Need help w/ PSU and such

(Warning, wall of text coming up, but I am SUPER grateful to anybody who can help me out!)

First, some specs:
- Foxconn A78AX-S AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
- AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX245OCGQBOX
- MSI R4670-2D512/D3 Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
- G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBNT
- Rosewill R909SL Black/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with 24 pin &1 x SATA Connectors 350W Power Supply - Retail
- Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
- LG DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS50

That is the system I'm attempting to build. You may have noticed that the case came with a PSU too, but I think it doesn't have enough connections or power maybe. And, yes, I already have those parts. I know, Stupid. I am really not so good with parts, but I need something ASAP so I had somebody help me with this so far (unmentioned unless they want to come out of the woodwork). Instead of sending them MORE questions, I decided to post this here to give them a break. I'll just start.

1. I want to fit 3-4 hard drives in my system. The case has the room and the motherboard has enough connection slots, but I don't think the PSU can handle it.

• Do you think that 3-4 hard drives (300gb WD Caviar SATA most likely) will be enough for 350watts?
• Do you think I'll be able to connect 3 hard drives at least? The product listing says it only provides 1x SATA but in reality it has 2x SATA + 2x Molex. One SATA plug is being used for the DVD drive, for the remainder 3 drives could I do drive 1: molex to molex (hope that made sense to you) to sata cable, drive 2: SATA cable from PSU, drive 3: same as drive 1? That looks like it would work but I'm still unsure.

2. If I DO have to get a new PSU, here are some questions I have.

Can anybody make some general suggestions of which PSUs? I'll list some I found at the bottom and maybe somebody can ok them or spot problems I didn't see. I did some research but I am not really sure how much power everything will require and there are just so many out there. That's not too much to ask, right?

One thing, I really don't want to break $50. That is my limit. Yes, I know, better is available, but I am SUPER short on money. The cheaper the better, as long as you aren't recommending junk lol.

Potential Candidates I found, what do you think (best?):

• Rosewill RP550-2 550W ATX12V v2.01
• OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W ATX12V V2.2
• RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-530SS 530W ATX12V V2.2

3. I am really stupid when it comes to cables... I mean I don't even really have many internal SATA to motherboard? cables. Did some research there but even something as simple as cables seems to elude me.

• When I said SATA to motherboard?, I meant one side of the cable connects to a device (HD, optical drive, etc), the other side to motherboard. Would something like this fit the bill? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812123111

If you got through all that, thanks a lot. I know my questions are long, but I hope they just take up lots of space but are only a couple of short things.

The computer buying page hasn't been updated again, so I don't really go there... I mean new parts come out all the time which may or may not be better, plus new deals aren't listed there and some things are link to deactivated products as well (CPU for example). Where are you gear heads at work!?

Get the OCZ PSU - they make quality products, which is more than I can say for Rosewill or Raidmax (PSUs anyways). I have that same model myself (except mine is 600watts) and I love it. Sign up for the Newegg weekly newsletter and you can get a promo code for that same PSU right now.... $30 after rebate is pretty good!!!

Your motherboard should have come with at least 2 or 3 SATA cables (to connect from the HDD to the mobo etc...) if not then what you linked to one newegg would work just fine too.

Actually, you could probably run those hard drives without getting a larger power supply, but I would recommend that you get a larger one anyway. The 350watt, although probably able to handle things, would be running close to max - if you get the 550watt, it will have more headroom, be less apt to get stressed, and you will be able to upgrade your video card later.

yeah, i was helping him with parts selection. unfortunately, i failed to notice that case+PSU combo only comes with one SATA connector, and he has two SATA devices (hard drive and DVD drive). oops.

looking over the specs for the case, i see it comes with 4x 4 pin peripheral connectors. i assume these are the molex connectors needed for older PATA hard drives. if that's the cause, you can use a molex-to-sata adaptor for your second SATA device, and use the three remaining ones for your older drives.

Hard drives don't draw that much power; 10W seek, at most. Why are you using 3-4 300GB drives, by the way? Do you already own the drives? If not, getting one or two 1TB drives is a better option.

Frankly, I think the 350W power supply is enough. Core i7 systems with single GPUs barely break 300W under load. An Athlon II X2 and HD4670 shouldn't even come close.

I would go with larger hard drives, but the thing is, once I get more space, I just eat through it like crazy, so I buy smaller ones to force myself to not save everything in sight. Kinda like when you are bad at time management so you wait till you can't stall anymore to force you to do the project right then. Anyways, I have mostly PATA drives ATM, but the stuff will eventually be copied over to SATA ones.

I really don't like the whole "put all your eggs in a basket"... maybe I will get 1TB drives when I can back stuff up, but I have this image of one crashing and instead of taking only some stuff, the whole thing lol.

Hmmm... you think 350W would be enough after all!? Interesting. I think I need to get another PSU though, this one's connectors are a bit short. Maybe if I get a bigger one I can somebody upgrade something just in case (such as a possible DirectX 11 HD4670 successor). Thanks for response too!

AMD's next graphic card for that price segment will likely use the same amount of power, so you probably won't need a more powerful PSU.

for the time being, just get the bare minimum going so you get a usable computer. the good thing about building your own computer, is knowing everything about it, and be able to upgrade easily if need be.

btw, the reliability of mechanical hard drives have really improved over the past 10 years or so. a good hard drive will last you years, well beyond the useful lifespan of everything else in your computer, in fact.

I recommend going with Gigabyte's 4670 card, has double the onboard ram
Also be forewarned - the LG dvd burner is finicky - has built in software >

yeah, it's also SLOWER ram. you'll end up getting slower performance unless you play at 1920x1080 or above, in which case the GPU will start choking.

strapping additional ram (and slower ram, nonetheless) on low-midrange graphic cards is about the cheesiest marketing ploy manufacturers can think of.

Hard Drives really only consume power at spin-up, which for most computers, is when they're first turned on. Once they're chugging along, the power they consume is very minimal.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/p...ulatorlite.jsp

A lot of research & effort went into that calculator and it actually does a really good job at showing you what to expect out of your system.

A quick calculation of your system posted above comes to 221 watts.

whatever PSU you get, go for a reputable, highly regarded name brand. Thermaltake, Antec, Corsair, Xigamatek, Enermax, OCZ, are brands to go to the bank with, cheaper is not always better.

I used to be running on a PSU with 19 amps on the 12V rail (228 watts). That power supply calculator shows my system using 278 (9600 GT + OC'd Core 2 Duo @ 3.4 ghz). Since the vast majority of power comes over the 12v, I was either running pretty close to the limit or the calculator has extra headroom =)

It's not a perfect science but it gives a good idea. And it's almost impossible to max out your CPU, RAM, and GPU all at the same time as well.

My old system was a Phenom 9850 OC'd to 3.2GHz (130W TDP @ 2.5GHz), two 3870's OC'd in Crossfire, a 790GX Mobo, and some 1066MHz RAM, all on a 430W PSU haha. It would benchmark and play games fine, but if I ran OCCT PSU test it would cut power after about 20-30 minutes.

The 9600GT has some severe gate leakage, and can really strain the 12v rail(s). Make sure that the PSU you decide on has very well built 12v rails, and preferably, one very strong SINGLE 12v rail.