Looking for opinions

[brooktrout]

I am looking to build a system. I'm not really a gamer and don't care to spend all of my retirement money, but I like playing games and would like photoshop to display a photo faster then a hair turns gray. Unfortunately, my electrical engineering background does not help cut through the marketing and lack of useful specs that currently exist. I need a few opinions and a lot of facts.

I purchased my first system in 1982. It still runs! First build was in 1994. Current system other then monitor, keyboard, and mouse has parts from at least 2002 or older. If you put it on the curb, I might be using it.

My number one question.

From EVGA, for the 8800 GTS 320MB ...

Requirements
Minimum of a 400 Watt power supply.
(Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 26 Amp Amps.)

... what don't I understand?

Watt = voltage X current or 12 X 26 = 312 watts

12 volt rails on power supplies are not shared. Right? You can't take each rail 12 volt rail and use the sum of the watts. An overloaded rail "crashes".

Take a good power supply ... OCZ 700w GameXStream Power Supply ... the max on each of the 3 rails is 18 amps or 216 amps per rail.

Brian Wallace had a review late last year - XFX GeForce 8800 GTX and eVGA 8800 GTS GPU's. The review used an Antec NEO HE 550W. 2 rails of 18 amps.

Are EVGAs stated requirements are misleading? Why don't video mfgers simply state the power requrements under full load?

Can anyone explain?

[bubba]

hell of a first question Welcome to the forums.

I'll be the first to say I have no idea of how to answer your question.. I most of us use a calculator similar to this This PSU Calculator to double check the power capacity to components picked

[dicecca112]

Okay ignore whatever manufactuers say for the PSU Wattage for a certain card. You want a PSU that carries 26Amps or higher (Preferably higher, much higher) on the 12V Line. With a GTS or GTX you'd be good with a high end 500+ watt PSU or better. Do you have a PSU in mind?