How much power?

[Sankari]

Currently planning a new build (see my sig for details) and need some clarifications on power requirements.

My little Shuttle currently runs nicely on 250W, but I'll need more than that for my new build. The question is: how much more? I originally though that 400W would be enough... now I'm not so sure.

In this thread, Ultra_Extreme says that 550W is the minimum for SLI mode, while in this thread, Goksly says that a SP35P2 PRO (400W) "can take 2 x 8800GTs etc".

That's a difference of 150W, so who's right?

 

[semi-pro waster]

Both are right in their own way. Ultra_Extreme will be talking about an average system with an average PSU and 550w is usually a good baseline figure if you want to use SLi although you can on occasion get away with less depending on the cards involved and what else is in the system as well as how good the PSU is. Which PSU do you intend to use?

However the normal rules don't apply quite the same with Shuttle PSUs, they have a more limited amount of components that can be used due to space and the fact that the motherboard is specially designed for their systems so that their systems stated as suitable for SLi will quite happily work on their 400w. They do have very good PSUs with high efficiency which helps. So Goksly is also right.

As an aside I think your signature is currently breaking the rules since you are allowed 4 lines of normal height text without spaces in between the lines so if you remove the space to raise Building.... up a line you will be fine.

 

[Sankari]

Both are right in their own way. Ultra_Extreme will be talking about an average system with an average PSU and 550w is usually a good baseline figure if you want to use SLi although you can on occasion get away with less depending on the cards involved and what else is in the system as well as how good the PSU is. Which PSU do you intend to use?

However the normal rules don't apply quite the same with Shuttle PSUs, they have a more limited amount of components that can be used due to space and the fact that the motherboard is specially designed for their systems so that their systems stated as suitable for SLi will quite happily work on their 400w. They do have very good PSUs with high efficiency which helps. So Goksly is also right.

Nice explanation, thanks. I am planning to use the good old Akasa Ultra Quiet 500W. Would that be OK for the hardware on my list?

As an aside I think your signature is currently breaking the rules since you are allowed 4 lines of normal height text without spaces in between the lines so if you remove the space to raise Building.... up a line you will be fine.

Fixed.

 

[semi-pro waster]

As I understand it the 8800GT isn't a hugely demanding card in terms of power so you should be ok for a pair, the Akasa is a decent PSU. If you don't already have the cards I'd be tempted to go for a single 8800GTX or one of the new 8800GTS cards and overclock a bit but that is partly down to my own dislike of adding complication which SLi does. If you already have the card(s) then I'd go for it with no real worries.

Thanks for fixing the signature as well.

 

[Sankari]

As I understand it the 8800GT isn't a hugely demanding card in terms of power so you should be ok for a pair, the Akasa is a decent PSU. If you don't already have the cards I'd be tempted to go for a single 8800GTX or one of the new 8800GTS cards and overclock a bit but that is partly down to my own dislike of adding complication which SLi does. If you already have the card(s) then I'd go for it with no real worries.

Thanks for fixing the signature as well.

I don't have the GTs yet; I am waiting for the price to come down!

If a single GTX or GTS compares favourably with two GTs in SLI mode, it may be worth waiting a little longer. I would certainly prefer to have as little inside the case as possible, though I would prefer two cards running at default rather than one card overclocked.

Thanks for the advice.