We perform a detailed numerical study of the transition to equipartition in the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam quartic model and in a class of potentials of given symmetry using the normalized spectral entropy as a probe. We show that the typical time scale for the equipartition of energy among Fourier modes grows linearly with system size: this is the time scale associated with the smallest frequency present in the system. We obtain two different scaling behaviors, either with energy or with energy density, depending on the scaling of the initial condition with system size. These different scaling behaviors can be understood by a simple argument, based on the Chirikov overlap criterion. Some aspects of the universality of this result are investigated: symmetric potentials show a similar transition, regulated by the same time scale