Which PSU for this rig ?

[bob4432]

i have a couple psus laying around and wanted your input as to which one would be better for this rig -

rig:
e2160 @ 3.0GHz
3x1GB DDR2-667
1x15K U320
1x7.2k SATA
4-6 80mm fans
ati hd4850
gigabyte p35 m/b
scsi card - pci
1394 card - pci

psu info:
EA380W - 5V=20A, 12V1=17A, 12V2=17A, 5VSB=2.5A, 3.3V=20A
TPII480W - 5V=38A, 12V1=18A, 12V2=18A, 5VSB=2A, 3.3V=30A

i know the ea380W is more efficient as i had it in another rig that didn't need much power and it did better on the kill-a-watt than the 480, but does it have enough for the rig mentioned? does the rig need the additional 5V and 3.3V? also, fwiw i ran this rig w/ a x1800xt w/ the ea380 for quite some time w/ no stability issues, and i know the x1800xt gpus were not the most power efficient gpus around.

 

[mpilchfamily]

Neither. You'll need a PSu with a bit more then those offer. The 380W is a good PSU but i would go with something with more power. The 480W has plenty of wattage it just doesn't put enough of that power to the 12V rails where its really needed. Have a look at a nice 450W to 500W PSU such as Corsairs VX 450 or ther HX 520.

 

[mooseracing]

I would say it's plenty.

The Dell towers we run at work with Dual montiors are C2D's E8400's at 3Ghz, 4 sticks of Ram, dual Hard drives, ATI 2400 PCI-e vid card. Although we don't have extra fans, at idle -30% usage they draw 90-110 watts off the wall (including montiors) when booting the highest I have seen them get is 160 watts (again with dual monitors included). These numbers are coming from the APC battery unit.


Forgot to mention I've been running a 700 with the setup in my singnature, with multiple HD's, and 3 120 fans. It's on 24/7 for over a year now and not a single issue.

 

[DarkRogue]

That 380 should be fine, it has a maximum output of 324W on the 12v rail which is 27A combined - the same as my PSU, and I know people that run the 4850 with it.

 

[metalfan2]

@mooseracing.....These numbers are coming from the APC battery unit.

your dual monitors are behind the APC ?
110w is a bit low for rig and two displays, imho.

And do they draw 110w at full load?

 

[bob4432]

well, went ahead and tested both psus -

the 480W from the wall, according to the kill-a-watt=131W idle, 315W max
the 380W from the wall, according to the kill-a-watt=114W idle, 295W max

for this test i got my max amounts by using orthos running small fft, defragging both hdds and running furmark all at the same time.

 

[s44]

TP2 = bad caps.

Kill-a-Watt is basically useless now. You'll want something a bit beefier than either.

 

[bob4432]

those are max W, i don't even get them when gaming, i just wanted to see what the rig pulled and i was quite surprised. i will be looking for a deal on a bit of a larger psu, probably a 450-500W unit. i can cut my o/c on the card back to stock 4850 speeds and save 30W there for the time being. pretty surprised how much more the 4850 pulls compared to the 3850, about an extra 100W or so.