PSU to handle E8400 and 8800gt

[ChaoZ]

I'm planning to build a new computer and no idea what power supply to get (that's quiet). I hope to get one for <$100. I don't really want to be cheap on this part, but is that enough to get a quality one?

 

[DSF]

That's plenty for a quality power supply.

Anything in the 400-500W range will be plenty for your computer. Two good PSUs in that neighborhood are the Antec Earthwatts 430W, and the Corsair 450VX. There are plenty of other good options though.

 

[imported_Scoop]

Well once again the power consumption goes down and the E8400 consumes around 30W under load when stock and 3W when idle. You could say 8800GT consumes 105W just to be safe. Add in a couple of HDDs and rest of the system and you have a rig consuming ~170W under full load. So you want to OC the living hell out of the CPU and the GPU and you probably end up with a consumption of 230W at max. I'd say you're pretty well off with a Seasonic S12II-330. Unless you feel like spending extra for more unused wattage.

 

[MarcVenice]

You can get a Antec Earthwatts 430w for 30$ AR. And the Corsair 450vx can be had for 60$ or less AR. The S12 II 330w will also cost roughly 50-60$, so better to get the corsair, and have some more headroom. And I severely doubt the e8400 is going to consume 30w under load, that would be like 50w less then previous dualcores ?

 

[imported_Scoop]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
You can get a Antec Earthwatts 430w for 30$ AR. And the Corsair 450vx can be had for 60$ or less AR. The S12 II 330w will also cost roughly 50-60$, so better to get the corsair, and have some more headroom. And I severely doubt the e8400 is going to consume 30w under load, that would be like 50w less then previous dualcores ?

I thought someone would challenge my statements but take a look at the xbit labs review

http://xbitlabs.com/articles/c...nt/intel-wolfdale.html

It's actually kind of interesting that Intel is giving the same TDP rating for wolfdale as conroe, when they clearly acknowledge the power consumption decrease since the retail heatsink that ships with wofldale is half the size of the old one.

 

[MarcVenice]

I still challenge them: "Everything we have just said indicates that CPU temperature measurements still offer pretty subjective judgment. Therefore, we decided to pay due attention to power consumption tests, too, that should fully reveal the advantages of the new 45nm core. During our experiments we measured the current going though the processor voltage regulator circuitry. This way we could estimate the actual CPU power consumption disregarding the losses in the voltage regulator circuitry."

First of, it's an estimate. And, it doesn't take into account the memory controller located on the NB, which is on die with AMD cpu's. 170w under full load is therefor untrue and I wouldn't use it to recommend PSU's to people. After Oc-ing, I'd estimate the power usage around 250w or so. A little to much to be comfortable with a 330w PSU if you ask me. Hence I recommended the almost equally prices Earthwatts or Corsair 450vx, which both offer PLENTY of power.

 

[ChaoZ]

Ok, I'll use something around the 400w range.

 

[MarcVenice]

This one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817371006 or this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817371007 Cheap, yet reliable and efficient and powerfull enough.

 

[imported_Scoop]

I did take into account the other components in the ~170W estimate, and I never did recommend a 170W PSU, did I? If you can get the VX450 for the price of the S12II-330 then I'll approve, but not for the Antec Earthwatts series. They aren't the same quality even if made by Seasonic.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: Scoop
I did take into account the other components in the ~170W estimate, and I never did recommend a 170W PSU, did I? If you can get the VX450 for the price of the S12II-330 then I'll approve, but not for the Antec Earthwatts series. They aren't the same quality even if made by Seasonic.

Lesser quality caps aside, the EarthWatts is still rated for full power output @ 50C and has always received stellar reviews from reputable websites. I'd take an EarthWatts 380 over an S12II-330 any day. Until we start seeing a massive EarthWatts failure rate due to the cap selection then we're simply speculating, right?

 

[tomoyo]

Originally posted by: Scoop
I did take into account the other components in the ~170W estimate, and I never did recommend a 170W PSU, did I? If you can get the VX450 for the price of the S12II-330 then I'll approve, but not for the Antec Earthwatts series. They aren't the same quality even if made by Seasonic.

Seeing as there are a lot of earthwatts out there, it seems the number of complaints is pretty low. This is unlike the old antec smartpower/truepower series which were notorius for bad caps. Even if the build quality doesn't compare to seasonic retail/corsair, it's obviously a quite decent psu that can power a moderate build stably.

 

[bob8701]

antec switch the oem factroy to make Psu for them, my company send 20 units with antec smartpower 400w, and 8 of them returned in a year with fail to boot, the rest came home about 18 montheswith psu problem. Antec got wise and select seasonic to make earthwatt. it is a smart move.
anyway I thought we should pay more attention on max current allowed on 12 volts than total wattage.