Thread: A new power supply for C2D & NV GF 9800GTX+

I am after a new power supply for my system before I go for a new motherboard cause I know I will obstruct this old Antec 380W I saved out of the bin from a dead system. Anyway, I'll give you my PCs specs (This is when it’s finished. At the instant it’s a mix of old and new parts but I'll give you the finished cause it will clearly draw more power).

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.00GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB, LGA775, Going to be overclocked to 4.0GHz if possible but around that [can get 3.66GHz on stock fansink]
GPU: GIGABYTE GV-N98XPZL-1GH (NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX+, 1GB GDDR3, PCI-Ex16)
RAM: 4x 2GB DDR2 1066MHz Blocks (Unsure of brand as of yet but heard good of Corsair)
HDD: 2x 160GB Seagate SATAII to be put in RAID0
ODD: Pioneer SATA 4x BluRay Burner
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R (Intel P45 and ICH10R chipset)
EXTRAS: 2x Mini UV Neons, Looking into Thermaltake BigWater water cooling

Also, because of the water cooling I want to keep noise as low as I can. I've done a bit of research and think that the Antec Earthwatts 500W would be good but apparently it is a bit noisy. The Antec TruePower 550W is apparently a lot quieter and sounds like it would handle overclocking better. The price is what’s keeping me back on the TruePower. But I'm confused on what to buy. I think maybe Antec cause the 380W I'm running on is doing really well pulling my GeForce considering the cards manual said it needs a minimum of 450W system power. I have also done some stupid things with the power supplies I've had and this one's defiantly a goody. I've ruined capacitors and melted cables and Antec seems the go for me but I need to know which one.

Thank you,

Antec EA500 is no doubt a very high quality PSU.

If the noise is a concern, then I would suggest you look into the Corsair 450VX...It costs less than the Antec EA500 and can run that setup with the 9800GTX+ without issues.

And Corsair PSU are known for their solid construction and are pretty silent too...
Corsair 450VX

But if you want some headroom and want to run more powerful cards in the future, then you can consider the Corsair 550VX.

You're in luck. I checked a few of my references. The 9800GTX+ only uses between 52 and 117 watts so it does not need a high wattage power supply. The Corsair VX450 gkay09 mentioned would be a good choice for your system.

You mentioned overclocking. That will increase power requirements.