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Power supply advice needed

colonelciller

colonelciller

Senior member
Hi all,
I'm in need of some advice on a power supply. I've been working on configuring this build for weeks and now I'm at the point of choosing a power supply and I'm not ashamed to admit that I am clueless about power supplies. 😕

I am here to humbly ask for advice on what I should do to power this build.

  • I'll be purchasing within 2 weeks.
  • No overclocking planned
  • Use: CAD/AfterEffects/photoshop/gaming on the side (nothing fancy)


Wants:
 *quiet power supply... the quieter the better 😎
*good power supply (protect the investment )

Should I go modular?

Build Info
CPU: 1x Xeon E5-1620 (TDP 130w)
Mobo: ASUS Z9PE-D16/ 2L
HDDs: 4x 3TB WD Red
SSDs: 1x 500GB (samsung 840)
DVD- standard DVD/RW (already have)
MISC: multi-format SD card reader (already have)
RAM: 4x 16GB (Samsung 1600 ECC/REG)
Video: 1x Radeon HD7950
Case: not sure
Keyboard: well used USB "backllit" razer lycosa

How would the power requirements change with the identical build above but switching out the single above CPU for 2x 130w-150w TDP E5-Xeons?

Thanks in advance 🙂
 
Where are you buying from?

Power requirement for the dual CPU rig is minimum 650W with two EPS (= 8-pin CPU) connectors. 750W is good too.
 
Last edited:
Deltaechoe said:
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

This is a great tool to get a rough idea of what you should get as far as power supplies go

I would say for for at least a 550 - 600 for the initial build and add 150 to that if you want to add a second cpu
Click to expand...

Thank link intrigued me (offers a good input to calculate needed power), so I googled around a bit, and hit on this post : http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2005/08/why-estimate-when-you-can-measure.html

That post is from 2005, but he did some actual measurement to find that real consumption by a running machine was much less than expected. When directed to that page above on outervision.com to see the theoretical wattage for his rig, the author came back with
The calculator is OK, but it's telling me my recommended PSU wattage is 248w for the system described in the post (see top of this page). That's way, WAY over the actual maximum measured consumption of 133w with two instances of Prime95 running.
Click to expand...

So - real life consumption is even less than calculated by adding up the individual wattages of the various parts (at least, it was in 2005, but not sure it'd be any different now), and dramatically so when compared to conventional wisdom for power needs...:wub:!

And this thread has people reporting pretty low consumption when measured : http://www.silentpcreview.com/forum...id=e8f1a35d7b8977150d6e3e434a098c1d&start=270

Do we have have any such actual measurements posted here in AT? <I know, I should have searched first...>
 
The calculator calculates the recommended PSU wattage, it does not estimate power consumption itself. You should never run a system on a unit only capable of deliver just as much as power as your system consumes you need wattage overhead for optimal performance and basically so that you don't kill the unit in the long term.
 
Here's what you should buy, but see reasons below:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151102

Your single CPU system would use about 400w at load. The dual CPU system would use about 550w. That's actually very power-hungry as compared to what people typically run around here. I'd say a 750w PSU would legitimately be warranted if dual CPUs are your plan in order to keep it from being stressed.

But newegg has the Seasonic x850 on sale for $110 this weekend, linked above, making it cheaper than even lower-end 750w units.

That's your obvious choice - I'd jump on that now and not worry too much about being slightly overpowered.
 
Termie said:
Here's what you should buy, but see reasons below:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151102

Your single CPU system would use about 400w at load. The dual CPU system would use about 550w. That's actually very power-hungry as compared to what people typically run around here. I'd say a 750w PSU would legitimately be warranted if dual CPUs are your plan in order to keep it from being stressed.

But newegg has the Seasonic x850 on sale for $110 this weekend, linked above, making it cheaper than even lower-end 750w units.

That's your obvious choice - I'd jump on that now and not worry too much about being slightly overpowered.
Click to expand...
wow thanks! just to make sure, i'm guessing that i'd be ok with the cpu power because it has:
  • 1 8 pin
  • 1 4x4 pin

and the 4x4 can substitute for an 8 pin? just double checking
 
colonelciller said:
wow thanks! just to make sure, i'm guessing that i'd be ok with the cpu power because it has:
  • 1 8 pin
  • 1 4x4 pin
and the 4x4 can substitute for an 8 pin? just double checking
Click to expand...

Yes. These are what you will use for mainboard and cpu:

1 x Main connector (20+4Pin, 600mm)
1 x 4+4 Pin EPS 12V (650mm)
1 x 8 Pin EPS 12V (650mm)
 
coffeejunkee said:
Yes. These are what you will use for mainboard and cpu:

1 x Main connector (20+4Pin, 600mm)
1 x 4+4 Pin EPS 12V (650mm)
1 x 8 Pin EPS 12V (650mm)
Click to expand...

Exactly. EPS is actually a server standard, so that's exactly what you want with your setup.

And to clarify, the X850 for $110 is a weekend-only promotion, using the code on the Newegg page: $40 off w/ promo code EMCXTXM25, ends 3/10

That's an absolute no-brainer over every other PSU the OP could buy right now.
 
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