power supply question

[thebigdintx]

what component(s) determines what the amps on the psu's 12v rails need to be at? the motherboard, the gpu, the cpu? i looked at the specs on all of those, and they don't list the amps required on the psu's 12v rails.

also, if your not running sli or crossfire, you can add up the rails for the total and use that amps right for what is needed. is that right?

 

[freestyler105]

The video card basically determines what power supply you need. It draws way more power than anything else. To be safe, add about 50 watts to the minimum requirement for that video card, and you'll have enough power. It also helps a lot to have a PSU from a reliable brand like Silverstone or Antec.

To figure out how many amps you have, add up all the amps on the +12V rails.

What graphics card are you planning on getting? I can probably recommend a good PSU for you...

 

[thebigdintx]

i was planning on getting the evga 8600GT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130085
and the antec neo power 500w psu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103940
along with a E8400 perhaps
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037&Tpk=E8400
and a gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059
although I want firewire, and this board doesn't have it..i could use the 3 port firewire pci card i have in my current computer in it i guess. also, 2GB of ddr2 800 ram, a seagate barracuda 320GB 7200.10 vista home premium 64 bit, rosewill case maybe....would like to have a front of the case firewire port though..no fancy case, just black with no side window. and a dvd burner.

 

[Atomic Rooster]

Here's a great site that will help you determine the power supply wattage you'll need: eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Lite v2.5


The Antec Neo 500W will be plenty. I have an Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W powering my system with an 8800GTS. It's also NVIDIA SLI Certified.

 

[thebigdintx]

newegg has a power supply calculator under their power supply section now also which i used..
http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html

 

[freestyler105]

That's a great choice. Reliable brand, good wattage. The 8600 doesn't use much power, so that will be plenty.