New PSU

[videogames101]

Rig below, need reliable and cheap, dream huh?

 

[John]

EarthWatts EA-500 - built by Seasonic, 80%+ efficiency, 3 yr. warranty. JG review

The Corsair VX450 is also a solid choice that is only $70 AR. It comes with a 5 yr. warranty and better capacitors. SPCR review

 

[krotchy]

Seasonic made = my advice. As mentioned both the Antec Earthwatts and Corsair VX will do.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

I have a fairly similar system (6800 GS, SB Audigy LS, 4x512mb Corsair Value for differences). I want to upgrade to an 8800 or similar card in the next few months. Would the 2x17A rails on the Earthwatts hold me back, or would the single 33A on the Corsair be better?

 

[nyker96]

I vote for eathwatts as well. cheap and solid. but if you got cash why not Corsair HX 520 get it onsale for 80 bucks. AR.

 

[jawknee530]

i have the same question as constipated. is it better to have two separate 17A 12v rails or a single 33A 12v rail??

 

[MarcVenice]

Doesn't matter really. AFAIK the multiple rails were a marketinghype. Some people will even say a single rail is better, because if you have 2 rails and 1 of them is being underused, you can not allocate that power to another part of your PC where it could be used. In other words, you have 50a at your disposal but some of it is unusable, this won't happen with a single rail PSU.

 

[videogames101]

Originally posted by: nyker96
I vote for eathwatts as well. cheap and solid. but if you got cash why not Corsair HX 520 get it onsale for 80 bucks. AR.

where is it $80?

 

[John]

Originally posted by: jawknee530
i have the same question as constipated. is it better to have two separate 17A 12v rails or a single 33A 12v rail??

A single rail is better since you will not waste any power.

8. ARE MULTIPLE 12-VOLT RAILS BETTER THAN A SINGLE 12-VOLT RAIL?
With all the hype about multiple 12-volt rails (ads claim that two rails is better than one, five is better than four, etc.), you?d think it was a better design. Unfortunately, it?s not!

Here are the facts: A large, single 12-volt rail (without a 240VA limit) can transfer 100% of the 12-volt output from the PSU to the computer, while a multi-rail 12-volt design has distribution losses of up to 30% of the power supply?s rating. Those losses occur because power literally gets ?trapped? on under-utilized rails. For example, if the 12-volt rail that powers the CPU is rated for 17 amps and the CPU only uses 7A, the remaining 10A is unusable, since it is isolated from the rest of the system.

Since the maximum current from any one 12-volt rail of a multiple-rail PSU is limited to 20 amps (240VA / 12 volts = 20 amps), PCs with high-performance components that draw over 20 amps from the same rail are subject to over-current shutdowns. With power requirements for multiple processors and graphics cards continuing to grow, the multiple-rail design, with its 240VA limit per rail, is basically obsolete.

As long as the multi-rail psu's don't have OCP then it's as good as a single rail. Even though the EarthWatts 500 is listed as having two 17A 12V rails, it's really a single 34A rail (no OCP).

 

[jawknee530]

thanks for the great explanation john

 

[DarkManX4lf]

I have two Corsair 500W PSU's and I've had them for almost a year and so far no problems and its very solid and quiet. Plus you get a nice 5 year warranty.

 

[MarcVenice]

I guess my explanation was lacking?

 

[Zepper]

The PSU at the link in my sig would probably be adequate for that as long as your case is a normal mid-tower or smaller - only labeled with two rails for marketing purposes, it's actually a single rail PSU. It's the only one I have left - I was able to snag them around for a song but word is getting around how good those PSUs are. I guess Antec had to make up for the mess with the ChannelWell made units they were selling. People buy much more PSU than they need almost none actually use more than 300W. Of course some of the AT denizens aren't your typical user.

.bh.