How do I figure out how big of a PSU I need?
Thinking of running:
AMD 955 chip
890x mobo
ATI 5870 video
would 500w be enough or do I need 750? So confusing.
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How do I figure out how big of a PSU I need?
Thinking of running:
AMD 955 chip
890x mobo
ATI 5870 video
would 500w be enough or do I need 750? So confusing.
I'd go 750. You should be able to find the draw for each of the devices in the specifications. However, since there's no disadvantage to going over, and being too close to the limit puts undue heat into the smaller unit shortening it's life, I always fail up.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigBear
H.
That's the way I was leaning... just wasn't sure. Checking in a few other places as well but it looks like the 750 would be a better average though more powerful.
That GPU has a max power draw of 188 watts according to AMD. AMD recommends > 500 watt PSU. These numbers apply to the stock reference card. If you buy one of the factory overclocked models, your power draw is going to increase accordingly. I'd recommend getting a bigger PSU especially considering you are planning to mate this with an AMD cpu. AMD is behind the curve in CPU power efficiency. Your cpu will probably eat around 130 watts at max load. You're at 300+ watts before you factor in ram, MB, drives, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigBear
Can always depend on Mutt for comprehension... so would I be better served to switch to an Intel 930 running at 2.8ghz? Is there that much difference between the 955's 3.2...
Just trying to do the budget build thingy.
Budget build? The 5870 is far from a budget card at $389.99 on newegg. At least you get free shipping. You're building a higher-end gaming box. Budget is a misplaced concept here =)
For your needs, there will be no human perceptible difference between a x4-955 and an i7-930. However, technically speaking, the i7-930 is a superior cpu. But it also costs $130 more.
AHHHH... I give up....
Wife said I have expensive taste...
time to find another hobby I guess.... lol.
I'll be back.
as Much as I hate to say this... you folks are looking at half of the picture
How many CD/DVD drives?
Hard Drives, what Kind, how big, how fast?
how many external dives?
fan controllers?
Fans?
PCI Cards?
I could get away with running a 600w PSU...
except for the 4TB 0=1 on SATA2, the 500GB R1 and the 260 R0 on Velociraptors... then there are the twin 8800 GTX OC 768s...
then Fans...
it all adds up.
Here is a tool I like to use.
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
it will get you reasonably close.. then you should round up. (Good call Hoosier)
and if I might suggest an Un-interuptable power supply... nothing fancy but clean power is extremely important to your MB
Before I Added the Velociraptors
http://bsdgames.com/site/album_pic.php?pic_id=262
Regardless of current draw, any hardware you buy will be obsolete before you unwrap it.....
Also remember when you use "min. required" things like your video card might run but not with a full head of steam. Sure would be a waste to put down that cash for a system that limps or doesn't even run.
Rgr Tfog, not worried about that. Just trying for a basic gaming/music writing/edting rig that I won't "have" to update within the year, lol.
Was trying to keep at $2K and below including periphials.... so I did:
890x MOBO
AMD 955 Phenom IIx4 CPU
8GB 1600hz DDR3 Ram
750w PSU
Radeon 5870 1 GB video
Creative sound card
1 500GB HD
1 CD/R-DVD/R
22 inch moniter
basic keyboard/mouse/speakers/headset
upgraded air cooling
Win 7 OS
Which all came out at about $1900...
Then I was looking at 2010 MS office which would add another $130... but I know there is a compatible free version of the office suite somewhere online I've seen before. Anyways....
In a non-ghey way: Do I ever mention that I love this board and the folks on it. Y'all are great.
Which Win7 OS did you get?
please say OEM,
Please say OEM,
Don't have anything yet, just dream building as I won't have teh physical money until late August (been working my #%^& #$%& off to save just $20 a month for a LOOOOONG time now [close to 5 years since I've had a real gaming/music rig]... and I keep screwing it up by going to the range.... but I'm almost there).
But to answer your question, yes it will be an OEM version. 64 bit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigBear
openoffice.org
and if you are so inclined as to learn a little *Nix... you can run all of your games under "WINE" and save a few hundred on the OS and anti-virus too!
;)
Openoffice! That's what it was... For some reason I kept thinking "Sun Suite" or something to that effect.
Is "*nix" shorthand for Linux? Unfortunately, as far as I know, the music software I use MUST be on Windows... as far as I know...
