What relation ?

[swazi]

Hi

What relation does the PSU have to overclocking ? I have a farily week PSU according to some here but my sysytem works fine.

What way does a stronger PSU help overclocking and is a Thermaltake Silent PurePower 680W an overkill for my system ? Is there any math calculation that one can do to determine the PSU needs without measuring on the mobo ?

[Turtle Shell]

i dont know much about psu but its not all about watts you have to look at the amps on each rail.If you are looking for a new psu check out the powerstream fortron ax500,and some other.Someone with a better answer will help you out.

[darksparkz]

You usually don't look at the amount of wattage it has, pretty much anything above 500W is standard for most high quality PSUs. The reason why the PSU is needed to be good for OCing is because when you OC, you'd draw more power from the rails. The video card and many other components draw power from the 12V+ rail, for a 7800GT or above, ampage of 20amps or higher is recommended.

The popular OCing PSUs are as follows:
PCP&C 510 $190
OCZ Powerstream520 $120
Forton AX500-A $75

The Forton can handle anything from a 7800GT or lower, but a 7800GT on a AX500-A is a tad iffy, might want to spend for the next level.
The Powerstream520 can take 2x7800GTXs, if you have 2x7800GTX512MB, that would be better suited for the PCP&C 510.

According to the system in your signature, a Forton AX500-A would do great for OCing. But the OCZ Powerstream520 is more future-proof, you wouldn't worry about buying a new PSU when your getting new parts.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I'd stay away from the Thermaltake, personally. Also scratch the Antec Neo HE's off the list if you're considering them - they have a known compatibility issue with that board.

If running SLI, my suggestions are: Sparkle FSP550PLG-SLI, PC P&C 510W, OCZ Powerstream 520W, Zippy 460W single 12v designs and up, Silverstone Zeus ST56ZF, Delta DPS550-BB, and Fortron Epsilon 600W & 700W.

If not running SLI, you could easily get by with 420W and up dual or single 12v designs from OCZ/Topower/Tagan/Vantec/BeQuiet, Antec/CWT/XClio, Enermax, Seasonic, Enhance/Akasa/Silverstone (non Zeus), Fortron/Zalman/Sparkle, or AMS to name a few.

a 7800GT on a AX500-A is a tad iffy, might want to spend for the next level.

Not so - I haven't seen the video card that can bring down the AX500-A by itself. It may even be able to power two of them, as long as overclocking isn't the highest priority and there aren't too many hard drives.