Power

[renozi]

With the setup in my sig what kinda power supply should I be using, as in how much wattage?

 

[myocardia]

I wouldn't try to power that with less than a quality, name brand 600 watt.

 

[Pabster]

Wattage alone means diddly squat.

There's quality 450W units that are better than some "600" watt ones.

Go with a high quality unit. I like PC Power & Cooling, but Fortron or Seasonic are OK choices as well.

 

[renozi]

What about COOLER MASTER Real Power RS-450-ACLY ATX12V 450W?

 

[Hidden Hippo]

Well, my PSU can easily handle my rig, so it would probably work, but otherwise I would suggest a quality (Seasonic, Enermax, Tagan etc.) 550W+ power supply for that lot.

 

[renozi]

bump

 

[silentvois]

I wouldn't recommend that cooler master psu, I remember seeing a review on it and it sucked. I dunno if the model you listed is the one without active pfc but either way, it's not a good psu given the parts you are using. If you want a cheap and good power supply, there's always the Enermax 535W All In One that's going for real cheap and is a very good psu. It ranks among the top psu's on dfistreet for even the psu picky DFI motherboards. I have this psu and it's very stable. The only drawback is that it uses 80mm and 92mm fans instead of a single 120mm fan. Also, there were reports of it having pci-e connectors that were improperly molded and some didn't fit in the pci-e connectors on videocards, which is not a problem since you can sand it down or use a 4pin to 6pin converter from the 12v connectors.

 

[n7]

Likely amongst the cheapest (but good PSUs out there):

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=PS-EN0555

 

[silentvois]

The enermax 535w is the same price as that one quoted above, also at ewiz. Anyways, have a look here anc choose from the "A" list. The Enermax, Sparkle, and Fortron psu's are all 535W or 550W with dual 12V rails.

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10854

 

[myocardia]

I don't understand why someone would want to spend upwards of $1,800 on parts, then refuse to spend the money on a power supply that will run it all. Using a power supply that doesn't have enough power does cause other components to fail. Also, something that no noob ever knows is that the very first time you use a power supply, is the most power you'll ever get out of it. As it ages, it will put out less power. Even the absolute best brands put out less power as they age.

I mean, when you can get a 700 watt OCZ psu @ newegg for $129, why would you want to spend $80 for one that may have the power you require right now, but won't in a year? PSU's lose between 15 & 20% of their power for every year that they're used.

When you add the fact that you will be wanting to overclock, a 500 watt psu just isn't going to cut it, no matter how good the quality. A 600 will, for the first year, but do you really want to replace your power supply every year? I wouldn't, especially since you would spend much less by just getting what you need to begin with.

Anyway, the choice is up to you. I'd just recommend that you don't make the most common of all noob mistakes, and try to spend all of your money on components, and skimp on the power supply.

 

[renozi]

First off I wanna thank you myocardia. The reason I asked this question was because I currently have the Cooler Master one. It was from my old sys after the generic psu burnt the molex connector to my 9800pro. So I upgraded to the Cooler Master. I do know that the most important thing in a system is the psu, that's why I'm even asking. When I was planning my build I chose that exact 700watter OCZ you're talking about, but decided to hold off on it and just transfer over the CM. For the past few days since I've gotten all the parts the only thing that really worries me was the psu, and now I know that I was right to worry. I'll upgrade the psu next month because I did spend 2k on my sister's card. SO would going with the 700W OCZ be the choice you recommend? Thanks again myocardia.

 

[myocardia]

Definitely. It's by far the best psu available for less than $200, and it's not much over $100. Add to that the fact that OCZ stands behind everything they sell, and you have a winner. Here's a review of it, if you were wondering: link.

Also, that psu would be able to handle a highly overclocked dual-core cpu, and SLI'd 7900GTX's or Xfire'd X1900XTX's, since it's already doing that in many extreme systems. So, no worries about future output capabilities.

edit: I wouldn't let the psu keep you from putting the system together. Just don't plan on being able to keep that CoolerMaster for very long, or being able to overclock with it. Now, I have to go build my X2 4400 system.

 

[kmtyb]

If your not using SLI - any good clean PowerSupply over 400-450 watts should do.

 

[CCityInstaller]

Originally posted by: silentvois
The enermax 535w is the same price as that one quoted above, also at ewiz. Anyways, have a look here anc choose from the "A" list. The Enermax, Sparkle, and Fortron psu's are all 535W or 550W with dual 12V rails.

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10854

I like how that list mentions the very excellent Antec NeoPower 480 PS as "not recommended for Dualcore/SLI/CrossFire setups, but midrange only." The NP 480 is one of the best power supplies in terms of it's ability to deliever it's rated power with an excellent hold-up time. It is also 80% efficient, which most power supplies would only dream of. I am personally using it in my main rig with no problems at all, and it's going on three years old.

 

[silentvois]

For other motherboards maybe that antec 480w would do, but for DFI boards they're very picky and 480W was the minimum that was recommended to even run a DFI NF4 Ultra-D. If a psu would work well for DFI's it should probably work better for others.

 

[alex123]

Originally posted by: myocardia

... PSU's lose between 15 & 20% of their power for every year that they're used ...

Anyone could explain why PSU loses so much power every year? I just want to learn, that's all...

I guess aging capacitors are the ones to blame?

 

[Brunnis]

Originally posted by: alex123

Originally posted by: myocardia

... PSU's lose between 15 & 20% of their power for every year that they're used ...

Anyone could explain why PSU loses so much power every year? I just want to learn, that's all...

I guess aging capacitors are the ones to blame?

Well, it sounds like a big load of BS to me. So, my three year old Antec TruePower 480W is actually a nice ~280W PSU now? Sorry, not buying that.

It cracks me up seeing the awful PSU recommendations that seem to be popping up everywhere these days... It's not really a good idea to use a too powerful PSU, since efficiency takes a noticeable dive when you're just using a small part of the PSU's capacity. Recommending a 600-700W PSU to someone with a system that could easily make do with a 450W isn't very bright. Not counting the graphics card, the system in question doesn't really use more power than an old mid-range AthlonXP system from a few years back. Adding the power hungry X1900 puts some strain on the PSU, but not that much.