Need help figuring out power supply amperage

[uricmu]

I'm building a rig and trying to balance price now vs. extensibility later.

I am thinking of going with an Antec Nine Hundred midi, with an Antec E650 power supply (link below). Looking at the Antec spec, its outputs are:

+3.3V@25A,+5V@25A,+12V1@22A,+12V2@22A,
+12V3@25A,[email protected],[email protected]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

Now the thing is this, I'm thinking of buying a GTX 260 for now (not the fastest, but still better than my XBOX 360), and maybe upgrade in the future.
However, all the GTX line specifies thaT:

"Minimum of a 500 Watt power supply.
(Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 36 Amp Amps.)
Two available 6-pin Molex hard drive power dongles"

At first glance, it seems like this power supply is not enough to run a card like this. Am I correct? I remember hearing something about combined power and stuff like that.

If this falls through, I can get the 750W corsair and try and find a different case.

Please help an old fogie. The last time I built a gaming rig, I bought an overpriced Voodoo 2 so I could play Final Fantasy 7.

 

[darthbudge]

I believe it just needs a combined 12V rail current rating of 36 Amps. Therefore your PSU would have enough power (22+22+25=69 Amps).

However, I could be wrong.

 

[SOSTrooper]

A quality 650W power supply (such as the Antec you picked out) is more than enough to support most single video card, including the GTX 260, 275, and 285. If you want to do SLI (pairing 2 high end video cards), then I would recommend getting at least a 750W because 2 high end cards really do push the limit of a 650W. This article is a bit old but shows you the power consumption requirement for having single GTX 260. So basically 650W is perfect for if you just want 1 video card in your system. If you plan on pairing 2 high end video cards in the future, go for a 750W.

As for the Amps, that particular Antec 650W power supply is able to output 22+22+25=69 Amps on what I assuming is 3 +12V rails, far exceeding the 36 needed to fuel the GTX 260. So you're in the clear in that department too. I might be over simplifying things, so others can probably add to this post, but in short, that power supply will work.

Your case should have nothing to do with the the different power supply or video cards you will get. Antec Nine Hundred can hold up almost any hardware configuration.

 

[uricmu]

[quote name='SOSTrooper']A quality 650W power supply (such as the Antec you picked out) is more than enough to support most single video card, including the GTX 260, 275, and 285. If you want to do SLI (pairing 2 high end video cards), then I would recommend getting at least a 750W because 2 high end cards really do push the limit of a 650W. This article is a bit old but shows you the power consumption requirement for having single GTX 260. So basically 650W is perfect for if you just want 1 video card in your system. If you plan on pairing 2 high end video cards in the future, go for a 750W.[/QUOTE]

Thank you.
I'm making my first transition to PC Gaming after many years (I mostly use a Mac for work, and a 360 for gaming). I'm trying to keep things down to a reasonable budget, so I'm trying not to overbuy. After years of XBOX 360, I am sure that the GTX 260 will look good enough, though maybe I should splurge for the 275...

My config is going to include a motherboard that doesn't support SLI. If I go SLI in the future, I'll probably have to replace a lot of things. I'm excited about playing FPSs with good graphics for a change, but with Starcraft and Diablo somewhere on the horizon I will probably be doing more 2.5D gaming so I doubt the SLI is critical.

I'll go ahead and order this stuff.