Thread: Know your Power Supply!

You might be able to get away with that, but it depends heavily on what rails the connectors are attached to. Reputable PSU manufacturers have wiring diagrams available that will show what layout they use, but generally for quad-rails:

Mobo 24-pin connector has one rail all to itself;
Mobo 12v connector has it's own rail;
GPU connectors have their own rail;
All molex connectors (ie, drives, fans, etc.) have their own rail.

Other designs (especially those for SLI) can have each of the 4 GPU power connectors on a separate rail, with the other components distributed amongst them. The list of possibilities is endless.


With a modular PSU, you might be able to vary which connectors are on which rails, but then you have to find amperage data for all of your components, and then factor in a safety margin for startup and peak usage, and then build a map of what goes on what rail where...

Obviously, when you add all of this work on top of trying to find the most efficient routing and use of connectors, trying to work around the inadequacies of multi-rail PSUs is just not worth it.

Draco

The only reason i ask is because of this

Antec CP-850 850W Continuous Power (multi rail)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371024

The Antec's CP series is exclusively designed for Antec's 1200/P183/P193 cases and provide an excellent price-to-performance ratio. The Antec CP-850 power supply features 80 PLUS certification, saving energy and your money. It also generates less heat, and enhances cooling with a super-silent 120mm PWM fan. The Active PFC circuitry further reduces impact on the power infrastructure resulting in cooler, quieter, and more environmentally friendly power.

The Antec New CP-850’s universal input capability, together with ATX12V v2.3 and EPS12V V2.91 compliancy lets you use it in a variety of situations without worrying about input voltages. Dedicated power circuitry, industrial grade protection circuitry, and Active PFC deliver safe, reliable output. Four +12V output circuits provide maximum stable power for the CPU independently of the other peripherals.

that power supply is made just for my case, which is the Antec 1200 case with a bottom mounted psu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129043

The case has five 120mm fans and will have 3 200mm fans

ontop of that is the GPU, going for a ATI 5770 model close to (if not exactley)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-086-_-Product

CPU-Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115215

add a solid state drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227394
HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136490

optical drives
...have no idea where i'm getting those from, methinks from my friend

and finnally all that's being jammed onto this mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...385&Tpk=DP55KG


At the moment i only have the mobo, i'm buying the case tomorrow
This is my first rig i'm building on my own, i'm not going to be overclocking it or anything, I just don't want to burn it out :/

When they say it's "built for", what they mean is that they used longer leads, and it fits the cases, even though it's bigger than ATX spec (ie, it would work in the 1200 case, but might not in other, future cases you may use). Oh, and they matched the PSU design to the case design. So basically, you'd be buying it because it's pretty, not because it's more functionally capable than another brand.

I have an Antec 1200 and I use a:

http://www.pcpower.com/power-supply/...uad-black.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703029

(Newegg has the red model, go spelunking on Google if you want a brand new/different color model: http://www.google.com/products?hl=en...Quad&scoring=p)

PC Power & Cooling makes, hands down, the best power supplies on the market. It fits just fine, quiet as can be, the voltages are all rock-solid and right on the money, lots of connectors. And I have a more-power-hungry system than you're building there, so you should have plenty of room to expand in the future.

Just one opinion, though.

Draco

Thanks a TON for the info Draco, guess when i get that part i'm ordering from newegg and shipping it up to canada

Originally Posted by Mr. White

Originally Posted by Ruukil

I want to know if I need a new PSU.

I've got an AMD Phenom II X4(it's an unlocked Athlon II x3) it's essentially a 940 with no L3. I have that, the usual stuff that I don't think makes a big impact on power. But I'm planning on running a NVIDIA 280. Will a 400W PSU cover me?

The box on the 280 recommends at least a 600 W PSU. Best bet is to check out this.

Thanks white. That helped a lot

I build my own systems (well, just configure them really) at ibuypowerpc and let them put it all together and test it, that way it's guaranteed. And they have good deals and decent prices. Can't imagine 700w not being enough though.