I am thinking of merging 2 computers in one mega box :) i did a calculation on the PSU i normally use (extreme outer vision) and was wondering how accurate it is.
The calculator says around 545 Watts based on a capcitor aging of 20% and 100% peak load.
BS. If you can pull anywhere near that much from the wall with that hardware, you've probably shorted something, and should grab either the power cord or a fire extinguisher. Yeah, you'll have a fairly high start-up current with those HDD's, but you'll never load the CPU and GPU before they're finished spinning up.
Doubt it will pull anywhere near 545W from the wall. My PC (with HD4850 mind you) and 22" LCD drew under 400W during OCCT PSU Test I believe.
OCCT can make my computer pull about 550W from the wall (insofar as my UPS can('t) be trusted), but my CPU is at 4.5Ghz and I have a metric ****load of fans and pumps. Factoring in the rated efficiency of my PSU, it's pretty doubtful that my computer is actually pulling over 450W.
K well I put in everything you've listed and put "Overclock my CPU" to 4000MHz and 1.3v, added a soundblaster card(all models), I ddin't know what kinda slot Dell Perc uses so I put it as x1 PCI-e, I added 4 120mm fans and I still only got 515w with 20% capacitor aging and 429w with no capacitor aging. That seems normal to me?
well considering i am typing this from a computer with 9 HDD now i think it's fine :). i'm running some benchmarks based on 8MB testing as this array is going to be used mostly for files in excess of 4GB each. Will post the results if you like.