power supply suggestion

[boom314]

so my power supply fried the other day. What do you guys recomend as a replacement? My current setup is as follows. Phenom 9850 Black quad core, 4gb ram (upgrading to 8gb if i can find a matching set or something better), 2 SATA HDDs, DVD-R, GeForce 9600GT.

I dont plan on any upgrades anytime soon except for maybe water cooling.

 

[BoomerD]

XFX, Corsair, SeaSonic.

Unless you're trying to do it on the cheap, I'd get something around 650 watts even though your rig SHOULD do fine on less. The price for the 650 watt units is usually pretty good (<$100)

 

[PreferLinux]

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

here you go
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3067296&amp;SID=

More than enough

 

[boom314]

thanks for your suggestions. I have used that calculator before but i always prefer a person over a calculator

 

[BoomerD]

That calculator is pretty accurate for estimating the needs of the system. None will be 100&#37; accurate, but I'd rather have one overestimate than underestimate...
Personally, if the calculator says I need 450 watts...I buy 600 or more so that I'm not loading the PSU to it's max capacity...and to give a bit of headroom for overclocking or new hardware.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

With your configuration I am guessing you idle between 99 - 150w and bounce up to maybe 200w here and there for a short short period of time.

Grab a Kill-A-Watt reader for 16$ to go along with your PSU... read my sig for my idle watt usage...

fans and HDD's tach on the watts.. drives usually ~ 7-10w and fans maybe 5w?

when choosing a PSU, you want to be in the most efficient part of the curve range.. even with my 99w idle machine, it is under the most efficient range.. my Seasonic X 650 is > 90&#37; efficient from 138-588w and the ripple suppression is among the very best.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

You dont need a calculator. We are better than a calculator

 

[wuliheron]

so my power supply fried the other day. What do you guys recomend as a replacement? My current setup is as follows. Phenom 9850 Black quad core, 4gb ram (upgrading to 8gb if i can find a matching set or something better), 2 SATA HDDs, DVD-R, GeForce 9600GT.

I dont plan on any upgrades anytime soon except for maybe water cooling.

For a gaming rig its safest to get a single 12v rail power supply from a reputable manufacturer like corsair, seasonic, or antec. Most newer graphics cards recommend at least a 500-600w psu for a single card. If you want to pinch pennies, then you'll just have to use a calculator and read reviews.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

For a gaming rig its safest to get a single 12v rail power supply from a reputable manufacturer like corsair, seasonic, or antec. Most newer graphics cards recommend at least a 500-600w psu for a single card. If you want to pinch pennies, then you'll just have to use a calculator and read reviews.

Mostly correct but the rails are there for OCP protection. Its good to have multiple rails or OCP on a PSU thats 750W and above. Anything lower it doesnt matter its not much of use.

OCP is Over Current Protection btw and most quality psu have that and most quality psus suppply most of their rated power on the 12v.

One thing that the people forgot to mention about the PSU calculator is the end total. You must multiply it by 1.5 or 2 to achieve the psus maximum effeciency and have some headroom for possible upgrades. So you wont have to go buy a psu again.

What I mean by the effeciency. Well I think almost everyone know this by know but a psu only runs its max effeciency when its running at 40-60 percent load. So people normally will use 50 percent. So that means if your system needs 300W you must look in the region of 600W to get the best out of the psu. It will run at a higher effeciency, you powerbill will be lower and there will be less heat and you have headroom for overclocking and upgrades etc etc.

 

[boom314]

thanks for all the helpful responses. I found out that the power supply is still under its 3 year warranty so its headed off to get repaired or replaced.

 

[VirtualLarry]

What brand was that PSU? You might still want to replace it with a nicer one, and sell that one when you get it back.