Forbidden Donut

more of an aesthetic or preferential suggestion - might want to look into paying a little more for a modular power supply. I picked up a corsair 520W for 99, made cord management a lot less troublesome.

my corsair 520hx is amazing as well. its been a year and a half and all the rails are still +/- 0.1v. No noticeable wattage or efficiency drop. and powers my hd3850 and 3 harddrives fine. its still got enough juice for another hd 3850.

i got this case however: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811119106
its $45 with shipping now, but I got it when it was $30 AR + free shipping, so if you're willing to see if they repost the deal.
That case is a little bigger, but it looks sick. It's still got the mesh on the side like your rosewill, but the front panel is mostly brushed aluminum so its just slick.

What exactly do you mean by a "modular" power supply?



I prefer a larger case, especially one with a simplistic design, so the one you posted seems really nice. I'm definitely considering it (we'll see tomorrow when I'm not quite as drunk).

Modular means, a power supply that has no cables attached except the main 20/24 pin. It allows you to plug in the necessary cables to the back of the power supply inside the case and not have cables left hanging around that aren't in use.

I see...

For the rig I described above, how much power do you think I'll need? I found two modular 400W power supplies that have solid reviews and such, but I don't want to run into power issues. They are:

COOLMAX "EZ Wire" CU-400T ATX 400W Power Supply - $50 ($30 after mail-in rebate)

ENERMAX Liberty ELT400AWT ATX12V 400W Power Supply - $80 ($65 after mail-in rebate)

I also found a couple more expensive power supplies with more power output, but I'm a little worried about the heat they'd generate (as well as the price):

XCLIO GREATPOWER X14S4P3 550W ATX12V 550W Power Supply - $90 + $8 shipping

mushkin 550250 ATX12V / EPS12V 580W Power Supply - $100 + $9 shipping

if you're worried about heat, check their efficiency. The higher the efficiency, the less wasted heat they will output.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I'd look into using a minimum 500, maybe 560. I built a machine in the past, with an X850, p4 chip, with a 480w psu and each time I'd enter into a game, my pc would shut off completely. Put a larger PSU in, and all worked fine.

Thanks for the link, coffee. Even with everything running at 100%, it came out to 330w. That's about what I expected.

remember, a good psu will give you exact wattage, meaning you can expect a 350 to support a 350. a cheaper psu however means something like a 550 will suport a 350. there really isnt a need to buy those 550-750 watt psus if u just get the good ones. a lot of ppl end up wasting their money just b/c the manufacturers rating is exaggerated.