Impressive [Weight], but hardly a typical configuration for a home user. You may 'need' that 1200 watt space heater, but Bear doesn't. The 750 (a quality one) will be more than enough. His biggest power draw is the GPU closely followed by his CPU. 1 HD, 1 optical drive, RAM and mobo aren't going to eat significantly into the overhead left after cpu/gpu. He's not going to have a fan controller (only us nerds even know what that is) or more than 2 fans (not counting PSU fans). A typical 120mm fan will eat 2.5W, maybe? While a 500 watt do it? Not with his choice of GPU, but anything above the 750 watt is a waste of dollars in both component expense and electric bill.Quote:
Originally Posted by Byte Stryke
I'd surprised at max load if his system power consumption reached the 600 watt range. And that would require his cpu and gpu to be both 100% utilized. A rare condition unless one is doing heavy duty graphics rendering (and I don't mean gaming, I mean rendering CGI video) or artificially loading the box with prime95 and furmark simultaneously.
PS: Don't you think it's time to upgrade those video cards? The venerable 8800gtx is getting long in the tooth. I remember when I had those way back when.
[Coffee]
As much as I love UNIX as it's variants and loathe windows, don't do the linux thing. Unless your willing to jump into this head first and start a new career in IT, you're gonna pull your hair out.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigBear
open office is developed and supported by Sun microsystems
which was recently acquired by Oracle.
as far as your music...
I run all of my Windows Games on a Linux Box and they run just as well as if they were running on my Windows box. "WINE" is a windows Emulator. it essentially allows you to run Windows applications as if you were on a windows OS.
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop <free checkitout
you can go here, download the live CD.ISO and run it from the CD without installing it.
who knows... you might want to install it on your current system after you do your new build and add a few more years of performance. Linux is renown for using fewer system resources as compared to a comparable Windows OS.
I know a guy rebuilding old PII laptops and installing a linux ver called DSL on them... then shipping them to the troops.
Hey, hey, I know what a "fan controller" is... I'm not a nerd but I do know some stuff... albeit, very little... HAHA.
Yeah, I think for my peace of mind I'll stick with windows. Although it was nice to be reminded of the name of hte free MS Office type software. I'll look at the Linux stuff, but no garuntees.
well, at the time I posted that we didnt have a full build list...Quote:
Originally Posted by mutt
he Might have "needed" a larger PSU if he had listed a large disc array and multiple video cards etc...
kinda why I handed him the link to the calc.
I know my system isn't typical.
most systems don't typically run a multiple boot platform, or store RAID arrays for that matter.
and the 8800s are running fine...
plays APB, LOTRO(MMO) and most of the newer releases at or about High detail and high draw.
I don't have to have 400million FPS... the human eye only see ~60 :)
Not really sure what your experience is with the newer Linux releases... might want to check them out.
My DAD uses Ubuntu 10.04 with WINE (he has a remote control flight sim)
and this is the guy that had to call me over to pair his Phone to his truck. [LOL]
Just messing with ya. 2x 8800gtx is still plenty for gaming. Those cards had an unreal reign of dominance. And yeah, they eat power like a hummer eats gas.Quote:
Originally Posted by Byte Stryke
I use linux and solaris every day for both work and play. I still don't recommend them for the uninitiated unless they have a serious desire to learn and have tech support at the ready that doesn't charge by the hour =)Quote:
Originally Posted by Byte Stryke
Quote:
Originally Posted by mutt
Thats why I Suggested the Live CD.
it offers a full feel and experience without the commitment of an install.
besides, he could always dual boot if he becomes comfortable enough with it.
in regards to the 880s, I haven't replaced them yet for one simple reason...
I haven't gotten my $1300.00 of use out of them yet!
[ROFL1]
When you are ready to build a nice all around AMD rig, that you can game the hell out of, let me know, I have been building them for about 8 years, can do Intel but would rather save some money and put it towards the liquid cooling. Liquid cooled two 4870 X2 video cards here, Quadfire video,
overclocked amd 955 quad also liquid cooled
http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...2/DSCF0191.jpg
http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...2/DSCF0189.jpg
I use Linux daily, but dropped Solaris like a bad habit in the late 90'sQuote:
Originally Posted by mutt
H.
Nice rig, I've always wondered what fluid was run in these systems. Straight water, mineral oil, or some more exotic dense non-conducting liquid?Quote:
Originally Posted by Nobama2012
H.
