SPCR

Can anyone help me with calculating the peak wattage for the following system. I've tried various online calculators, such as the one at www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp, but they give absurd wattages - e.g. 850W or more.

1 x Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.2GHz
1 x GeForce 8800 GTX @ stock
1 x High end motherboard
4 x 1Gb DDR2 RAM
1 x SB X-Fi sound card
2 x DVD+RW units
2 x 7200rpm harddrives
4 x 800rpm 120mm fans (two for CPU / GPU cooling, the rest for the case)
5 x USB units, e.g. webcam, wireless mouse etc

I'll probably build this in a P182 case, and I'd like to keep my Corsair HX520 PSU if possible.

Many thanks

~410W.

Misiowiec wrote:Can anyone help me with calculating the peak wattage for the following system. I've tried various online calculators, such as the one at www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine, but they give absurd wattages - e.g. 850W or more.

Actually, I think that calculator just recommends a PSU (in this case 850W), it doesn't seem to tell you how much your rig will draw. (Link didn't work, but I've used the calc before).

Misiowiec wrote:Can anyone help me with calculating the peak wattage for the following system. I've tried various online calculators, such as the one at www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine, but they give absurd wattages - e.g. 850W or more.

1 x Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.2GHz
1 x GeForce 8800 GTX @ stock
1 x High end motherboard
4 x 1Gb DDR2 RAM
1 x SB X-Fi sound card
2 x DVD+RW units
2 x 7200rpm harddrives
4 x 800rpm 120mm fans (two for CPU / GPU cooling, the rest for the case)
5 x USB units, e.g. webcam, wireless mouse etc

I'll probably build this in a P182 case, and I'd like to keep my Corsair HX520 PSU if possible.

Many thanks

Simple Estimate, about 300-350W at absolute maximum load..and likely 180w or less at idle. If you're using a Corsair HX520, it is more than enough. You could probably get by on a "420" if it existed imho. I think the days of overinflated psu numbers must die!

jaganath wrote:~410W.

Simple and to the point I guess. Be nice to know how you derived at this figure though.

Joe Public wrote: Actually, I think that calculator just recommends a PSU (in this case 850W), it doesn't seem to tell you how much your rig will draw. (Link didn't work, but I've used the calc before).

Sorry about that, link is fixed.

merlin wrote: Simple Estimate, about 300-350W at absolute maximum load..and likely 180w or less at idle. If you're using a Corsair HX520, it is more than enough. You could probably get by on a "420" if it existed imho. I think the days of overinflated psu numbers must die!

I agree that PSU requirements are overinflated, but one could of course argue that is also the case with CPU / GPU speeds, digital camera megapixels and so on. Guess it's a matter of knowing what is enough for me, which isn't always the biggest. I'll wait for the next generation of games in Q4 before deciding if I need to upgrade to Quad etc, but it needs to run smoothly on a 24" screen. Good to know my current PSU will suffice though!

Simple and to the point I guess. Be nice to know how you derived this figure though.

CPU: 150W (105W + 33% OC + wiggle room)
GFX: 150W (132W [link] + wiggle room)
M/B: 20W
RAM: 4W
PCI: 3W
DVD: 40W (burning)
HDD: 40W (spin-up)
FAN: 4W
USB: 2W

= 413W

you can subtract about 60W during normal max use because DVD drives unlikely to be maxed out at same time as GPU+CPU, and each HDD only takes ~10W after spin-up.

jaganath wrote:

Simple and to the point I guess. Be nice to know how you derived this figure though.

CPU: 150W (105W + 33% OC + wiggle room)
GFX: 150W (132W [link] + wiggle room)
M/B: 20W
RAM: 4W
PCI: 3W
DVD: 40W (burning)
HDD: 40W (spin-up)
FAN: 4W
USB: 2W

= 413W

you can subtract about 60W during normal max use because DVD drives unlikely to be maxed out at same time as GPU+CPU, and each HDD only takes ~10W after spin-up.

Excellent! Many thanks for your help.