Which PSU?

[Leechasd]

Hello I'm new to the forums so just saying hi here. One question I would like to ask is what PSU Watt power is well suited for a very high end system.

I have 460w from enermax for now but dunno if thats enough to support them all including the cooling from the kandalf chassi. Should I go for 500 or stick with 460 or any other?

3.0G 2MB 800FSB
ATi Radeon x850 XT 256mb AGP 8x
5.1 Spkrs
2 ATA100 + 2 SATA150 hdds
2 dvd-rw
3gb ram

[TechZ]

That machine looks like it would need a 550w or higher PSU. Also stick to the good brands like OCZ, Antec, Enermax for smooth & accurate power delivery.

[confus-ed]

I would like to ask is what PSU Watt power is well suited for a very high end system..

Total wattage isn't important mostly, the '460' number represents peak load . What is more important is the ability to maintain supply at the various prescribed levels on each 'rail' (the seperate power feeds) without too much variation.

You can try a tool like this to work out what you supposedly need in terms of peak load (its however a bit 'guessy' like any aproximation), but note many modern motherboards have circuitry in them which get rid of most peak load spikes, by fractionally spacing out the startup of all devices to compensate (for example if I put my system details into that tool, it says I need well over 300w, strangely though my 250w morex psu, has been performing flawlessly for about five years or so, so I guess I'm either lucky, or like I said peak load requirement, even with the same stuff, might be different system to system, because of the motherboard )

[Gabriel]

Hi,
I agree with Techz and Confus-ed about wattage and the ability to maintain high power on each rail stable.
You should also consider the noise level and the temprature.
I myself use this:
http://www.thermaltake.com/purepower...ST/w007374.htm

It is running pretty good on my computer (amd 2800XP with DVD-RW and Geforce 5200) and since I have installed it I am very pleased.

P.s. Welcome to WD forums

Hope you will make a wise purchase,
Gabriel

[Leechasd]

Thanks for the great advice and welcome ^^ you guys are really nice and helpful all in one XD I'll be sure to write here if I have more questions I would to learn Until then thanks again for the tool and advice.