Recommend me a PSU

[NovoCainE]

currently using an Enlight 500W PSU

adding more HDD's and i'm kinda worried whether or not i should swap the PSU with a higher rated one

-currently the stuff in my box are
Athlon X2 4000+
4 sticks of 1 GB Kingston Valueram DD2800
2 SATA Seagate 160 GB
1 SATA WDC 150 GB
1 SATA Maxtor 160 GB
2 IDE Optical Drive
an Nforce4 mobo(non SLI)
8800GT
5 Fans (7 with the CPU n Chipset Fan, 8 with the VGA)
the system is running stable, almost 24/7
i wanna add two more 80GB IDE Drive i had lying around, should i swap the PSU with a bigger one ???

what do u guys think
thanks

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: NovoCainE
currently using an Enlight 500W PSU

adding more HDD's and i'm kinda worried whether or not i should swap the PSU with a higher rated one

-currently the stuff in my box are
Athlon X2 4000+
4 sticks of 1 GB Kingston Valueram DD2800
2 SATA Seagate 160 GB
1 SATA WDC 150 GB
1 SATA Maxtor 160 GB
2 IDE Optical Drive
an Nforce4 mobo(non SLI)
8800GT
5 Fans (7 with the CPU n Chipset Fan, 8 with the VGA)
the system is running stable, almost 24/7
i wanna add two more 80GB IDE Drive i had lying around, should i swap the PSU with a bigger one ???

what do u guys think
thanks

http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...howthread.php?t=108088

get something from tier 1 or 2, and you should be fine. Running 6 hard drives, might stress your PSU. What is the voltage and settings on the cpu and board?

 

[imported_Scoop]

Hard drives draw something like 13W under stress if they're really bad so it's not really a big hit if you add two of them to a system. And let me ask you, how often do you stress all your harddrives along with your cpu and gpu to the max? You'd have to do something crazy to stress like 6 harddrives along with everything else to accomplish full load.

http://www.digit-life.com/arti.../storage/hddpower.html
At the very bottom is the power consumption under intensive use chart.

Another thing people are somehow shooting higher than they should is the consumption of case fans. OK you've got 5 fans, biggest draw I've seen in reviews is 3.45W for a 80x80 Delta, so let's say you've got 5 of those, and just for fun let's make it 4W a piece so it's a 20W draw.

So, really, you're doing just fine with that 500W PSU.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Scoop
Hard drives draw something like 13W under stress if they're really bad so it's not really a big hit if you add two of them to a system. And let me ask you, how often do you stress all your harddrives along with your cpu and gpu to the max? You'd have to do something crazy to stress like 6 harddrives along with everything else to accomplish full load.

http://www.digit-life.com/arti.../storage/hddpower.html
At the very bottom is the power consumption under intensive use chart.

Another thing people are somehow shooting higher than they should is the consumption of case fans. OK you've got 5 fans, biggest draw I've seen in reviews is 3.45W for a 80x80 Delta, so let's say you've got 5 of those, and just for fun let's make it 4W a piece so it's a 20W draw.

So, really, you're doing just fine with that 500W PSU.

well i was more calculating it this way.

Assuming his cpu draw is around 1.4vcore. On an AMD that is roughly around 120-130W. The TDP i remember is a bit higher then a C2D. Unless he has one of those energy efficient AMD's.

Now his videocard will draw around 130-140 also. The TDP i believe is near a 8800GTS. So if you ad the two up it gets around 270.

Now each hard drive, him having 6, will draw very little when not used, but when accessing or disk writting, he will have about 3-4 drives going on at the same time depending on raid. I believe the draw on power when accessing is greater. So we add a bit more.


Now his PSU is a Tier4 PSU. That means it doesnt use very great parts, and he has a 8800GT in his system. I dont think his PSU is EVEN 80+ because most tier4's arent.


So you want to tell the op he's okey still with the PSU he has?

 

[tomoyo]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: Scoop
Hard drives draw something like 13W under stress if they're really bad so it's not really a big hit if you add two of them to a system. And let me ask you, how often do you stress all your harddrives along with your cpu and gpu to the max? You'd have to do something crazy to stress like 6 harddrives along with everything else to accomplish full load.

http://www.digit-life.com/arti.../storage/hddpower.html
At the very bottom is the power consumption under intensive use chart.

Another thing people are somehow shooting higher than they should is the consumption of case fans. OK you've got 5 fans, biggest draw I've seen in reviews is 3.45W for a 80x80 Delta, so let's say you've got 5 of those, and just for fun let's make it 4W a piece so it's a 20W draw.

So, really, you're doing just fine with that 500W PSU.

well i was more calculating it this way.

