Hi Everyone! First off I would like to say that this is my first post here. I have been lurking for a few days and this seems like a very friendly board so I figured I would ask my questions here. I am planning on a new all around build sometime next month, here are the specs: Intel Core Duo E6600 2.40Ghz Asus P5W-DH Deluxe/Wifi Motherboard 2Gb (1Gb X 2) Corsair PC5400 DDR 667Mhz Memory 2 X 250 Gb SATA Hard Drives 18x Samsung S182M DVD-RW with Lightscribe 16x LiteOn DVD Drive 15 in 1 Card Reader Nvidia Geforce 7900GS 256MB Video Card CoolerMaster Centurion 5 w/ Side Window 550watt Antec TruePower Trio Ok so now to my questions. I know that the new Intel processors run cooler than the Prescotts did so will the stock heatsink and fan be enough or is it necessary to add a better heatsink/fan? Will the 550watt Antec power supply be enough or should I go for the Antec 650watt Truepower Trio? Oh and as for the video card...I know that there are better out there but I am not a huge gamer so this will suit me just fine for now (although an upgrade in the future is inevitable. If anyone has any other suggestions or would change anything please let me know. I appreciate any input I can get!!!
firstly Welcome to HWF's a quality & powerful PSU is essential[ot]you've chose 2 Antec's, which is good[/ot]if you got the more powerful 650W PSU, you'd save some money, because when you upgrade you'll probably need more power (than the 550 can provide)[ot]for example, i think an SLI setup would probably require about 600W[/ot]Antec PSU's are v v good in terms of quality and power output BTW: if you decide to get the 550W, be aware that you may require a more powerful PSU when you upgrade too
Welcome To start with; that is a very solid build and its obvious you know your stuff. You say that you are not a very big gamer and for that reason it would seem obvious that you will not be planing to run sli. If that sounds about accurate then you will not need anything more than the PSU that you have already got in your line up. Antec is a very good brand. If however thare is a chance that you may be using the sli funtionality of your mobo (nice choice) then it will save you money in the long run to buy a PSU that will cope with the high power demands of sli especialy with the more powerful gfx crds. If this is the case then i sugest anything equivilant, or better than, the trio that you have stated. remember to stick with goods solid brands like antec, hiper, ocz... Good luck and let us know how it runs
There's one small issue with the Antec Trio line: they claim to have 3 separate +12V rails, but a review I read of the 650W unit @ Jonny Guru points out that they really don't have 3 separate rails. You can get an OCZ GameXtreme 600 and 700 in the same ballpark as the Trio family, and they do have separate 12V rails. So does Antec's older True Power II family.
