opinions on system components & PS recommendations

[Mikey Juva]

Hi,
I'm about to order the following:

GA-EP45C-DS3R (P45,
Q9550
Crucial CT2KIT25664AA1067 . DDR2 1066 PC2-8500 . CL=7 . (4 GB @ 2x2GB)

Components I will use from my existing system:

4 Seagate SATA 3 HDs
1 Lite-On SATA DVD-RW
ATI 1800XL
SoundBlaster xfi Plat
Various USB devices

I currently use an Antec 550w PS. WIll this be adequate or will I need
higher wattage (and if so, what?)

I also would appreciate any opinions on the motherboard, RAM and CPU listed
above. Also, regarding the RAM...am I best served by staying with the 1066,
or will the 800 serve just as well? I haven't done a lot of gaming in a
while, but might in the future. Right now I play around with multi layer
images in CS3, some encoding and various other tasks. Any suggestions or
cudos on any of the above listed appreciated.

TIA for any comments.

 

[Mikey Juva]

Forgot to say...no plans to OC.

 

[Paul]

Hi,
I'm about to order the following:

GA-EP45C-DS3R (P45,
Q9550
Crucial CT2KIT25664AA1067 . DDR2 1066 PC2-8500 . CL=7 . (4 GB @ 2x2GB)

Components I will use from my existing system:

4 Seagate SATA 3 HDs
1 Lite-On SATA DVD-RW
ATI 1800XL
SoundBlaster xfi Plat
Various USB devices

I currently use an Antec 550w PS. WIll this be adequate or will I need
higher wattage (and if so, what?)

I also would appreciate any opinions on the motherboard, RAM and CPU
listed above. Also, regarding the RAM...am I best served by staying with
the 1066, or will the 800 serve just as well? I haven't done a lot of
gaming in a while, but might in the future. Right now I play around
with multi layer images in CS3, some encoding and various other tasks.
Any suggestions or cudos on any of the above listed appreciated.

TIA for any comments.

1800XL is 57W

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/powercolor-x1800gto_6.html#sect0

Q9550 is 95W

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLAWQ

Four Seagate drives would be 4 * 0.6A on the 12V rail, for motor current.
I've noticed some newer drives have a lower spec now. But startup current
for the first ten seconds can be 2.5A per drive, or a total of 10A. This
is counterbalanced by the video card and processor, not running at full
power. The startup current only becomes an issue, when the computer is full
of drives. (So at some point, you should do a startup current calculation,
as well as a run-time calculation.)

Totaling up 12V2 loading - 95W/12V * (1/0.90) = 8.8A
12V2 only has the processor on it.

12V1 has everything else. For the video card, Xbitlabs doesn't show
details, so I'll assume all the power is from +12V. The 1.5A number
is for the CDROM (only when media is present). Fans for cooling are
estimated at 0.5A.

57W/12V + 4*0.6 + 1.5A + 0.5A = 9.15A

If the Antec had a single 12V rail output (you didn't mention the
model details), you add those two numbers together. So a single rail
supply would need a current rating of higher than 17.95A. The
12V1/12V2 notation, applies to dual rail power supplies, which is
a common configuration when you buy a supply now.

The next calc is total power. 50W is allocated for motherboard
and RAM. The power is assumed to come from 3.3V/5V but there is
no way to know for sure. 5W per drive is estimated for the controller
logic board on the drive. 7.5W per drive is assumed for the CDROM. 10W is
assumed as power consumed on +5VSB, for things like a few USB.

12V * 17.95A + 50W + 4*5W + 7.5W + 10W = 302.9W

So all you need to do, is check the 12V current rating
on the label of the supply. I don't expect the total
power is an issue. The above calculation is conservative,
and the actual power will be a fraction of that number.

Paul

 

[Mikey Juva]

Hi Paul,
Apologies for the delayed response. Wow! Quite a lot of detail in that post.
I see you are from the "teach a man to fish" camp, and I am very
appreciative. Thanks for taking the time to post so much information!

Mike

 

[CBFalconer]

Apologies for the delayed response. Wow! Quite a lot of detail
in that post. I see you are from the "teach a man to fish" camp,
and I am very appreciative. Thanks for taking the time to post
so much information!

Please do not top-post. Your answer belongs after (or intermixed
with) the quoted material to which you reply, after snipping all
irrelevant material. See the following links:

<http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html>
<http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html>
<http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html>
<http://cfaj.freeshell.org/google/> (taming google)
<http://members.fortunecity.com/nnqweb/> (newusers)