Dual pcie

[_drunk_]

Well, I have that PS (and from the description, probably even the exact same model), and I have never had any problems. The actual plugs are pretty big, but they aren't that bad.

[A Guy Named Joe]

While it may be true that the PCP&P 510 is pricey, it also holds it's weight. And other units that are advertised better than this, including the Antec models, lose power dramtically as heat rises. But not the PCP&P 510. Check out their website if ya don't believe me.
Also, MaximumPC rated the PCP&P 510 as GUARANTEED to handle the power requirements of a Dual SLI rig, while the NeoPower while a great PSU, was not.
I think the NeoPower can handle dual 6800 GT's, however, the newer X800t cards? No way.
I'm saying it's WORTH the extra money to get the PCP&P 510.

It's only drawback it's a tad loud with the fan, but tolerable. It's your money, but if you plan on upgrading dual PCI cards that draw more wattage, the NeoPower may not handle it if those cards have a higher amperage rating.

[Frakk]

I think the NeoPower can handle dual 6800 GT's, however, the newer X800t cards? No way.

The ATI cards require far less power than nVidia's, especially the 6800 series. even a single 6800 GT (around 120W) needs more power than ANY x800 or even x850(110W at most), and you are talking about dual 6800 gt's(250W?). Lets think about it again

[ack ack]

I didn't think the rails on the neopower could handle much above dual 6600gt's anyways. even tho the neopower is a fairly efficient psu its dual rails are weak on amperage, and dual 6800gt's would clearly stress its capacity, especially with a multi-hd configuration attached.

silent pc review tested the both the enermax 701;

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article221-page3.html

and the neopower:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article177-page4.html

[Frakk]

i assure you that the neopower will handle all you can throw at it.
maximum power consumtion:
dual 6800 gt - 250W
any 64bit or P4 processor - 100W
2x512ddr memory - 20W
6 drives (hd and optical) - 100W
6 case fans - 5W
3 cold cathodes - 2W
the rest: 5W

adds up to around 480W when ALL of your components are running at 100% load at the same time, which not possible. also the psu's peak power output is about 100W more and it will not crash under load. but hey, what do i know?

[ack ack]

so basically aim for a decent brand of psu that supports 480w or above, dual pcie is an SLi gimmick, and the stability of dual rail 12v remains debatable.

does that kinda sum things up? or am I way off base?

[Frakk]

i dont know what you mean by dual rail 12V, there are 3 rails, 3.3V, 5V and 12V. each rail can supply a certain amount of amperes, so it doesnt really matter where you plug it in, it is paralell and the voltages wont be affected by that. if you meant dual pcie connectors, then yes it is nice if the psu has 2, but im sure you can get adapters too. I think a stable 480W psu is plenty and there should be no problems whatsoever.

[ack ack]

in some psu's with the atx1.3 or 2.0 spec the 12v rail is split into two dedicated rails, a 12v1 and a 12v2, as in the case of the neopower which supports 18amps on the 12v1 and 16amps on the 12v2. I guess the concept was to separate dedicated components, like the mobo, cpu, ram, from ones with variable consumption, like optical drives and video cards, in an effort to increase stability.