Assuming his cpu draw is around 1.4vcore. On an AMD that is roughly around 120-130W. The TDP i remember is a bit higher then a C2D. Unless he has one of those energy efficient AMD's.

Now his videocard will draw around 130-140 also. The TDP i believe is near a 8800GTS. So if you ad the two up it gets around 270.

Now each hard drive, him having 6, will draw very little when not used, but when accessing or disk writting, he will have about 3-4 drives going on at the same time depending on raid. I believe the draw on power when accessing is greater. So we add a bit more.


Now his PSU is a Tier4 PSU. That means it doesnt use very great parts, and he has a 8800GT in his system. I dont think his PSU is EVEN 80+ because most tier4's arent.


So you want to tell the op he's okey still with the PSU he has?

Hmm, not saying the tiers are completely wrong, but there's some very bizarre data in the xtremesystems list. There's no way you could put a smartpower and truepower 2.0 into tier 3. Also iffy on those ocz's being Tier 2. If all he's doing is adding two hard drives, I don't see an issue if his system is already stable. It's a waste to switch away from a psu unless you know it has a history of problems or you want to improve efficiency.

 

[imported_Scoop]

Yeah, my point exactly, he's system is running just fine now, adding two hard drives isn't that big a hit on it.

Also I'd point out some strangeness in the tiers in the xtremesystems list as in a recent AnandTech PSU roundup both Hiper units did quite well and Cooler Master Real Power was top of the bunch and they are both ranked Tier 4.

 

[nyker96]

EW500 is better on the 12volt rails.

 

[teclis1023]

If you're looking for high quality, high performance power supplies, my recommendation is Seasonic. They're well built, well-warranted and stand the test of time.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: tomoyo


Hmm, not saying the tiers are completely wrong, but there's some very bizarre data in the xtremesystems list. There's no way you could put a smartpower and truepower 2.0 into tier 3. Also iffy on those ocz's being Tier 2. If all he's doing is adding two hard drives, I don't see an issue if his system is already stable. It's a waste to switch away from a psu unless you know it has a history of problems or you want to improve efficiency.

That list is very accurate because its also comprised of the PSU list jonnyguru himself did. Tier1 is a VERY hard catigory to fall into. These are seriously limited to the best of the best. The average psu on tier1 will be around 160-600 dollars.


Also according to anandtech the 8800GT 512 will draw 269W! Thats a lot given that the 8800GTX ultra will draw 330.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3175&p=7

So redue my math, and yea, he's gonna overload his psu, or his psu is in the process of getting overloaded expecially if its not a 80 plus psu.

 

[tomoyo]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: tomoyo


Hmm, not saying the tiers are completely wrong, but there's some very bizarre data in the xtremesystems list. There's no way you could put a smartpower and truepower 2.0 into tier 3. Also iffy on those ocz's being Tier 2. If all he's doing is adding two hard drives, I don't see an issue if his system is already stable. It's a waste to switch away from a psu unless you know it has a history of problems or you want to improve efficiency.

That list is very accurate because its also comprised of the PSU list jonnyguru himself did. Tier1 is a VERY hard catigory to fall into. These are seriously limited to the best of the best. The average psu on tier1 will be around 160-600 dollars.


Also according to anandtech the 8800GT 512 will draw 269W! Thats a lot given that the 8800GTX ultra will draw 330.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3175&p=7

So redue my math, and yea, he's gonna overload his psu, or his psu is in the process of getting overloaded expecially if its not a 80 plus psu.

Hi Aigomorla, one big problem. The xtremesystems tiers is completely different from the jonnyguru. Jonnyguru wouldn't even dare to mention smartpower 2.0 or truepower 2.0. Also there's many psus are rated at too low a tier. I like how the x-infinity is Tier 2 on jonny and Tier 4 on xtremsystems. Honestly I don't think any list is fully correct and should only be a general guideline, but I'm far more inclined to believe jonny's unfiltered list.

Are you crazy? The 8800GT has a tdp of 105w. That's full system consumption as obviously stated on the graph. Also it's probably AC consumption, which means assuming a 20% power loss, the actual usage is 210W for the entire system. And 80plus has nothing to do with load or overload, only efficiency and heat output. By my guess, it probably isn't possible for his system to pass 275 watts.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: tomoyo

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: tomoyo


Hmm, not saying the tiers are completely wrong, but there's some very bizarre data in the xtremesystems list. There's no way you could put a smartpower and truepower 2.0 into tier 3. Also iffy on those ocz's being Tier 2. If all he's doing is adding two hard drives, I don't see an issue if his system is already stable. It's a waste to switch away from a psu unless you know it has a history of problems or you want to improve efficiency.

