Another help me choose my PSU thread :/

[maddnotez]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/MZfmvK

Current build ^^.

However I may get a gtx 970. I'm thinking gigabyte g1 gaming. I also may OC eventually and get a 212 Evo cooler.

What wattage would I need for either build and also what PSU? I want something good like xfx or Seasonic. Was going to get the Supernova G2 but I can't find one under 750w.

 

[lehtv]

550W would be sufficient to power any ~200W graphics card with a bit of overclocking headroom for both the GPU and the Intel CPU. Up to 650W would be fine too - depends on the price, really.

I'd say it boils down to these two:

XFX TS 550W Gold $75 ($60 AR) @ newegg
Seasonic G650 (SSR-650RM) $86 after promo @ superbiiz

Basically - if you don't do mail-in-rebates, go with the Seasonic.

EDIT: Looking at the rest of your parts list, there are lots of things I'd change, but that calls for a new build thread in General Hardware.

 

[Charlie98]

I've got a 2500K/GTX970 rig upstairs (GAME in sig below) and the 750w PSU is complete overkill; Lehtv is correct in the ~550w PSU.

I also agree with the assessment of the overall build, you could save quite a bit of money in there...

 

[davewnelson]

The list below are all solid choices. All of these are built by Seasonic. It seems the industry has settled on 600W+ which I agree 550W would be sufficient for most builds.

Corsair CMPSU-650TXV2
Corsair CMPSU-750TXV2
Corsair TX650M
Corsair TX750M
Seasonic X-650 (SS-650KM3 Active PFC F3)
Seasonic X-750 (SS-750KM3 Active PFC F3)
Seasonic Platinum-660 (SS-660XP2 Active PFC F3)
Corsair AX760
Corsair CMPSU-750AX
Cooler Master V RS-700-AFBA-G1
XFX Pro Series Black Ed XPS-650W-3XB (P1-650X-XXB9)
XFX Pro Series Black Ed XPS-750W-3XB (P1-750X-XXB9)
XFX Pro Series Black Ed P1-750B-NLG9

Reviews here

 

[lehtv]

It seems the industry has settled on 600W+ which I agree 550W would be sufficient for most builds.

Can you clarify what you mean by the industry settling on 600W+?

 

[Puffnstuff]

I believe he said it based upon how the manufacturers have steadily moved their lowest output unit ratings upward. I personally wouldn't want anything with low 12v rail amp ratings running near capacity. Power supplies lose output with heat and age so if you buy one and run it at the edge then you will probably discover that is will fail sooner than a higher output unit running at a percentage of its rated output. When I bought my ps last year I was running dual water loops and sli so I got something with a high output for lots of headroom. With my current setup it is way overkill but I don't worry about it. I would take current and future needs into consideration before purchasing a ps so you don't end up spending even more money later.

 

[lehtv]

I'm not sure that they have done. Looking at Corsair's units, for example, their original TX series from 2007-8 already had units ranging from 550W to 950W, and their original HX series had a 520W unit in 2006 and a 1000W unit in 2008.

Antec's units today range from 350W (VP350) all the way to 850W-900W (HCG series) in the mainstream Bronze market. Yet they were already several 850W units before 2010, and their smallest units have never been any smaller than 350W in the ATX form factor.

If the industry has somehow settled on 600W+ (whatever that means) then that doesn't seem to be a recent development.

 

[davewnelson]

Puffnstuff has the general idea. I should qualify my statement a bit.

In the past it was easy to find high quality 500-550w units that were awarded silver or higher reviews. I'm not referring to certification but rather qualified reviewers testing the gear and posting a silver or higher ranking. The majority of current quality units are now 650 watt or higher. The market shifted. People buy higher wattage units even though they don't need more than about 500-550w because 'more is better'. This moved the market higher. Having a slightly more powerful unit isn't a bad thing but buying an oversized 850w power supply for a box with one video card tends to change what manufacturers will build because they are trying to match the demand (and perhaps they make more money selling a larger unit). The shift and market consolidation leaves me looking at only 1 OEM I want to buy from and the only quality units are 650w+. All the vendors have low watt power supplies but very few have the same low watt units that are built by a quality OEM with solid parts. That's whats gone.

 

[thegummy]

Puffnstuff has the general idea. I should qualify my statement a bit.

In the past it was easy to find high quality 500-550w units that were awarded silver or higher reviews. I'm not referring to certification but rather qualified reviewers testing the gear and posting a silver or higher ranking. The majority of current quality units are now 650 watt or higher. The market shifted. People buy higher wattage units even though they don't need more than about 500-550w because 'more is better'. This moved the market higher. Having a slightly more powerful unit isn't a bad thing but buying an oversized 850w power supply for a box with one video card tends to change what manufacturers will build because they are trying to match the demand (and perhaps they make more money selling a larger unit). The shift and market consolidation leaves me looking at only 1 OEM I want to buy from and the only quality units are 650w+. All the vendors have low watt power supplies but very few have the same low watt units that are built by a quality OEM with solid parts. That's whats gone.

I don't think it's a case of foolishly thinking "more is better", rather that if they buy a 650W and only needed a 550W there is little or no down side, whereas if they buy less than their machine needs it can cause problems. There isn't much of a price difference between the 2 so a lot of people would rather be safe than sorry.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

The majority of current quality units are now 650 watt or higher.

I have to wonder if location has something to do with this.

I was fumbling around in the last few days, power supply shopping, and discovered that certain manufacturers seem to be much more predominant in Europe (and possibly elsewhere), with little or no presence in the USA.

I discovered that Superflower has a 430 watt fanless model that I can't find in the USA. I can't find much by Superflower at all, although some of their products are sold under the Rosewill brand--not the 430 watt model.

Perhaps the tendency to buy 650 plus watts PSUs when fewer watts would be fine is more common in the USA, for cultural, social, and economic reasons---and that the marketers are simply responding to this tendency. Probably glad to do it as I assume the profit margins are higher on the higher wattage units.