High end gaming rig for sub $700 - PSU enough?

[DarkPacMan77]

I have been a two year member of PCMech.com and I'm so sick and tired of those fools. "Get an Asus p5k-e" - "Get Corsair" - "Get a five hundred quadrabajillionoid watt power supply or the terrorists win"... needless to say, I'm just tired of them not understanding that some people just don't want what every single other person has.

Anyways, I came here because my parts will arrive soon, perhaps even today, and I'm wondering if the power supply bundled with my base is going to be enough for my system. I know people with as low as 250W system running 8800gt 512mb cards ... that's just scary to me. The 460W PSU with the Nextherm ICS 8200 is apparently very high quality, has the power on the +12V rails, and I really don't think I need to choose another power supply. My build is listed below for reference, but my interests are with the PSU.

The parts I chose are:

MOBO: Biostar A770
GPU: EVGA 8800GT 512mb / 256-bit
HDD: WD Caviar SE16 320gb / 16mb cache / 7200 RPM
CPU : AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Brisbane 2.8ghz 65W
RAM : Wintec AMPX DDR2 800mhz 4-4-4-12
CASE/ PSU: Nextherm ICS 8200
OPTICAL: Lite-on 20x DVD R Burner w/ lightscribe
OS: WinXP 32-bit


I'm very computer savvy myself, so I know everything is compatible. I've researched all of the parts, yes, even the Wintec ram, and everything is exactly what I want out of my new system. I've already purchased everything, so please don't recommend a different processor or hard drive or something because I WANT the parts I have lol.

What do you guys think about the power supply? I've used a few power supply calculators and the highest I was recommended for "my system" was a 403W power supply, and that was when I was actually lying and calculating specs for a more advanced system with more ram, 3 hard drives, and 16 case fans lol.

I think I'll be fine, but do you guys have any worries?

 

[veg1992]

No way on that PSU and Case together, its bad to have a PSU in a stock
case, and its not a good brand either, I'd recommend something else

I can't even find specs on that PSU

 

[Joeyboy]

hmmm not sure if this guy is correct, but if so, your stuck with that power supply unless your good at case modding.

CONS-"the power supply readout gauge is apparently only compatible with the stock 460W power supply. Therefor, if you were planning to buy this case and use an alternate power supply, just know that unless you modify your power supply, the PSU gauge will not work. I think I should also point out that I haven't found any guides to convert a third-party power supply to work with the PSU gauge yet either, so I'm not even entirely sure if modding a third-party PSU to work with the gauge is possible or not. Perhaps someone else can clarify. Also, this case doesn't have any internal 3.5"" drive bays for hard drives. Instead, it has 2 ""external"" ones. If you plan on getting a floppy drive with your computer, I recommend not getting this case or instead, getting an external floppy disk reader because you can use the ""external"" 3.5 bays for internal hard drives instead of their intended purpose."

 

[NightSurge]

It gets 32A on the 12v rails. That should be enough to power everything.

 

[ricanflow]

I saw that case..i wonder if that ac unit really can keep temps down.

The psu doesnt look bad either...dual 12v rails with 18a on each, and 78% efficiency. Im pretty sure "Nextherm" doesnt make the psu and another oem does....

 

[thirdshiftdj]

neat looking case. Specs on Psu look good but then again I never trust a no name brand psu

 

[ricanflow]

Oh, and i do have the wintec ram, its very good ram. It does use the micron d9's, but im sure you already know that since you did your research.

Get the 5000+ BE, its cheaper and can be taken past 3ghz without even touching the fsb...and in some cases stock voltage.

 

[DarkPacMan77]

I encourage you to look up the "ICS 8200" on youtube. A member there, and forum owner, '3DGAMEMAN', gave a great review about the case and showed that it really DOES help cool the system very well. It drops the temps of all components by an average of 4 degrees or so, which is great considering that it isn't designed to cool any one particular part in general.

Wintec ram is definitely quality RAM. Good to see a fellow believer. I can see why some people may not like it, however, as it often doesn't come WORKING at the rated specs. If you aren't able to change memory timings in the BIOS, I wouldn't recommend Wintec, but once changed, the ram doesn't have difficulties. Asus apparently really likes Wintec, as they use it in many of their laptops.

Also, I originally had the 5000+ Black Box, however, I worried about how close the ram was to the CPU, something some people had problems with on that board when reading reviews around the web. I knew that a stock HSF would work without compatibility issues on my board, so that's why I opted to save the $30 from the HSF I was eyeballing, and get the 5400+ with the extra dough. Saved $5 and got an upgrade. I'm sure I'll be more than pleased with the 2.8ghz 5400+, and I may even push it more if I feel I need to juice it a little.

Thanks for the confidence guys. Vernon, you didn't even take time to learn about the product I asked you to. I know that in your experience, you have grown accustomed to not trusting bundled power supply units, and that's fine. I feel the same way, however, if you take time to understand the product more, you'd see that the case I chose still goes for $150, $200, $250, $300, and even as high as $360! I haven't seen a single negative review about the PSU all across the web, and for that price, I think it's safe.

We'll see though. I'll post back probably tomorrow and let you guys know for sure, and also how well the case is made and functions.

-DarkPacMan77-

 

[ricanflow]

If youre just worried about an aftermarket hsf getting close to the ram..get the Artic Cooling freezer pro 64. Its not too big, or too small and is only $25.

It will fit on any board, theres no problem there. I have it along with the wintec ampx and it fits well, even with those black heatspreaders.

The psu is a concern because we know how bad case psu's can be...if we knew for sure that some one like fortron made it, then we could give you an ok on that...but from looking at the specs it does look decent.

 

[Nagasama]

i used a POS coolmax 500 sli PSU for over a year with several EXTREMELY overclocked AMD cpus and several mid-high end graphics cards: 7900gs, SLI 7900gs, HD2900 pro(thats right...limited my overclock, though...it was a monster), 8800gt, SLI 8800gt, and my current 8800gts 512. i bought the corsair 550vx that i have now because my overclocks were getting to be harder to stabilize, and the PSU was pretty hot, heating my case up and all. i think the 2900 really did it in...
in any event...bear in mind, i ran my stuff full-tilt, overclocked as high as possible, non-stop for over a year on a "crappy" 40 dollar psu.
i will say this, not to bash your decision as i support AMD word up...but, the 5400 is not rally an "upgrade" from a 5000 BE. it costs 20+ dollars more, it only runs 200mhz faster, the 5000 has an unlocked multiplier...which means it takes 8 hours and two minutes to reach 3.2ghz (LOL...two minutes to change the multiplier to 16, eight hours to run orthos). it will also overclock higher in general than the 5400, and it will DEFINITELY do it with less voltage. you will be lucky to get a 5400 past 3.1-3.2ghz with 1.425+V, with the 5000 that is a walk in the park at stock. P.S. i love my cpu. i love it more than my old 3600 brisbane.
i would say no worries on the PSU, but if it makes you feel better, buy a name brand.
bravo on doing your research, by the way. always nice to see.