Going Quad, Do I Need a New PSU?

[MotzKopf]

So it's time to beef up my wife's rig again, this time because she wants to edit hours of digital video converted from 8mm film reels, with Sony's Vegas Pro 8.

Here are the primary components I've compiled to upgrade her current rig:

CPU: AMD Phenom 9600 Quad-Core 95W
MOBO: ASUS M3A79-t Deluxe
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066
VGA: SAPPHIRE 100226L Radeon HD 3850 512MB
RAID 0: 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3320614AS 320GB
MEDIA STORAGE: Samsung Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB
BOOT DRIVE: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3320614AS 320GB

In addition to this new hardware are these existing components:

EIDE Sony DVD±R Burner
SCSI Card with internal Zip Drive
D-Link WIFI Card
RAID 1: 2 x Seagate 200GB SATA
3 x 120mm Case Fans
USB Card Reader
Floppy Drive

That's a total of 6 hard drives, gotta love my full tower Rocketfish case.

Right now I've got a Antec 500W running the current setup with a A8N32-SLI mobo, a AMD 64 3800 X2, 2GB RAM, and a single 7900GS 256MB GeForce.

I used the ASUS Recommended Power Supply Wattage Calculator, and it recommends an 850W PSU (though the VGA card I want wasn't in their list, so I substituted the Radeon HD2900).

I have a Corsair HX520W PSU still in the box, is there a chance that it would be enough power for the new configuration and additional drives, or do I have to shell out another $200 for a new 1000W PSU?

Comments greatly appreciated.

 

[grunjee]

I think that Corsair 520 would power the rig without any problems. If it were me, I'd spring for something a bit bigger (600-650), just to have a little more headroom. It's probably not necessary though.

 

[Neuromancer]

The 500W is more then enough power. However more is always better. (unless you go overboard.. +50% is best)

im running my hd4850 and oced intel dual core on an old su-430.. my HTPC (quad core phenom) is getting a nice upgrade from the 500W PSU in it to a 430W earthwatts psu

Gotta ask though. Why the SCSI card if you have no SCSI drives? Just for a ZIP drive?

(for comparison buddy with a 3.6GHx Q6600 and oced 8800gtx maxed out at 400W actually fro mthe wall power draw. (417 to be precise) so any GOOD 400W PSU will cover you.. 5-600W good psu will cover upgrades... and eliminate cap aging fro mthe equation )

 

[Evilsizer]

try the HX520 first, then if needed get a bigger psu.

 

[Neuromancer]

try the HX520 first, then if needed get a bigger psu.

Man thats almost sig worthy

 

[Evilsizer]

Man thats almost sig worthy

almost? lol

 

[MotzKopf]

Gotta ask though. Why the SCSI card if you have no SCSI drives? Just for a ZIP drive?

The wife has an internal SCSI ZIP drive from before we got married, and she keeps all of her Quiicken backups on ZIP disks. The drive works fine, and it was cheaper to get a SCSI card than to buy a new internal ZIP drive.

It's probably the oldest ZIP drive in operation.

 

[MotzKopf]

Thanks for all the comments, I'll give the HX520W a go; I've been ichin' to put it to good use.

 

[grunjee]

The wife has an internal SCSI ZIP drive from before we got married, and she keeps all of her Quiicken backups on ZIP disks. The drive works fine, and it was cheaper to get a SCSI card than to buy a new internal ZIP drive.

It's probably the oldest ZIP drive in operation.

May I make a suggestion : USB flash drive

 

[MotzKopf]

May I make a suggestion : USB flash drive

Great suggestion! Thanks.

 

[darkcow]

I can't imagine that HX520 not working perfectly fine... It has more than enough power.