Advice as to which of these two PSU to get

[craigap]

I would like to get an opinion or two as to which PSU I should get. They have two very significantly different price tags, but I'm not sure on the amount of amperage I should have available.

PSU's:
Sparkle 550w
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103517
or
PC P&C 510w
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703001

Proposed Build:
MOBO:Biostar Tforce4u
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138270
graphics:eVGA Geforce 7800GTX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130254
CPU:AMD 64 4000+ San Diego
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103529
Memory:OCZ (2x1gb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227210
Hard Drive:300 GB Seagate Baracuda
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148064
Sound Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829127001
Wireless network card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16839121007
CD/DVD Burner: Plextor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827131352
2 Theater 550 pro TV Tuner Cards (PCI-E x1's)
http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_inf...cardstv-tuners
HD tuner card:VBOX Cat's Eye DTA-150 ATSC Terrestrial HDTV Receiver
http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_inf...tv-tuner-cards
case:SilverStone Lascala SST-LC17(Most likely with all 5 available fans)
http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_inf...ame/htpc-cases

Thanks.

[Cricket]

PC Power & Cooling power supplies are very good but the cheaper Sparkle Power is actually very good too and either would probably handle your computer fine.

Your parts selection is rather odd though...you have some top end parts listed (like the Plextor burner, eVGA 7800GTX and the PC Power & Cooling PSU) but you chose a low budget motherboard to attach the rest of the parts to. The motherboard is the backbone of the computer and thats one area you really don't want to skimp on too much...especially if you're building a screaming gamer rig.

Cricket

[craigap]

Originally Posted by Cricket you chose a low budget motherboard to attach the rest of the parts to. The motherboard is the backbone of the computer and thats one area you really don't want to skimp on too much...especially if you're building a screaming gamer rig. Cricket

From what I've read they've made a leap in quality. My main purpose for this board is that it's the only one that will fit all my stuff on it(with nforce4 ultra ) and not crowd the fan on the graphics card. I was orinally going with an asus mobo, but it was brought to my attention that my tv tuner in the PCI-E x1 slot right above the x16 slot would affect the cooling of the graphics card. What do you think? Why would you say that this mobo is of low quality?

[freakitchen]

Having another PCI card directly above your graphics card shouldn't be a problem. Since the fan is on the bottom of the card when installed, you only really need to avoid cramming another card directly below it. ASUS has a much higher quality record than Biostar, I'd definitely go with one of their boards if you can.

Freakitchen

[Stuey]

I noticed that you ordered/are ordering the Silverstone LC17. I *just* placed an order for the same case.

If you're going to use the system as a HTPC (I noticed your 3 tuners), what are your plans for quieting your components, or are you going to let it run as-is?

May I ask how come you're going for such beefy PSUs? Since they have two PCIE connectors, I assume they're aimed towards SLI builds.

[XIII]

Quality vs. Quantity...in the world of computers, Quality sure beats the hell out of quantity...

[craigap]

Originally Posted by Stuey83 I noticed that you ordered/are ordering the Silverstone LC17. I *just* placed an order for the same case. If you're going to use the system as a HTPC (I noticed your 3 tuners), what are your plans for quieting your components, or are you going to let it run as-is? May I ask how come you're going for such beefy PSUs? Since they have two PCIE connectors, I assume they're aimed towards SLI builds.

I would think the PSU is probably one of the most important things to give consideration. I wanted something that I know would never be underpowering and if I decided to change out the mobo and build an SLI system(option I've been considering) its one less thing to deal with later. Plus it looks like most of the newer PSU(good ones) are coming with SLI support anyway. I guess I was going to let it run as is. I have no idea how loud it would be. I may have to deal with that when i cross that road. What are some things you can do to quiet it? Can you control the number and speed of fans in the case? I wouldn't think I would need too much cooling if just watching and recording TV. Aother Story when gaming though which is why I chose a case with (Hopefully) good cooling capacity.

Originally Posted by Freakitchen Having another PCI card directly above your graphics card shouldn't be a problem. Since the fan is on the bottom of the card when installed, you only really need to avoid cramming another card directly below it. Freakitchen

Maybe I'm getting my top and bottom backward, but it would seem to me from the pictures that the Graphics Card fan will be right up against my tuner card in the PCI-E slot next to it. Here's a link to the asus board I was considering.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131530
When looking at the overhead pic of the board are the slots to the left of the PCIe x16 slot(far right-correct?) termed above or below that slot? I thought above.
Aso BFG advertises there 7800gtx as requiring the space of the neighboring slot. Will all 7800 gtx's require the extra space?
This will be my first build, so I'm a not that knowledgable. I was thinking I could leave that slot open on an asus board if I had to if I there were and PCI-E x4 wirless network cards or sound cards. Know of any such things?

[heymrdj]

Go the PC&C power supply. It says 510, but that boy will peak out at 600w easy. Its beefy, leaves room for expansion, puts out its wattage at 50C rather than the crappy 25C measurement, and is just plain quality.

[freakitchen]

Maybe I'm getting my top and bottom backward, but it would seem to me from the pictures that the Graphics Card fan will be right up against my tuner card in the PCI-E slot next to it

Ahh, must have got confused when you said your PCI-E x1 slot was above the PCI-E 16x slot. Having looked at the A8N-E, i see that the x1 is below the graphics card. Looking at the size of the tuner card you want to install in there, things may get a little tight.

EDIT: A quick look on Newegg showed this motherboard, by ABIT. It has 3x PCI-E x1 slots, all above the PCI-Ex16 slot, so you should have no space issues. It's also by a quality manufacturer.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813127222

Freakitchen

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by craigap Why would you say that this mobo is of low quality?

I didn't say the Biostar was low quality...I said it's a budget motherboard. The quality of Biostar motherboards is actually pretty decent and they are known to run stable...they just aren't known for being high performance motherboards.

Cricket

[craigap]

Originally Posted by Cricket ...they just aren't known for being high performance motherboards. Cricket

What kind of performance issues could/would I run into by choosing the Biostar board over the Asus board?

[Stuey]

Well, there are a lot of things you can do to quiet the box up. I also chose that case b/c of its better cooling (well at least relative to similar cases). You can try with fan controllers or motherboard settings, or you can replace the fans with quieter running ones.

As for mobo choice... it's not really about stability I don't think; it's more about the features you get and possibly additional speed/efficiency. Usually if you spend more, you get more features such as digital audio out, extra SATA connections, more expensive cooling designs (passive NB cooling via heatpipe radiator such as in these boards: from Abit and Asus.