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Is a Corsair 400 enough for my build?

B

blackrain

Golden Member
I have the following components:

Silverstone LC13B-E ATX case
Biostar 790GX
AMD Phenom X3 720 BE
Sapphire 4850 video card
4GB Mushkin PC 6400 memory
1 DVD drive
Possibly 1 Bluray reader or burner in the near future
Temp HD (plan to add between a 640GB and 1TB)
3 case fans


I am looking in the $50 range, but this may be too little power. I would rather wait for another deal if the Corsair 400 is just barely enough

I plan to try to OC the cpu to 3.0Ghz
I won't be doing a crossfire. As far as I can tell its not needed. I can play Fallout 3 at max settings on my plasma TV
 
Your machine will pull about 320 watts @ full load with that CPU OCed to 3.2GHz, and that's a conservative estimate. That will push the PSU to 75-80%, which the Corsair can easily handle on any given day. Since you won't be running max load all the time, just for several hours each day, it isn't much of a concern. Heck, you even have a little room for a mild OC on the GPU.


In other words, you should be in good shape.
 
Originally posted by: MagickMan
Your machine will pull about 320 watts @ full load with that CPU OCed to 3.2GHz, and that's a conservative estimate. That will push the PSU to 75-80%, which the Corsair can easily handle on any given day. Since you won't be running max load all the time, just for several hours each day, it isn't much of a concern. Heck, you even have a little room for a mild OC on the GPU.


In other words, you should be in good shape.
Click to expand...

How do you know it will pull about 320 watts @ full load ?
 
Because in most reviews rigs with dual/quads and 4850s pull between 200 and 250w from the wall (with even less actually being put out by the psu, which is what matters)


http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22
http://www.techspot.com/review...adeon-4850/page10.html
http://arstechnica.com/hardwar...00-series-review.ars/7
http://www.tomshardware.com/re...n-hd-4850,1957-20.html
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/731/17/


So 400w is more than plenty. Feel free to overclock to your hearts content
 
Originally posted by: yh125d
Because in most reviews rigs with dual/quads and 4850s pull between 200 and 250w from the wall (with even less actually being put out by the psu, which is what matters)


http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22
http://www.techspot.com/review...adeon-4850/page10.html
http://arstechnica.com/hardwar...00-series-review.ars/7
http://www.tomshardware.com/re...n-hd-4850,1957-20.html
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/731/17/


So 400w is more than plenty. Feel free to overclock to your hearts content
Click to expand...

Ok so my UPS reading is correct then ? My system is similar and only draws 250 to 260 watts when first turned on and not being used for gaming. Once I start to game it goes up to 350 to 360 watts. Is that pretty normal and would that mean my UPS is giving me the correct watt use readings then ?

People in this other thread are telling me otherwise. http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=84&threadid=2306048
 
Originally posted by: pcslookout
Originally posted by: yh125d
Because in most reviews rigs with dual/quads and 4850s pull between 200 and 250w from the wall (with even less actually being put out by the psu, which is what matters)


http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22
http://www.techspot.com/review...adeon-4850/page10.html
http://arstechnica.com/hardwar...00-series-review.ars/7
http://www.tomshardware.com/re...n-hd-4850,1957-20.html
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/731/17/


So 400w is more than plenty. Feel free to overclock to your hearts content
Click to expand...

Ok so my UPS reading is correct then ? My system is similar and only draws 250 to 260 watts when first turned on and not being used for gaming. Once I start to game it goes up to 350 to 360 watts. Is that pretty normal and would that mean my UPS is giving me the correct watt use readings then ?

People in this other thread are telling me otherwise. http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=84&threadid=2306048
Click to expand...

It could be...but it might not be. Kill-A-Watt and UPS readings can be inaccurate, that doesn't necessarily mean they always are...it depends on the PSU you use with them.. BTW the sites linked above mostly use a Kill-A-Watt.

The only way to know if the Kill-A-Watt is accurate or not is to have expensive testing equipment...and know the actual DC draw.
 
Originally posted by: pcslookout
How do you know it will pull about 320 watts @ full load ?
Click to expand...

There are PSU calculators all over the web. Plus, I've built similar systems and have seen an almost identical machine running with an EW380.

320W would be a worst case scenario, it's a conservative estimate. So, yeah, the Corsair shouldn't even blink.
 
Originally posted by: pcslookout
Originally posted by: yh125d
Because in most reviews rigs with dual/quads and 4850s pull between 200 and 250w from the wall (with even less actually being put out by the psu, which is what matters)


http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=22
http://www.techspot.com/review...adeon-4850/page10.html
http://arstechnica.com/hardwar...00-series-review.ars/7
http://www.tomshardware.com/re...n-hd-4850,1957-20.html
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/731/17/


So 400w is more than plenty. Feel free to overclock to your hearts content
Click to expand...

Ok so my UPS reading is correct then ? My system is similar and only draws 250 to 260 watts when first turned on and not being used for gaming. Once I start to game it goes up to 350 to 360 watts. Is that pretty normal and would that mean my UPS is giving me the correct watt use readings then ?

People in this other thread are telling me otherwise. http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=84&threadid=2306048
Click to expand...

It depends. To be honest I don't know how accurate UPS meters typically are, but unless I were to hear a review from a quality site I probably would tend not to trust them as much as kill-a-watts, which are pretty industry standard
 
Originally posted by: yh125d
I probably would tend not to trust them as much as kill-a-watts, which are pretty industry standard
Click to expand...

Kill-A-Watt cost $26...if they are an "industry standard" it is only among web-sites too cheap to buy something better.
 
Originally posted by: HOOfan 1
Originally posted by: yh125d
I probably would tend not to trust them as much as kill-a-watts, which are pretty industry standard
Click to expand...

Kill-A-Watt cost $26...if they are an "industry standard" it is only among web-sites too cheap to buy something better.
Click to expand...

It's just the most common meter/the one you usually hear about people using. I never said it was the best or most accurate 😉
 
Originally posted by: yh125d

It depends. To be honest I don't know how accurate UPS meters typically are, but unless I were to hear a review from a quality site I probably would tend not to trust them as much as kill-a-watts, which are pretty industry standard
Click to expand...

UPS are just as bad as Kill-A-Watts. From the PSU editor over at HardOCP:
Yes and a quick search would turn up this topic a million times over. Here is the recap:

1) APFC can fool Kill-A-Watts into giving you abnormally low readings (some times giving better than 100% efficiency)

2) Power supplies derate with temperature anywhere from 2w/c above a nominal rated at value to 10w/c.

3) Kill-A-Watt's and most power meters sample too slowly to catch transient loads (the Transient load from our tests is 117w and is COMPLETELY missed by Kill-A-Watts).

4) Power supplies last longer if you stay in the 40% to 60% range of their output.

5) power supplies are quieter if you stay in the 40% to 60% range of their output.

6) Power supplies are cooler if you stay in the 40% to 60% range of their output.

The power meters in UPS software are just as bad. You have to spend some change before you get anywhere near an accurate power meter when your PSU has APFC.
Click to expand...
 
I would not run that system on a 400w but thats just my opinion, i tend to go for overkill on the PSU as i dont want it running at over 80% as this will just make its fan always maxed out(usually loud) and get it very hot all the time(reducing its efficancy). I would consider a quality 550-650w PSU for your build as this should also leave you enough headroom to go CF in the future and you wont be stressing your PSU all the time.
 
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