That list is very accurate because its also comprised of the PSU list jonnyguru himself did. Tier1 is a VERY hard catigory to fall into. These are seriously limited to the best of the best. The average psu on tier1 will be around 160-600 dollars.


Also according to anandtech the 8800GT 512 will draw 269W! Thats a lot given that the 8800GTX ultra will draw 330.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3175&p=7

So redue my math, and yea, he's gonna overload his psu, or his psu is in the process of getting overloaded expecially if its not a 80 plus psu.

Hi Aigomorla, one big problem. The xtremesystems tiers is completely different from the jonnyguru. Jonnyguru wouldn't even dare to mention smartpower 2.0 or truepower 2.0. Also there's many psus are rated at too low a tier. I like how the x-infinity is Tier 2 on jonny and Tier 4 on xtremsystems. Honestly I don't think any list is fully correct and should only be a general guideline, but I'm far more inclined to believe jonny's unfiltered list.

Are you crazy? The 8800GT has a tdp of 105w. That's full system consumption as obviously started on the graph. Also it's probably AC consumption, which means assuming a 20% power loss, the actual usage is 210W for the entire system. And 80plus has nothing to do with load or overload, only efficiency and heat output.

you serious about the jonnyguru...

I was reading down the post where he posted that most of the PSU were in correlation to his. Id have to recheck it, however, i know that Tier1 PSU's are correct. Ive asked around a lot about psu's and everyone points me to that post. Perkman, did a lot of work on his list, and i believed it was accurate to most degrees. :\ i guess its a difference in opinion. But seasonic doesnt make tier1 except the PCnC Silencer line, which is seasonic. But seasonic doesnt have a PSU that is identical to PCnC. <also why i bought a silencer instead of RMAing/keeping my M12-700 i had a yr back ago.

As i said, i follow it, its up to you to decide if you want to or not...

About the 8800GT yeah i thought that number was kinda wacked too, but it was tested by anandtech to put out 269W. Were not talking about heat displacement. But yeah i was going WTF! But i linked the result. <shurg dunno>

errr, 80plus psu's are more stable due to there efficiency. Thats why i recomend 80 plus psu's.

Last thing i dont understand is, you buy a 250 dollar cpu chip, 115 dollar ram, 300 dollar videocard, stock it up with hard drives, opticals, and fans to have it come out near 800 dollars for the complete system.

Then People decide to cheap the most important piece in making your system go live, buy a 50 dollar PSU, when that PSU will be the 1 thing in your entire computer that can kill everything in your computer faster then you can say OMGWTFBBQ if it goes bad. :T

My recomendation for you to get a tier 1 or 2 on that list i linked still stands...

 

[imported_Scoop]

About the 8800GT yeah i thought that number was kinda wacked too, but it was tested by anandtech to put out 269W. Were not talking about heat displacement. But yeah i was going WTF! But i linked the result. <shurg dunno>

In addition to that number being for the whole system, it's also the number what the system draws off the wall after efficiency, not what components require. Efficiency just tells you how much over the consumption the PSU has to draw from the wall to output enough for the components.

 

[tomoyo]

Oh mind you, I'm the FIRST to say that you should get a quality psu. Not neccesarily based on the Tiers list, since I'm an advocate of Corsair, Seasonic, and Earthwatts for budget. But if you've already purchased one and it is working correctly, there is no point in changing until a major rebuild. 80plus does not guarantee stability for dc power or ripple at all. 80plus promises better parts for efficiency, but that doesn't guarantee the rest of the psu. Mind you, most 80pluses ARE good, but a deer 80plus would be terrible compared to an andyson non-80plus. Also to note, there are decent to good $50 psus, such as the low end seasonics, earthwatts, fsp.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
Assuming his cpu draw is around 1.4vcore. On an AMD that is roughly around 120-130W. The TDP i remember is a bit higher then a C2D. Unless he has one of those energy efficient AMD's.

I'd venture to say <90W on the cpu.

About the 8800GT yeah i thought that number was kinda wacked too, but it was tested by anandtech to put out 269W. Were not talking about heat displacement. But yeah i was going WTF! But i linked the result. <shurg dunno>

As previously stated in this thread, and as stated at the top of the graph(s) themselves, the 269W that you're referring to is the total system power consumption as measured from the wall. To put things into perspective the 8800GT only has a single 6-pin PCIe input cabable of 75W max, and since the PCIe slot itself is also capable of 75W max that totals 150W max that it can pull from the psu. The TDP of the 8800GT is reported to be 105W.

 

[xgsound]

If you want to try a bigger PSU and have one lying around you could do that, but before I bought one I'd get a single new 750 GB drive to replace all the drives in your system. That would leave all your current drives for backups or spares and much less than current drain on the PSU.



Jim