comp upgrades

[bocochoco]

I bought a new motherboard, cpu, memory, and video card.. Unfortunately I neglected to check my PSU. It works fine now, but I question if it is enough for the new parts. It's a 550 watt Antec TruePower II. The new parts are an AsRock 890FX Deluxe3, Phenom II X6 1055, 8gb of DDR3, and a Sapphire Radeon HD 6870. I hate when I forget to check something. The Radeon says it requires a 500w psu. I think I'm cutting it too close... What do you guys think?

[broken_escalator]

I don't know a lot about power requirements so I usually have to default to newegg's calculator, or ask someone. Using that calculator I had to substitute a different card that required 500w since I didn't see yours listed and I'm assuming you have 1 dvd-rw... it came out as recommended PSU Wattage: 568 W or 542 W depending on if that mobo classifies as 'high end' or 'regular'.

So how many other devices do you have? Just 1 hdd, any optical drives, sound cards? Extra fans/water cooler?

[bocochoco]

I don't know a lot about power requirements so I usually have to default to newegg's calculator, or ask someone. Using that calculator I had to substitute a different card that required 500w since I didn't see yours listed and I'm assuming you have 1 dvd-rw... it came out as recommended PSU Wattage: 568 W

Never knew newegg had a psu calculator. I definitely am cutting it too close. I don't really want to wait another week for a psu to be delivered, I think ill pick one up at bestbuy despite how much i despise doing that.

[Endless Mike]

I often wonder how these calculators work. This one gives me 366W or 383W (normal desktop vs. high-end desktop motherboard). I will also throw out that the GPU manufacturers typically OVER estimate the minimum PSU needed to ensure that people with lower-end PSUs actually have something that will power it. The 6xxx series was also designed to use less power than the 5xxx, so keep that in mind, as well.

[bocochoco]

My concern is that I don't want to undervolt anything. I've blown up my fair share of microcontrollers and it's just as harmful as overvolting them. Just to be on the safe side I'll probably pick up a new one, but do you think I'll do any damage if I order one from newegg, or should I bite my tongue and go to bestbuy?

[broken_escalator]

Is there a computer store nearby like compUSA? I've gotten good deals there and really do dislike bestbuy, which is always more expensive :\

And I do agree that PSU calculators should take a grain of salt, because they aren't exact. When I bought my psu I used every PSU I could find to see what deviation there was. Then I found a corsair 550 on sale and got that because it was super sufficient. (I only need like 360W total unless I want to setup a crossfire but... i don't)

If you want, you can just disconnect any optical drives and that usually cuts down the watts recommended. If you don't use them might as well, especially if you're afraid of breaking something.

[bocochoco]

Is there a computer store nearby like compUSA? I've gotten good deals there and really do dislike bestbuy, which is always more expensive :\

And I do agree that PSU calculators should take a grain of salt, because they aren't exact. When I bought my psu I used every PSU I could find to see what deviation there was. Then I found a corsair 550 on sale and got that because it was super sufficient. (I only need like 360W total unless I want to setup a crossfire but... i don't)

If you want, you can just disconnect any optical drives and that usually cuts down the watts recommended. If you don't use them might as well, especially if you're afraid of breaking something.

That's part of the problem. The nearest computer store is bestbuy, sad to say. It's either an online store like newegg or BestBuy.

[Endless Mike]

but do you think I'll do any damage if I order one from newegg, or should I bite my tongue and go to bestbuy?

I don't see why you would do damage ordering from NewEgg unless you have a pile of parts and you HAVE to have a finished computer NOW.

[bocochoco]

but do you think I'll do any damage if I order one from newegg, or should I bite my tongue and go to bestbuy?

I don't see why you would do damage ordering from NewEgg unless you have a pile of parts and you HAVE to have a finished computer NOW.

I mean that something might go wrong while I'm waiting for a new psu to be shipped out.
I have a pile of parts and my self-control is less than adequate to wait. Plus, my cpu fan died the other day and took my cpu down with it. It's an AM2+ chip so I can't just pop in the new X6 and go. So, I'm using a rather old laptop and it doesn't really agree with steam much.

[broken_escalator]

Are there any extra bits you can take out? Extra harddrives, any optical drives, etc will lower wattage needed.

[bocochoco]

Just a dvd-rw. I rarely use it anyway. I do have a second sata drive, but thats where all my crap is stored.

[broken_escalator]

It lowers the wattage needed on the PSU calculator by like 40W if you unplug that dvd-rw from your PSU. That should put you under 550W with some to spare (~523 W as opposed to ~561 W). Unless your HDDs are 10k RPM in which case damn you. I just assumed they were 7.2k RPM, so if they're slower you have a bit more leeway.

[Endless Mike]

I will foreword this by saying it's your computer, so do what you feel best, but my current computer is made of parts that (from what I can find) use at least a little more power than yours (C2D E8400 and GTX 460) and I run a 550W PSU without a problem including heavy gaming.

[bocochoco]

It lowers the wattage needed on the PSU calculator by like 40W if you unplug that dvd-rw from your PSU. That should put you under 550W with some to spare (~523 W as opposed to ~561 W). Unless your HDDs are 10k RPM in which case damn you. I just assumed they were 7.2k RPM, so if they're slower you have a bit more leeway.

Nah, they aren't 10k drives. Good to know though. Stil gonna order a new psu, but i think my current one will do fine while its in transit. Thanks

[PhoenixEnigma]

Yeah, that Antec is a solid power supply, and the ratings on, well, pretty much everything are very conservative. AnandTech's Bench shows a 5870/OC'd i7 920 rig using no more than 400W in all cases, and that's probably a touch more power hungry than your set up. I wouldn't even bother with a new PSU at all. If you had an unbranded $20 PSU that claimed 550W, I'd be concerned, but that Antec will deliver all it's rated for (and likely more, actually) without a problem, and you won't actually come very close to that anyways.

[bocochoco]

Yeah, that Antec is a solid power supply, and the ratings on, well, pretty much everything are very conservative. AnandTech's Bench shows a 5870/OC'd i7 920 rig using no more than 400W in all cases, and that's probably a touch more power hungry than your set up. I wouldn't even bother with a new PSU at all. If you had an unbranded $20 PSU that claimed 550W, I'd be concerned, but that Antec will deliver all it's rated for (and likely more, actually) without a problem, and you won't actually come very close to that anyways.

Thats cool. Thank you for that information, may have saved me a nice chunk of cash. Guess I was worried for nothing. I've always bought Antec power supplies. Never had a problem and they've always been good to me.