powersupply, hi m8.
there's a couple of things i'd like to ask you to consider about your planned rig.
first off, don't get 8800 ultra - it's just wasting money and buying into the hype. you'd need to overclock whatever c2d you are planning quite a bit to balance it with a 8800gtx, let alone ultra.
secondly, the heat output. you got c2d overclocked to whatever you plan to overclock it, 8800 vid card, raptor at 10000 rpm and another 500GB drive (that's 3-4 platters spinning at once). you will be getting, depending on you overclock 220 to 300 watt of heat dumped into the case. i am not even counting the motherboard. some, like those with nvidia chipsets, might take up to 100w on full load.
you got 2 80mm fans and psu to exhaust all that heat. i am afraid that 2x80mm might not be enough for cooling the case effectively at full load. large portion of the heat will go through the psu; psu will heat up; the efficiency will drop, heating up the components even further; it's lifespan will shorten considerably. for each additional 10C the capacitors inside of the psu loose a half of their rated life expectancy.
lastly, there's a there's a human factor. i posted this story at jonny's forum:
i had (notice - HAD
) a friend whom i let borrow my 300w pcp&c once. it's been some while ago and that psu was pretty much close to the top of the line in terms of power. i used it on my test bench since i knew that it could handle anything i threw at it.
one thing led to another and the psu ended up powering his system for almost a year.
and it died... when i looked at the remains, i saw the pure thing packed with dust; i am not sure the fan was even able to turn at it's last hours. i do distinctly remember introducing him to the novelty (for him
) product we all know as canned air; he ignored it big time and psu paid the price.
i think it might be one of the reasons guys in testing/review business would rather oversell us on power needs then recommend something more balanced - they know from experience - humans are just not that bright.
the point is - if you fail to maintain it, it will die much faster then you expect it to.
there's no question Enermax Liberty 400 is capable to power your proposed build. it's not the best psu to choose though. it's an older design with efficiency only up to 80%. it has 120mm fan - not all of them are good for cooling due to the way the components inside a psu are arranged. it has modular cables, meaning added resistance, meaning the psu has to work that much harder to supply the juice to the components.
Enermax Liberty 400 has been around for a while; the general consensus is that while it's an ok psu, there are better ones available for the same $. you could look into more recent models. seasonic s12 are pretty good. if you ask Oklahoma Wolf directly, he'll know what the latest and the greatest for sure.
with all that being said, do you think that you might want a little more buffer for your psu? lets say 430w range? m/b even 500w?
