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What power supply?
Specs - E8500 core 2 duo 3.14 ghz (Oc'ed to 4.12 ghz)
Vista 32 bit
8800 GTS
4 gigs of ram
Asus P5Q deluxe motherboard
Soundblaster Audigy card.
Im deciding whether or not to get a 700w or a 750w power supply. I want to upgrade the video card to an ATI 5850. 500w isnt cutting it.
What are some good power supply / brands?
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Comments
I have basically the same setup as you do (9800 GTX+ instead of 8800), and I use an Antec Earthwatts 500w. I have power to spare.
Power sources that I would recommend:
Antec
PC Power and Cooling
Xclio
Seasonic
FSP/Fortron/Sparkle
"Those who dislike things based only on the fact that they are popular are just as shallow and superficial as those who only like them for the same reason."
Corsari vx 450
or
nexus value 430
How much did you up the voltage to get your clock?
Try this to calculate the power you need then add 25% to it and round up to the nearest 100w.
Good brands are OCZ (PC Power & Cooling), Corsair, Earth Watts, Thermaltake, and ABS.
500W would actually handle a single ATI 5850, what brand/model is the one you have?
If you feel you need a new one I use these 2 lists for PSU brands:
http://www.10stripe.com/featured/psu/brand.php
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088
The majority of PSU's are actually rebranded PSU's from other companies. If you really want to, this site explains how to find the original manufacturer of a PSU so you can find out if it's a good brand or not.
Corsair, XClio, OCZ, BFG, Antec Earth Watts, Ultra (not StealthXStream) are all really affordable rebrands of high quality PSU's from Seasonic, Fortron, PC Power & Cooling and others.
If you see the specs test the wattage at operating temp of 40C instead of room temp (~25C) or lower that is a good sign. Also a single high amp rail is generally better than multiple low amp rails so try to avoid the ones that have 12v1, 12v2, 12v3 each at 18A.
If you have a decent 500W PS then thats all you need for that upgrade.
Anandtech: Debulking Power Supply Myths
FYI 5850 uses 151W on max load - the article is older than the 5850 so it's not on the list. Anyhow.. like others have pointed out. 500W can do the job, if it's not the worst piece of crap PS you own