Best PSU for under $200 for overclocking and "SLI"

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

I know this has been asked of PSU's before but I am looking for a good PSU and my budget is around $200 dollars. I know, I know I could get one for $80 and if you all show me a good one for that I will get it, but I am looking for a little higher end, but not PC Power & Cooling high end, LOL (well if I have a lapse of sanity maybe).

Rig I am putting together

Koolance water cooling tower (already have it)
AMD 64 3000 rev E. overclocked (budgeted for duacore 4400+ when available already)
DFI Nfoce 4 SLI
One 6800GT overclocked (another may be added, I am currently unsure about the real value of SLI and by the time I want to get one the G70 will be out offering more performance on one card than two 6800GT's in SLI LOL)
Patriot 2gigs ram at DDR 400 2-3-2-5
Two Raptors non Raid (one for Windows and one for Linux) already have
Two larger hard-drives (still debating for archive and data files)
Audigy 2 (already have)
DVD RW blah blah

 

[CalvinHobbes]

http://www.newegg.com/OldVersion/app/Vi...Desc.asp?description=17-103-931&depa=1

Better yet:
http://www.newegg.com/OldVersion/app/Vi...Desc.asp?description=17-103-932&depa=1

More better
http://www.newegg.com/OldVersion/app/Vi...Desc.asp?description=17-103-918&depa=1

 

[imported_Kensai]

Energmax Noisetaker 600W SLI.

 

[BurnItDwn]

This may turn in to an Enermax vs Antec debate ... heh, Both Antec and Enermax are excellent brands. I personally have an Enermax, so I may be biased a bit towards them.

For $99 you can't go wrong with this ...
http://www.newegg.com/OldVersion/app/Vi...Desc.asp?description=17-103-512&depa=1

A bit more power for $122
http://www.newegg.com/OldVersion/app/Vi...Desc.asp?description=17-103-437&depa=1

MORE power even?
http://www.newegg.com/OldVersion/app/Vi...Desc.asp?description=17-194-001&depa=1



That being said, SMP 6800 Ultras, a dual core A64 or P4, 4 or 5 hard drives, a few optical drives, and all the other stuff inside a Modern PC, will run fine off of a quality 450 watt PS. If you want to go overboard so that when "quad core" CPUs come out in X amount of years ... or in case you decide you need to pack 23 hard drives into one box, then go with more, however, if you just want stabillity with your current SLI machine, I don't see any reason to go with a $200 PSU when the $99 ones will get the job done and still leave a bit of room to grow.

 

[SynthDude2001]

If your budget is really up to $200, I wholeheartedly recommend the Seasonic S12 600W. I just bought one last week for $164.99 at MicroCenter.

 

[SVT Cobra]

520w Modstream or powerstream....

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Son of a N00b
520w Modstream or powerstream....

Not Modstream - they are lower end topower units and are not as high quality. Even OCZ 420 has higher rating on the 12V rail than the 520 modstream. He could always get OCZ 600 watts powerstream... but

OP - "One 6800GT overclocked (another may be added, I am currently unsure about the real value of SLI and by the time I want to get one the G70 will be out offering more performance on one card than two 6800GT's in SLI LOL)"

so before dropping large amounts, think this through. The above provided recommendations are excellent in the 100 price range. I doubt it's worth it to spend $200 on a PSU. I think even Enermax 495 wil do the job. Also given that you budgeted already for a dual-core cpu, it seems you upgrade often. I doubt SLI will be of use to you then because new generation cards will be faster across the board not just in selected games suported by sli (and will be less buggy). On that note, I would recommend getting x800xl pcie for now since I dont see a reason to spend more $$$ on a higher end cards at this point (and 6800gt pcie is more expensive). .....also 2 gigs of ram is excessive for gaming alone.

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: Kensai
Energmax Noisetaker 600W SLI.

Agreed.

 

[wfn]

PCP&C, Sparkle, OCZ high end models.

 

[Woofmeister]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
If your budget is really up to $200, I wholeheartedly recommend the Seasonic S12 600W. I just bought one last week for $164.99 at MicroCenter.

What he said.

 

[Chosonman]

$200.00 for a power supply?

That's a budget for you? I wish I had $200.00 for a CPU. I'm so envious of some people.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Well, I picked the Energmax because it was a certified SLI PSU.
And it wasn't as loud as the blasted PC Power & Cooling one.

 

[SVT Cobra]

SLI certified is marketing BS, i mean is it that hard to use an adapter?

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Woofmeister

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
If your budget is really up to $200, I wholeheartedly recommend the Seasonic S12 600W. I just bought one last week for $164.99 at MicroCenter.

What he said.

Teh winnar!

Seriously, though, a ~500W model should be fine. You do not need a 600W PSU. Even if you had two 100W graphics cards (and the 6800GT uses more like 70-80W unless you overclock/volt it), and a high-end AMD dual-core CPU, that would be about 300-350W on the +12V line. That's about 30A at most.

The S12-600 has 36A on the two +12V lines (same as the more expensive Enermax 600W), the S12-500 has 33A, and the S12-430 has 29A.

 

[Zepper]

If you need to spend that kind of money then a Zippy/Emacs 600Watter would be one to look at.

OTOH...

The Sparkle FSP550-60PLG is plenty good.

Though the XClio 450 made by Channel Well and selling for under $60. shipped (newegg) would be all you really need. You can spend $100 or $200. or more if you want - I don't mind other people throwing their money away - some of it may land over this way...

.bh.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Originally posted by: Woofmeister

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
If your budget is really up to $200, I wholeheartedly recommend the Seasonic S12 600W. I just bought one last week for $164.99 at MicroCenter.

What he said.

Teh winnar!

Seriously, though, a ~500W model should be fine. You do not need a 600W PSU. Even if you had two 100W graphics cards (and the 6800GT uses more like 70-80W unless you overclock/volt it), and a high-end AMD dual-core CPU, that would be about 300-350W on the +12V line. That's about 30A at most.

The S12-600 has 36A on the two +12V lines (same as the more expensive Enermax 600W), the S12-500 has 33A, and the S12-430 has 29A.

Seasonic++ (I have a 430 and synth has a 600 :heart: if you're wondering)

 

[Baked]

If I have the money, I'd buy the Seasonic S12 600W too. $159 @ SVC.com.

 

[Lalakai]

this is a very well built unit, with excellent voltages and very very consistent outputs. It pushes the limits of your budget, but allowable. Not flashy but makes up for it in performance Power Supply

 

[Arcanedeath]

I'd also rec. the Seasonic S12 600watt PSU, it has 2 connectors for SLI so no need to waste molexes, I got one from Ewiz.com when it was on sale for 134 and change, great buy and it's pretty much silent and still provides enough juice for my overclocked system, it's prolly the most efficent of all the 600 watt + PSU's