Compatibility Check

[IndyColtsFan]

With a nVidia GF 8800GTS, that same setup would've been happy with a 300W or 350W PSU.

I think the calculcation came out to closer to 350 W or 400 W IIRC. Nevertheless, I didn't buy the power supply solely based on wattage; it was cheap and had the connectors I needed. It has been running 24/7 for nearly 4 years now and I'm pretty impressed despite the mixed reviews the OCZ units sometimes get. I ended up buying two more and haven't had one die yet (knock on wood!).

If the OP were getting a decent 750 W power supply for only a $20 premium, I'd probably say "go for it," but in this case, it is a $70 premium and that could be used to upgrade his graphic card.

 

[dclive]

I think the calculcation came out to closer to 350 W or 400 W IIRC.

Calculations are typically made by PSU manufacturers, and err on the side of making the manufacturers more money. Kill-a-Watt said something like 300W or 320W, something like that - measured at the wall. Since the PSU is inherently about 20%-ish inefficient, that means the computer parts/etc. are actually drawing (using) only 80% of that, or perhaps 260-ish watts.

I could be off by 20 watts or so, but the point is - I'd not trust the "calculations" sites as anything more than a very high estimate. If you want real information, buy a Kill-A-Watt meter for $20ish.

 

[dclive]

>LEGACY: Amiga 2000 | GVP 68030 w/ 8 MB RAM | A2091 w/ 52 MB hard drive | Dual floppy drives<

What do you do with this these days?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

>LEGACY: Amiga 2000 | GVP 68030 w/ 8 MB RAM | A2091 w/ 52 MB hard drive | Dual floppy drives<

What do you do with this these days?

Nothing serious -- I just play around with it, play the occasional game, and mess around in Deluxe Paint III or Photon Paint. I also enjoy upgrading it with cheap hardware from eBay. When it was my main system, I was in college and couldn't afford to upgrade it. I've upgraded it with a 68030 accelerator and a flickerfixer and have it attached to an LCD monitor. For transferring files between the Amiga and a PC/internet, network cards are ridiculously expensive for the Amiga so you generally either have to use floppies, a serial cable network, or a Zip drive. I had a 250 MB USB Zip drive for the PC that I got free, so I eBayed a 100 MB SCSI one for the Amiga and it works perfectly. The irony, of course, is that a single Zip disk is twice the size of the hard drive.

I'm a Commodore fan and also have my C128 on my desk, cabled with a custom cable I built to my 42" 1080P plasma in my man cave. I hope to eventually acquire an Amiga 1000 as well. Retrocomputing is a blast and it brings back a lot of great memories.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Calculations are typically made by PSU manufacturers, and err on the side of making the manufacturers more money. Kill-a-Watt said something like 300W or 320W, something like that - measured at the wall. Since the PSU is inherently about 20&#37;-ish inefficient, that means the computer parts/etc. are actually drawing (using) only 80% of that, or perhaps 260-ish watts.

I could be off by 20 watts or so, but the point is - I'd not trust the "calculations" sites as anything more than a very high estimate. If you want real information, buy a Kill-A-Watt meter for $20ish.

Buying a Kill-A-Watt would do me no good while I am still building the system and have no parts. I have to go off estimates -- hand grenade accuracy is fine for me, I don't need smart bomb accuracy. When I bought this 600 W supply, it was about the same price as a 400 W one so why not?