It is a special kind of AntiFreeze, called Feser-1 this is the link, pretty "cool" stuff, no pun intended.
http://www.feser-one.com/site/produc...roducts_id=255
[ROFL2]
Wow...
is it a computer or a discotheque? [ROFL1]
Kidding...
as a matter of preference I prefer air-cooled. Either way you are listening to fans... Might as well have a choice.
Something about losing 4 grand in computer equipment and being told by the Manufacturer "Oh Well"
I find the general Maintenance is lower as well.
Besides, why Overclock that Much, Just buy a chip at that speed :D
On a side note I would like to commend you for your choices in Processor as well as Memory
Mushkin is hands down THE Best I have ever used..
Thanks, actually thats my Muskin SSD, 285mbs write 275mbs read, they are local, so I support them. I actually have 4GB of OCZ AMD low voltage. Whats nice about buying AMD Black edition processors is, they know you are going to overclock so they unlock the multiplyer for you.
I have a set budget... with H2O cooling, and overclocking, and yadda yadda, it gets real expensive really quick. And quite honestly, I don't need all the fancy lights, etc... I just want a basic rig that'll do the job. It's not an art piece to me, it's a machine.
All I want is a good gaming rig that I won't have to upgrade in like two weeks.
I'm also looking on another forum (computer specific) so I've got some ideas from them as well.
The problem is that I keep running into "fanboys" whether on the Intel or AMD side and no one will just answer my questions without bringing other points into the equation I that I don't care about, lol.
I.E: Me - Will the AMD 955 x4 Phenom II suffice for my needs?
Them - Well, if you get the i7 860 you can overclock and....
Me - I'm not asking about i7. My interest is the AMD, it is cheaper.
Them - Well, if you WANT an inferior product....
955 will be just fine.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigBear
Is it 'inferior'? Yeah, in some ways. But is it more than sufficient? Yes. We could go over all the pros / cons, but for your needs the 955 will be just fine.
IMO I definitely would not say a 955 is "inferior", it is third in line to the top amd Chip, 955 is more than fine, they have not even started writing programs taking advantage of Quad core to its full extent, save your money and go with AMD, if really want spend $300 for a 6 core 1090T black edition, you wont get a 6 core for less than a grand from Intel. Best bet is to educate yourself on the parts you will need and see which ones will get you what you need the cheapest, here is a nice article on the new 6 core from AMD, and you can read alot of reviews on the other parts you will need.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ling,2652.html
Getting back to the original post.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigBear
the setup you have and suggest will only require a 750w PSU at most.
this will even allow for expansion such as SLI cards, a spare HDD etc.
for gaming purposes I cannot express the importance of Memory in both fashions.
you are getting Win7 64b I recommend a MINIMUM 4GB
Its cheap right now, so its not that much.
Swap, very touchy subject for some.
You didnt list your HDD so I am going to guess that its a Run of the mill typical 7200rpm 500 GB.
with the price free-fall on HDDs right now... you might consider a stripe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID
If you play MMOs with PvP or high resolution games as I think you do, you may want faster read/writes. This can be achieved by either SSD, SCSI or RAID.
It will definitely support a small array with no difficulty and will actually make better use of those kick-ass channels. all you would need to do is order 2 500GB HDDs. Just something to considerQuote:
Originally Posted by NEWEGG SPECS
Thing is, with Win7 its SUPER cake to set up. Seriously, you just switch CDs or use a thumbdrive or a second CD drive for the drivers.
It's so easy, a caveman can do it.
http://leegertrained.com/wp-content/...n_computer.jpg
What are your specific need?
I’ve been doing a lot of reading at Tom’s Hardware site. It is very informative and often breaks things down into a concise and comprehensive manner unto which I greatly appreciate, as I am neither mechanically nor technologically inclined soul.
I’ve also come to the opinion that today’s’ onboard sounds is decent enough to negate the use of a soundcard so I’ve been able to shave a few hundred off the price there. Mutt did say this a while back, but I had to do my own research and verify for myself to agree.
So, posted below is what I’m currently looking at. A simple (read = CheapER) gaming rig to play mainly FPS’s with all the eye candy turned up, music writing/editing, photo editing, and common day to day nuances such as checking mail, writing papers, etc. Will this meet and/or exceed my needs without the need to upgrade in a year or two? A simple yay or nay will suffice.
