Power supply question

[bm3719]

Oh, great gurus of silent hardware...

The power supply in my windows box seems to be nearing its end. Which is just as well, since I purchased it many years ago, back when the biggest, beefiest power supply was all the rage. The current power supply is a 600W OCZ GameXStream. Also, the fan in this power supply is by far the loudest in my system, having recently upgraded the rest of the hardware to maximize slience.

So, my question is whether I could possibly get away with a lower wattage, energy efficient power supply on this system. Something like the SeaSonic S12 II SS-380GB 380W.

My current hardware is:

- motherboard: ASUS P5B Deluxe Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz
- 1 PCIe video card: GIGABYTE GV-R485MC-1GH Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3
- 3 120mm fans (2 case, 1 heatsink)
- 4GB of ram in two sticks
- 2 150GB raptor HDs and one 750GB storage drive
- dvd drive
- floppy drive
- wired ps/2 mouse and keyboard

Obviously, it should have no problem with the power drain at idle or during normal use, but at peak load, like while playing a modern video game, I worry that the power draw might overwhelm the 380W supply. Are these valid concerns? Seasonic also has a similar power supply at 400W which would be acceptable as well. Thanks for any advice.

[angelkiller]

I doubt your system would draw 380W DC. To be honest, I doubt your system would draw 200W DC.

But if you will sleep better knowing your PSU is sufficient for your system. the Corsair VX450 is quiet, efficient, and plenty large enough for your system.

[bm3719]

Thanks for the reassurance.

I decided to go with the Seasonic 380W. I also ordered one of the new Velociraptor drives to replace my 150GB Raptors in RAID0, so that should help keep the power usage down a little, not to mention quiet down all the HD noise (after redoing the other hardware, this became very noticeable and annoying).