I'm wondering what is an ample amount for a computer used for video editing? There are 350, 400 and 550 watts power supply. I was thinking of getting the 550w but wonder if it will be an overkill.
When would I need 550watts in the first place?

How many HDD's are you using, and how many CDrom's and stuff? You going to be running a bunch of fans or anything?

If your running 1-2HDD's, and 1-2CDRom's, and all the other normal stuff, then a 350 watter is more then enough.

HOWEVER! The quality of the powersupply is often more important then the wattage it can output. Enermax make's the best ones hands down, but they are expensive. Get a Allied one from newegg.com, if your on a budget, they are good and very affordable.

You can tell the quality of the powersupply by simply holding it, the better ones feel "beefy" or heavier, then the cheap ones. In my computer, I have a decent 300w running all my basic computer stuff, but I modifed another CHEAP 300w powersupply that I had laying around inside my case (empty 5.25" bays) to run my 15 or so fans. You can tell the difference of quality between the 2 in my computer pretty easally by just holding them.

Good luck.

Let see. 3 Hard drives, one DVD, one CD writer. the 550 and 400watts power supply I saw have dual fans and are low in terms of noise reduction. I don't know the name but it feels beefy enough.

15 Fans Alex. Man, that's alot.

Go with the 400 watter, a 350 would probably cut it, but go 400 if you want to. The 550 wouldn't hurt either, it's your choice, heh.

Yeah, my computer sounds like a jet with all of them on, they are 60CFM 92mm's.... 15 of em, heh. The only reason is because they were at this local wholesale computer place for like $0.99 each, with grills, so I just bought 20 of them, and used a 92mm whole saw and put holes all over my case and screwed them in, heh...

Charles,

I would also suggest that the Power Supply you get have a variable speed fan. Supplies now can plug into the motherboard to monitor heat readings and adjust fan (both the ps and system/case fans) speeds accordingly. Makes a big difference since the majority of the time your computer probably isn't working all that hard. You'll know when it is working (rendering) when you hear the fans start to spool up.

Thanks guys. That variable speed issue sounds good too.

Theres 2 things that I definetely put money into when I build computers, memory and powersupplies. Sure you can buy a cheap one from Frys or any electronic store, but they usually have a HUGE power flux rate and are no where close to the 12v rail that you would want on your computer. Having a power supply with "clean" power and power distribution closest to specified volts is critical. here are some good power supplies that I would invest in:

Enermax
Antec TruePower
Raidmax
Thermaltake
Sparkle Power Inc

These are all top notch but I would only put Enermax or Antec power supplies in my computers. They can be found here: http://www.newegg.com/app/manufactory.asp?catalog=58&DEPA=1

350watts is fine for a standard computer, but if you have more fans, and a proccessor over 2.8ghz, i'd go with a 400watt P/S. 550watt is only needed if your running dual pentiums or dual xeons or have 6 hard drives.

any more questions feel free to ask. I'm in the IT business so I'll pretty knowledgeable about this stuff


-Kay

Thanks Curt. I'll make a note of that.

I"ve got 11 drives in my main editing computer. 550 watt Antec TruePower seems adequate. It will operate another 3 fans with variable speed beside the 2 built into the unit itself.

What you really want in a power supply is 'fold-back.' That means if one of the voltages goes down the others go down right along with it. Sort of like turning the power off. Otherwise, some components can be damaged if one of their power sources disappears.

Hard to get that info out of the PS manufacturers though.

Now I have question in this line adding a new spesific. What's combined power?

I'm getting nice space saving box with outboard power block. It's rated 350W and I thought it would be enough for my needs (2 HD, DVD-RW, P4 2.8C GHz, nVidia 5600FX video card with remote, 2 fans).

Then I saw another number - 180W combined power. When I checked the internal power supplyes at the shop they usually are 350 W with 220W combined.

Somebody can clear this issue for me? Would it be enough for my set up?

Good point. I'm curious to know as well.

get the TTGI 520w. more than enough =D. good price too.

Is this because it's a good buy or because the more power the better?

More power is not always the best thing. I would definetely put my money into a power supply that suits what I need it to do, not buy a more powerful one because its cheap.

-Kay

All things being equal, a good big supply is only better than a good adequate supply because it allow future expansion.

I cannot tell you how many times I've had to battle engineering because someone decided that 'nobody would ever want to exceed this number," or some other artificial constraint. The ultimate cost can be high as people with year 2000 problems found out.

Here I found a good educational article from Antec which explains many things.

www.antec-inc.com/info_DIYArticle1.html#

underpowering your computer will kill components. if presented with a choice go with as much as you can afford. it's just like audio. you can never have enough power.

Thanks for the tip. I think I'll get the 550w beast. It'll also be prepare for any future additions.

If you want to go all out and get the top of the line may I suggest
checking out this site

http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com/products/power_supplies/index.htm

These are rock solid super stable PSs. I have checked all of the outputs with my scope and have found them to to be some of the Most clean and solid around....Not just for PC powering mind you.
I actually use a couple of these for my 1/32 Slot Car track. Those high wind DC motors require absolutely clean power to perform the best.

In all of my most important system I use PC power and cooling. For the not so critical stuff I use Antec. Which is almost as good.

For your needs you wont really need the PC PnC supplys but hey its nice to look at the topend. You know to get a basis for comparison

Hope this is of use,

Charles-
If you do go with the 550w, make sure you have enough capability to get the heat out of your case. Those suckers can really get hot. I'd suggest getting a couple sealth fans, they are quiet and move lots of air.


-Kay

Good points guys. Thanks for the continious tips.

The power supply does not force its cooling air into the case, it vents directly to the outside. The case of my 550 watt ps doesn't contribute to case heat as it doesn't get warm.

Still, today's setups just about demand fans on the disks, the PCI & AGP boards and one on the memory too.

I have 11 fans in my main editing computer case to keep the 11 drives and all the other stuff cool.

as mike pointed out don't go with less on the fans. the most important about stability and heat management of computers is airflow. you must be able to trace which fans are sucking then follow the airflow and trace how it is vented and by which fans. if you're path stops dead center of the case (ie no fans in the back) then you WILL be garaunteed problems with your computer. you MUST have a nice airflow. it's far far more important than anything else in your computing experience.

Jeez, how many fans do you need to cool the heat generated by all those fan motors?

And disk drive fans are a new animal I've seen around. Man!

I know it's been a few years since I've designed motherboards (from scratch) for medical computers, SGI and others but things have not changed that drastically.

I have three fans for my 3ghz AMD machine. One on the gpu because it came with it, one on the cpu and one in the power supply. Been running fine and below temps for a year now.

a LOT of fans =D:

http://www.fongunlimited.com/htpc/fansgalore.jpg

Six of the drives are Seagate Barracudas, the SCSI type. They get fairly hot. The others are a mixed bag of WD drives.

Drive life is inversely proportional to the operating temperature at which they run (to a point). So if I cool one, why not cool them all?

The computer case is one of those large cubes with enough space for 2 power supplies and thirteen drives.

Some of the SCSI drives are as old as the case and the editing system (A Canopus DVRexRT that is 5 years old this year) and are still going strong.

All of the SCSI drives can be replaced with a single 250 gig drive which is something I'll do today (and tomorrow and the next day considering how much data has to be moved).

This case doesn't use the little drive fans, it has space in front of all the drives for standard 100 mm fans.