Need some PSU advice?

tgbyhn10111

tgbyhn10111

tgbyhn10111

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11 May 2007
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I'm thinking of this spec:

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.86ghz & stock cooler (for now)
Seagate 7200.10 320GB SATAII/300 8.5ms 7200RPM 16MB Cache
2 x 1GB Corsair (CM2X1024-5400C4) DDR2-5300/5400 (667/675MHz)
CASE ASONIC XCLIO Server case 5X5.25 6X3.5 2xfloppy 2, 8" fans, temp lcd and leds, possible 12" fan
1 x Lite-on 16 X DVD-ROM SHD-16P1S
1 x Lite-on DVD-Writer SHM-165P6S

and one of these

Point Of View 7600GT 256mb DDR3 DVI HDTV TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card
X1650Pro 256MB GDDR3 DVI TVO HDCP PCI-E Graphics Card
X1950Pro 256MB GDDR3 DVI TVO HDCP PCI-E Graphics Card

I was hoping to overclock the cpu to near 3ghz if possible.

I might want to add a second hard in a few months time.
More or faster memory and a quad cpu in a few years time and there's a slight possibility of a second graphics card in a few years too.

I want to know if the Antec SmartPower 2.0 500w ATX PSU is OK.
http://www.antec.com/uk/support_productInfo_details.php?ProdID=14501

or would this do?
Basiq 500 BP500U -GB 500 Watt PSU
http://www.antec.com/uk/productDetails.php?ProdID=06501

This case seems to be liked and has the 450 watt version i think
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-040-AN&tool=3

Someone said Antec are not as good as people though they were but I need a balanced view. If it's no good, would someone suggest a PSU that would cope with my requirememnts and last a few years but needs to be as cheap as possible.

Failing that are there any PSUs or brands to avoid or a list of brands where I can't go wrong?

Thanks

Pete
 
The best PSU's at the moment are probably the corsair's. There is a 520W and a 620W which are here and here. The 520W will easily handle your current spec, whereas the 620W might provide you will a little more future proofing. The choice is yours, but personally I would go with the 520W.

Edit: Dam someone beat me to it!
 
I would love a corsair but I can't afford it. Even at £62 delivered from a quick google for the 520 - am i allowed to say that? Appologies if I am not. I need to shave £20 off the price at least.

I can get the Antec SmartPower 2.0 500w for about £38 delivered but I'm worried as I have seen 3 reviews; 1 said it was the dogs, the other 2 said 12v fluctuated too much.

I can get the basiq for about £33 delivered but I can't find a review on it.

Also the Antec Earthwatts 500w £50
Antec Neo 500w PSU 80mm Low Noise Fan £60

Are they any good?

Any other suggestions? Slightly more downmarket...
 
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You'd be lucky to get away with a dual graphics card system that uses decently powerful graphics cards on a 430w and depending on the PSU even a 500w might be stretching it however the 430w would cope fine with a single graphics card and a dual core system overclocked, probably even quad core but if you are considering dual graphics cards (in your case Crossfire so ATI only) then you will have to pay for a good PSU. :)
 
Isn't it likely that future cpus, quad core etc will reduce in watts consumed or at least not go up significantly as they will be fabed smaller?

Do you think I could use two ati 1650pros a 4300 clocked to 3ghz on the truepower 430?

Approximately, what might be the highest single graphics card I could use with the 4300 clocked to 3ghz on the truepower 430?
 
I don't really think I'd suggest 2x X1650s together, two mid-low range cards tend not to be worthwhile compared to one mid-high range card. An X1950pro should be fine on that PSU even with the CPU clocked to 3ghz.

Future CPUs will reduce power requirements per core I'd assume but as the amount of cores goes up the savings become slightly offset. :)
 
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