Chassis Model: Cooler Master Elite 310
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 955 (3.2GHz) OC’ed between 3.5-3.9
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-890XA-UD3
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz
Power Supply: 750W
Hard Drive Set 1: 500GB Western Digital
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB
Sound Card: Onboard Audio
Boost Cooling: High Performance Cooler
Boost Airflow: Zalman Performance Fans
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Total costs about $1800
I know the RAM may be overkill, but I was under the impression of “the more, the merrier”. The overclocking may be a waste, but I don’t know. Thoughts? If I got rid of it I could save on the removing the fans, etc…
The next problem is figuring out which monitor to buy… I’ve read of ghosting issues with some, lack of response with others, etc.
Here is what I think the common gamer recommends:
- 2-5ms response time
- High contrast ratio
- Between 22 to 24 inch widescreen preferred (don’t know why though)
Thoughts, opinions? Acer has a pretty cheap 22 inch I found that meets all those specs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Byte Stryke
As far as running two HD's and RAID and all that stuff... I'm honestly fine with a single HDD that I back up onto an external every week or so....
Everything except the FPS part can be done on a 400MHz 256MB ram used GoodWill special.Quote:
So, posted below is what I’m currently looking at. A simple (read = CheapER) gaming rig to play mainly FPS’s with all the eye candy turned up, music writing/editing, photo editing, and common day to day nuances such as checking mail, writing papers, etc. Will this meet and/or exceed my needs without the need to upgrade in a year or two? A simple yay or nay will suffice.
Get a 1000 Watt, as ratings are more a marketing item than fact.Quote:
Chassis Model: Cooler Master Elite 310
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 955 (3.2GHz) OC’ed between 3.5-3.9
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-890XA-UD3
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz
Power Supply: 750W
Get the 2G WD drive, as it typically rates as the fastest non-SSD out there. Also, music files aren't small. Get a BlueRay instead of the plain DVD, as it does both BluRay and DVDs.Quote:
Hard Drive Set 1: 500GB Western Digital
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW
the OC is indeed a waste, as nothing you are doing is CPU intensive (except maybe some audio/video encoding). You need throughput, and the ram + that video card is just the ticket.Quote:
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB
Sound Card: Onboard Audio
Boost Cooling: High Performance Cooler
Boost Airflow: Zalman Performance Fans
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Total costs about $1800
I know the RAM may be overkill, but I was under the impression of “the more, the merrier”. The overclocking may be a waste, but I don’t know. Thoughts? If I got rid of it I could save on the removing the fans, etc…
http://h71016.www7.hp.com/html/hprem...ing/price-listQuote:
The next problem is figuring out which monitor to buy… I’ve read of ghosting issues with some, lack of response with others, etc.
Here is what I think the common gamer recommends:
2-5ms response time
High contrast ratio
Between 22 to 24 inch widescreen preferred (don’t know why though)
Thoughts, opinions? Acer has a pretty cheap 22 inch I found that meets all those specs.
24" 1920x1200 monitor for less than $300. Note that the HP Business stuff is NOT a lesser resolution 1920x1080 monitor. I've got 3 of the HP or Compaq 24xx series monitors and they just work.
The machine I'm typing this on is a 955x4 Phenom II, it'll do fine. I have an 8800GTX on an ASUS motherboard, 750W PSU. 1 SSD 1 laptop drive 1 10krpm 74gb drive. All my real storage is on a Drobo in the rack, local disks are just fast and small.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigBear
H.
You're at $1100 for the parts above on Newegg.. the big missing bit is the video card. $700 for a video card is too much. So is $500. You can get something in the sub $300 range that will kick butt for two years. And in two years the fans on it will have died anyway, and it'll be time to replace it. That's $400+ that you really don't have to spend on it. You'll get a better perceived performance increase going with a SSD drive to install Windows on, and keeping all your data (music, etc) installed on the 500gb drive.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigBear
The price/performance curve tapers off pretty swiftly. That extra $400 might buy you only a few % increase. My 0.02, save the cash and plan on replacing it every 18 months or so.
H.
I configured a system as you specified plus I upgraded to the 6 core AMD Phenom 1055 for $1737
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/A..._Configurator/
You'll have to re-configure it, as the link doesn't retain your choices.
(FYI - I prefer the lintel processors)