I bought CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX 520W PSU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139001). All of my friends keep telling me that the PSU will not be able to support over 5 or 6 drives.

 

Do you guys think I should return it to newegg for a larger psu? Eventually I would like to have 8-9 drives.

 

Thanks.

It will probably be fine, though it depends on the type of drive (5400 vs. 7200), your CPU, and other factors.

 

I run a lower quality 600W PSU that supports nine drives, though just barely (an occasional hiccup when starting up from a cold boot).

 

FYI - my nine drive setup uses 114W when all drives are idling and about 200W when all are spinning.

 

 

Bill

 

 

I'm not running the same PSU, but one close. I am running the CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W. I have 16 drives in my system & it is handling the load just fine. I bought it from Newegg.

I'm not running the same PSU, but one close. I am running the CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W. I have 16 drives in my system & it is handling the load just fine. I bought it from Newegg.

 

I have that exact one in my media center case. I was thinking of switching the two, but the 550 I have is not modular, and I'm worried about cables getting in the way of airflow.

 

All of my hard drives are 7200's.

 

I'm going to give newegg a call on Monday and see if they will swap it for a larger psu. I just don't want to be worried about my drives not getting enough power if they are all spinning up.

I have that exact one in my media center case. I was thinking of switching the two, but the 550 I have is not modular, and I'm worried about cables getting in the way of airflow.

 

All of my hard drives are 7200's.

 

I'm going to give newegg a call on Monday and see if they will swap it for a larger psu. I just don't want to be worried about my drives not getting enough power if they are all spinning up.

 

I have a 550 watt no-name (okay, MadDog if you must know) PSU that is running 15 drives just fine.  I think this is a very safe size for your 8-9 drives - you could probably even go lower.

 

The problem with high watt PSUs is that they are often multi-rail.  Multi-rail supplies do not necessarily provide more 12v power to hard disks, in fact many provide a lot LESS.  People that are buying these big fat PSUs ware wanting to run dual high-end video cards - not 15-20 disk drives.

 

Although modular might be a tad neater, I've had pretty good luck with a few zipties getting the airways clear.

I'd also agree that monster P/S are not needed. I have one machine with two P/S in it and I regret having done that - a single with enough cables would have been better and more energy efficient. One thing I WOULD recommend looking for is a P/S that is rated as 80+ www.80plus.org/. This is an efficiency rating and I've found that P/S that have this are quieter, more efficient (duh), and often have features like temp regulated fans. One thing that helps with having enough cables I've found is using SATA cages - my SATA cages use fewer power inputs then there are drives

I have an Antec 380W NEOHE PSU for 9 drives, 7 7200rpm and 2 WD Green Power. This works without any problems.