Downgrade PS afer hardware changes? [Archive]

View Full Version : Downgrade PS afer hardware changes?

CBRworm

06-13-2008, 11:56 AM

I had a 'high end-ish' HTPC with Maximus Formula, Q6600, 2 ATI HD2900XT's and a 1.6tb raid 5 array (5 400GB drives) and a raptor. Also an X-fi sound board, 2 optical drives, etc.

This was all powered by an antec TPQ-850

So I made some changes. Exchanged the 2 2900's for a single 3870 (much quieter). Moved all the hard drives except for a single raptor out of the machine, and changed the CPU from the Q6600 to an E8400. And took out one optical drive and two fans.

So the power consumption dropped to about nothing. My goal was to make it quieter and keep that side of the room cooler - both of those have worked.

My question now is should I put in one of my 380 watt Antec non-fujiyo power supplies (SU-380)? It's not worth it to sell the 850, and I don't know if there is any efficiency difference at such low load - but a 380watt supply seems to be more than sufficient. 850 is definately overkill at this point. I don't have any other use for the 850 either.

I kind of like the idea of if something shorts inside the machine, not having 60 or so extra amps to burn things up.

Should I swap or just leave it alone.

Zap

06-15-2008, 12:13 PM

Oklahoma Wolf

06-15-2008, 12:31 PM

I'd keep the 850W. It's not like it's going to be putting out 850W when it's not being required to ;)

A dead short is going to shut down any PSU, because it's going to pull more than 60A no matter what supply we're talking about.

Smirnoff

06-15-2008, 02:08 PM

I'm not sure 380W would be enough for a 3870. Is that a Smart Power II or something? I used to run my wife's system on a Seasonic S12 380W and her x1950 Pro video card used to always howl on POST due to not enough power.

My X1950 Pro rig (E2160 @ 2.7 GHz, one HDD) pulls about 145W from the wall while gaming, so I'd say there should have been enough juice. The 3870 pulls a few watts more than the X1950, but not a whole lot.