Originally posted by: DLeRium
Originally posted by: Operandi
Originally posted by: Hacp
yes but if he needs to oc or have more than one hard drive/optical drive, and have more than 2 casefans, its pushing it. 350 is enough for a non-oc but 400 is about the minimum if you seriously want to overclock with a 6800GT.
Wrong.
As it is the OP's system would draw no more then 200watts DC, overclocking might drive that up 5-10%. Multiple Hard drives only have a significant draw on spin up, once they are running they don't draw much power.
350watts is plenty.
When do people get it's not simply about wattage but also the RAILS themselves. If the OP overclocks his Venice and 6800GT, he will be needing serious 12V rails.
I myself am planning for a 3700+ or X2 3800+ with an X800XL or 7800GT. The latter options being if I wait. In either case, I realize that overclocking will need solid 12V rails. If I get dual rail, I'll need at least 15 amps per rail, preferably 18.
Yes I know when you add it up, the system only draws like 200 watts or so, but if you overclock that number goes well into 250. And so what? I have a 600W power supply waiting for these components. Why? Because the 18 amps/rail is good. I would've otherwise gone with the Antec 480 or Seasonic 500, but the 600W was on sale for less than you can ever find the 500W for so I jumped right in .
By no means should I be using a 350 power supply EVEN IF my system will draw less. I originally had a 430W in the config using the same idea that 430 was more than enough, but everyone kept stressing you need a more POWERFUL PSU (wattage is sufficient, but that I needed stronger rails).
So if you were to get a PSU, I HIGHLY recommend the Seasonic 500W. or the Antec 480W. Those two are VERY quiet and VERY reliable and also great for voltage regulation.
Everyone says OCZ is good but the fan makes a whining noise (read SPCR) and the voltage regulation isnt as good as Antec. Same with Fortron. Voltage regulation sucks even more than OCZ and the fan ramps up so fast that its pretty loud at 200W already. Antec delivers +/- 1% voltage regulation (the best I've seen so far)