> >What are you trying to do ATM? > >Best, > >Duncan > > I run a overclocked Q9650 in a Asus Maximum with 8 GB of DDR2 Two > Asus ATI 4970, four hard drives, two optical, one floppy, and one > soon to be two SSDs and a bunch of fans on a PCP&C Quiet 750 and I > think I am pushing things when I fire up Crossfire Those GPUs and the > overclock pull a lot of watts
You might actually want to grab a Kill-A-Watt meter or a real clamp-on meter and actually measure it. Frankly, I'd be surprised if you're pulling more than 500-600 watts at maximum load. I haven't measured mine recently (Q6600 at 3.6GHz, 8GB, 5770, and 13 HDs, 9 fans, plus a water pump that pulls more than you might think), but it was around 500 watts load. My brother's system (dual six-core AMD Opterons, 5870, and 12 HDs, including 4 15k SAS drives) pulls just shy of 500 watts at full CPU load. And that's from the mains--figure the PSUs are roughly 85% efficient (both are SeaSonic units), and that's only around 430 watts off the secondary--which is what a PSU is rated in. Either way, I'm still sold on SeaSonic--specifically the S12/M12 and X Gold series. I have changed my yardstick measure of quality, though...more than anything else, I look at the manufacturer of the capacitors on the primary and secondary sides in a PSU. I've found this to be the best measure of a unit's quality, since you don't really see a PSU advertise that they use Rubycon or Nippon Chemi-Con--but they are far more expensive than cheaper, less reliable components and are universally found in the best supplies. Greg
