Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
Originally posted by: Astrallite
xyberfighter, your system draws under 370W at full load. If you had an OCed 8800 Ultra instead, you might push that to 410W at most. If you stick to a non-SLI there's pretty much no way you are going to strain that HX520 (about 510W with dual 8800 Ultra SLI)...unless you plan on gaming at 105 degrees F.
The PSU, if it lives, is future proof, since every miniaturization tends reduce power consumption. If you stick to single card-based PC you could use that PSU for several years...of course eventually you'll have to replace it as high-powered PSUs don't tend to age too well =)
"of course eventually you'll have to replace it as high-powered PSUs don't tend to age too well"
Links please--- or is this just personnal opinion with no hard concrete facts to back up this statement?
.
http://www.electronicproducts....leName=marasi1.mar2001
Reliability
A factor often misunderstood is the expected product life of a power supply. While many factors--such as the average load rate, vibration, and ambient temperature--affect the life of a power supply,
a key issue is the amount of heat generated by the internal components. [High power = high heat]
Since power supply manufacturers do not know the end-use conditions, their only recourse is to provide the calculated mean time between failure (MTBF) of the power supply, which, in every case, is limited by the MTBF of the internal electrolytic capacitors. While the power supply, excluding the capacitor, may have a calculated MTBF of 100,000 hours or more,
electrolytic capacitors typically have an MTBF of just 30,000 hours.
Since some manufacturers have developed their own proprietary calculations for MTBF that produce higher values, it is best to compare only using the MTBF as defined in MIL-HDBK-217E. This is a widely accepted, proven, and verifiable calculation.
Another important consideration when evaluating a published product life is whether or not the power supply was rated at its full load.
At less than its full load and with continuous operation, a power supply will likely operate cooler and have no thermal cycling, yielding a much longer life. With all of these contributing factors, the specifying engineer is best advised to rely on the MIL-HDBK-217E method for verifying the MTBF values as long as the engineer recognizes that they also do not account for the short life of the electrolytic capacitors.
http://www.relex.com/resources/prmodels.asp
http://books.google.com/books?...BoHhzarvAYNeu55wV3N-_Q
Note the
capacitor aging factor in this power supply calculator, footnote 4:
http://www.extreme.outervision.../psucalculatorlite.jsp
Note: plugging in your gear, making some guesses about fans, etc, and a mild overclock, 30% capacitor aging: 560W
20: 515W
Personally, I would go for the 620W Corsair....
Or, one of these: power efficient, headroom....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...1025%2CN82E16817151036
Like MDE, I like Seasonic (Corsair 620 is made by Seasonic I think....)
Hmm, a new Corsair 550, to split the difference?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...yCodeValue=1315%3A9966
I personally do NOT like modular cables--one more thing to come loose?--so I would go for the new 550....not modular.
Or this: I have always liked PCPowerCooling units:
http://www.pcpower.com/product...roduct.php?show=S61EPS
And, as with all electronics, heat is the enemy:
http://www.pcpower.com/technology/optemps/
The life of an electronic device is directly related to its operating temperature. Each 10°C (18°F) temperature rise reduces component life by 50%*. Therefore, it is recommended that computer components be kept as cool as possible (within an acceptable noise level) for maximum reliability, longevity, and return on investment.
*
Based on the Arrhenius equation, which says that time to failure is a function of e-Ea/kT where Ea = activation energy of the failure mechanism being accelerated, k = Boltzmann's constant, and T = absolute temperature.
HTH
NXIL
PS: to Xyber: why the p965 chipset motherboard? Looks like P35 is the way to go from what I read.....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...8059%2CN82E16813128050
HTH!
Facebook
Twitter