Is this unit future proof?

[Fire&Blood]

Preparing to build a rig some time down the road but trying to ease the job by buying components I consider future proof now, like case, accessories and peripherals.

Bought a used Antec 850W signature today. Described as slightly used, with all the packaging & accessories. Durability aside since I can't confirm yet how old the unit actually is, do you think it will perform well with CPU's and GPU's that will be out 2 years from now?

 

[TemjinGold]

Given the kind of systems you tend to build according to your signature, your Antec is just as future proof.

You do realize power requirements go DOWN over time, not UP, right?

 

[philipma1957]

a quality 850 watt antec will run any 2x 7970 cards and any i7 ivy or haswell cpu oc'd. along with a few ssd's hdds sound cards etc.

I am running a 660 watt seasonic with a 2500k and a pair of 7970 gpus 24/7 bitcoin mining. No problems .

I underclock a bit not for the sake of the psu but for the sake of the gpu's . So if a 660 watt psu can do this your 850 psu could do more. I would think you could run 3x 7970 gpus and an i7 3770k on the psu that you purchased

 

[Blain]

Bought a used Antec 850W signature today. Described as slightly used, with all the packaging & accessories. Durability aside since I can't confirm yet how old the unit actually is,
do you think it will perform well with CPU's and GPU's that will be out 2 years from now?

How often does your incoming power blackout, brownout or suffer surges?

 

[Fire&Blood]

I moved here 6 months ago but so far, power has been very clean. May usually means a few tornado touchdowns and power outages, rest of the year seems to be without issues. Air conditioner kicking in doesn't do anything, rock solid, I used to notice it have an impact at the old place.

I bought it for $75 after reading Jonny's 2008 review, seeing it was the first unit to ever earn the 10 performance grade got me slightly aroused. Common sense tells me it should fare well despite that model's age. I kinda had to grab it, considering it's only ~25% of it's MSRP.

The sig rig was built as HTPC. This new one will be quite the opposite, I think whatever full tower I go with I could probably hide my current case inside it lol. While my 520W will likely be able to power most of it, I'm pretty sure I will go with a SLI/crossfire setup and a OC'ed CPU, that should be too much for 520w to handle, especially long term. I read that never drawing more than 70% of PSU's rating pays dividends in life span, this unit is supposedly very very quiet at <600W draw.

 

[dma0991]

Sounds more like you need a UPS than a better PSU. 850W is a little bit too much for an overclocked system with dual GPUs. Even Guru3D only recommends a 750W PSU for a dual HD7970 Crossfire or dual GTX680 SLI. I believe that you will need to be near 70% or slightly below 80% load to get the most out of the PSU, anything less and efficiency drops.

Since its already bought, there isn't much to debate as to whether you've made the right choice. Yes, it is future proof for a single CPU + dual GPU setup.

 

[Meghan54]

I believe that you will need to be near 70% or slightly below 80% load to get the most out of the PSU, anything less and efficiency drops.

And you are incorrect in your thinking. Almost without exception, modern power supplies hit their peak efficiency at around 50-60% of rated output. That Antec 850 Signature, unfortunately, tends to peak in efficiency below 50% of rated output.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story2&reid=101

Of course, remember, that ps is now what would be considered an older design. Newer designs have higher efficiency when designed for that, but the fact remains that typically power supplies show their highest efficiency at around 50% of rated output. Even the new Corsair AX1200i, a brand new design by Flextronics, peaked its efficiency at almost exactly 50% of rated output. (And I'm looking at hot load tests, cold testing is rather pointless due to the fact the vast majority of power supplies are enclosed in a case and not run open air.)

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story3&reid=300


And, OP, like someone once said, if you want futureproof, save your money and spend it in the future.

 

[dma0991]

And you are incorrect in your thinking.

Hmm..you're right based on OP's PSU and majority of PSUs out there but doesn't explain how this PSU only reaches its peak efficiency at 78% load in a hot test. :hmm: While I don't have a large sample of PSUs that exhibit this behavior and the majority favors the 50-60% load max efficiency, it just goes to show that there are PSUs that do have a max efficiency of 70-80% load.

 

[Fire&Blood]

There are modern units out there with higher efficiency/lower monthly bill but the price difference of $25 would require a long time to pay off. On the other hand, the $100 price range units don't perform quite as well. Maybe I'm just blindly defending my purchase but I honesty think there is some merit to that.


As for future proofing, to an extent it can be done. Obviously one simply has to wait for the bare bone to hit the market but case and power supply give some leeway IMO. The entire industry is all about "cover all bases" strategy, I just don't see how OEM's would suddenly release mass market 13" GPU's or any other product that would break compatibility with >80% of the market.

I agree that 850W is likely an overkill but it just seemed insignificant compared to everything I was getting for $75.

 

[toyota]

there is nothing wrong with overkill or future proofing as long as you are not over paying for it. my psu is WAY more than I need but it was only 60 bucks on sale and allows me to run any gpu that I want with plenty of wiggle room. the 520 watt Antec Neo Eco psu that I previously owned had to ramp up the fan and work like crazy to power my system with an oced gtx570.