help! need to pick out a power supply

[theanimedude]

I just bought my vid card:

eVGA 256-P2-N565-AX Geforce 7900GT CO Superclocked 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card


And apparently the minimum requirement is a 400watt power supply according to newegg.

"Minimum of a 400 Watt power supply. (Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 20 Amp Amps.) Minimum 500 Watt for SLI mode system. (Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 28 Amp Amps.) An available 6 pin PCI-E power connector (hard drive power dongle to PCI-E 6 pin adapter included with card) "


my system is an XPS 400 and so my power supply is only 375watt.

Will any power supply fit in my rig??? and what kind of power supply should i get? 500watt?

[theanimedude]

forgot to put my system down,

2.8ghz dual core pentium
1gb ram pc-5300
1xsony cd burner
1xsony dvd burner
74.5 GB ata raid HD
ati x300SE will BE 7900GT as i mentioned above


i guess thats all!
thanks everyone that posts!

[theanimedude]

i see that no one knows... everyone's probably gotten their PSU's with their case combo...

[Sides]

Originally Posted by theanimedude

i see that no one knows... everyone's probably gotten their PSU's with their case combo...

I rather think that most people on this board actually
build their system by themselves.
Well, i reckon that you check the 12v rails on your PSU,
and see how much current/amps it can supply, the overrall wattage
of the psu isn't that important in this case.
There should be a sticker on the side of your psu
listing the max output for each rail, if you're brave use a multimetre to check it ^^
Since i don't that card nor a del(l), i suggest you to check the evga's forum,
i reckon you might find the answer over there.

[theanimedude]

Originally Posted by Sides

I rather think that most people on this board actually
build their system by themselves.
Well, i reckon that you check the 12v rails on your PSU,
and see how much current/amps it can supply, the overrall wattage
of the psu isn't that important in this case.
There should be a sticker on the side of your psu
listing the max output for each rail, if you're brave use a multimetre to check it ^^
Since i don't that card nor a del(l), i suggest you to check the evga's forum,
i reckon you might find the answer over there.

thanks, i decided to get this cheap 40 dollar one, has everything i need so far..
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16817189003

[durrem]

Hmm, I just took a look at the output line on that power suply:

Output +3.3V@32A, +5V@30A, +12V1@15A, +12V2@17A, -12V@0.3A, +5VSB@2A

Looks like it's putting out 15 Amps on the 12 volt line. Didn't you say you needed 20?

Also, you might want to double check on the Dell forums or something, but didn't Dell use proprietary pin outs on their power suplies in the past? Not sure about the XPS, though.

[Sides]

Originally Posted by durrem

Hmm, I just took a look at the output line on that power suply:

Output +3.3V@32A, +5V@30A, +12V1@15A, +12V2@17A, -12V@0.3A, +5VSB@2A

Looks like it's putting out 15 Amps on the 12 volt line. Didn't you say you needed 20?

Yep, but there is a 6 pin PCI-E power connector Y-cable
delivered with those nvidia cards,
which can put the two 12V(1 and 2) rails in parallel, so you can get,
form your specs, 12V@32A.
So 12V@32A combined, the DVD burner takes approx 2amps
when burning stuff, same for HDD when writting.
That would be 6amps for the drives when all are opertaing at the same time.
Well that is 20a for the card and 6 for the drive,
together 312Watt for those componants, when operating at peak.
So you still have a few wattage leftover for the CPU, mainboard aso.
I reckon buy the card, try if it works and iof not buy a higher rated and efficent PSU.

Then again i'm a mechanical engineer not an electrical,
so my assumptions might be wronger than wrong ^^

[Ending]

Not sure about those specs, but now that you need a new PSU, you might as well consider buying it together with a case. Don't take the cheapest alternative, since there was an article about this on Tomshardware and one of our local magazines ("MikroBitti") some time ago. Or some six months ago, at least, when I was buying a new rig.

I can only recommend reading the reviews and trying out the best ones. From my own experience I can recommend Antec NeoPower HE High Efficiency 430W, which also got five stars in MB review. It should be enough for one card, since that 400W recommendation has probably taken in the stress the other hardware causes to the PSU (say, your card takes 200W and other HW some 200W).

[theanimedude]

oh gawd. i hope my PSu is the right kind, for 40 bucks it got good reviews....i read that someone else was gonna hook up a 7900 to it too! I also read somewhere that my vid card WILL work with a lower power PSU but, it wont be as fast as if i had a better PSU. maybe i'll just return this and get a really high dollar psu....=\

[RaistlinMajere]

Phew. That Xclio is good stuff. I was expecting you to link some crap like an Aspire.

[theanimedude]

ah!! i just installed it and the damn thing BARELY fits...i got all scratched up too. and theres space under it....

*update* yea i installed everything........and my video card dont output anything......works fine wiht my old card.....argh!! man i just have badluck like shiet!

[Skimpy]

most people recommended a power supply with 30+ amp in the +12v rail, it most likely the one you have will die out quickly.

[RaistlinMajere]

You have no idea what you're talking about, Skimpy.

Why the hell are people that don't even understand that ATX12v 2.0 has at least 2 +12V rails responding here?

By the way, that XClio is made by Channel Well, who is also an OEM for Antec.

Wordplay, wth? Buying a PSU with a case? Yet you talk about quality?