How Much Power Do I Need?

DrunkWookie · 11 Apr 2008 at 06:43

so list reads:

9850 black edition phenom
3870xt
3870x2
4gb ddr 1066mhz
2 sata drives for me raid

now great and powerful flying gibbons, spec me a power supply or tell me if 550watt is enuff?

dazz25 · 11 Apr 2008 at 07:53

550W should be enough but I would go for the Corsair HX620 to be on the safe side.

Fire Wizard · 11 Apr 2008 at 08:19

Hello DrunkWookie,

It would be all dependent on the make and model of the power supply unit and how many amps that specific unit can provide on the +12Volt rail.

To give you a rough idea of the power consumption of the system that you have specified:

A single ATI Radeon 3870X2 consumes around 200 watts under load which equates to 17 amps and a single ATI Radeon 3870 consumes around 115 watts which equals to 10 amps. Now, a stock AMD Phenom Quad Core 9850 2.50GHz consumes about 125 watts which equates to 11 amps. Add a couple of hard drives into the equation rated at one amp each and then some for the extra headroom, the system is going to be pulling around 41 amps on the +12Volt rail.

Now, take the Corsair VX550W Power Supply and the Gigabyte ODIN PRO 550W which can both supply 41 amps of the +12Volt rail. Considering the above system will be needing around 41 amps, you are left with no headroom and even though, in real life situations, both power supply units would probably run the system fine, I would strongly suggest looking for a power supply that is slightly more powerful such as the Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU which can supply 50 amps on the +12volt rail which would power your system absolutely fine.

hp7909 · 11 Apr 2008 at 08:37

Well put Fire Wizard.

The 2 GFX do put a strain on the system. But the headroom with the Corsair HX 620 (+12V = 50A) should put you at ease

EDIT: Corsair TX 650W has 54A, is cheaper BUT not modular.

EDIT²: DrunkWookie any chance you can post-up a mini-review (with pics) of the 9850 BE Phenom?