you say you have all cores unlocked so its basically a Quad i'm guessing at 3.10GHz?

Also the stealthXstream whilst a high wattage is a fairly good value one compared to some others, I would go with it tbh, theres a fair few reviews on it unless you can find a similar one for the price, the 5850 would go well with the Quad Core and I wouldn't be looking at any lower if your wanting to play Crysis 2

I might hold off for Fermi in your position but who knows there likely to be even higher in price the the 5800 cards, not that they shouldn't because they will perform better but still £350+ is a lot
 
Does seem a bit but I don't think you will max the load, my TX650w must be fairly similar in regards to the cooling design and I never hear it, look for some reviews online, google it
 
That chart just means that the fan kicks into gear ~350W and slowly increases in speed based on power usage. This sounds pretty normal to me.

Even with the fan on Corsair PSUs are usally nice and quiet. Anyway, considering the system you will be running, you will not be going anywhere near maximum load.

The 550W AMD minimum needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Mainly, they know that there are LOADS of PSUs out there that are really terrible, non-brand 750W units that can only provide 400W. So to try and protect themselves a bit they put the minimum requirements WAAY up so that there is less chance that the card will nor get enough power when hooked up to terrible supplies.

If you look at this review, this full system uses 315W at full load when using a 5850. This test system uses an i7 @ 3.33Ghz and an X58 board - which draws much more power than your system.
 
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