Upgrade time for PSU

[AnomalouS]

Looking for help in deciding my PSU upgrade.

Given my current system specs, what would you recommend?
Would like to be able to plug and play cables as needed. Clean cables.

No current plans to SLI another GTX580, but may as well future proof a little. I would consider a GTX6xx series when it comes out.

[newtekie1]

Corsair HX850 or AX850 gets my vote. I'd go witht he HX850 unless you can find the AX850 for just about the same price. They are both 80+ Gold certified and both are extremely good power supplies.

[radrok]

Seasonic Platinum 860W, best Plat unit on the market so far.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5464/s...-series-860w/6
1 KW variant reviews
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...tory5&reid=264
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/S...c/P1000/9.html

[Bambooz]

Antec High Current Gamer M Series HCG-620M 620W (Modular)
Review:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...-Review/1495/1

OCZ ZT Series 650W (fully modular)
http://www.compusa.com/applications/...mtDXEcUazYbnrw (a lot cheaper)
Review:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...-Review/1418/1

SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold (SS-650KM) (better, similar price with promo code, fully modular)
Reviews:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...y-Review/837/1
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...Story&reid=169

A good ~650W should be plenty unless you want to OC the absolute batsh!t out of everything or plan on SLI.
There's no point in going total overkill like 800+W, unless you want to keep the PSU for like 5 years a.k.a. multiple system generations (if the PSU lasts that long that is)

[MT Alex]

I'll cast another vote for Seasonic, the X750 has been on my wish list for quite some time. I'd settle for any quality unit that has semi-fanless operation, as I'm really after silence as well as quality.

[m1dg3t]

There's quite a few stickies about PSU's on the forum, posting from my cell , they cover pretty much everything except personal taste! Lol

I just swapped to an OCZ zx850w and am quite pleased with it, especially considering the price I paid. I couldn't find anything else in the same price point with the same feature's, crmaris did a nice review of one for us as well

I have personally always used OCZ unit's and have never had any issue. I thought I had an issue with my previous unit but figured out pretty quickly that I reached it's capacity, OCZ support was excellent as usual even though it wasn't needed in the end.

[AnomalouS]

Psu calcs show me right at 600w for consumption.
I am reading all the PSU information as I come across it.

[Bambooz]

@m1dg3t: considering your sys specs (even with OC), a good 500W would be plenty.
I'm currently running an older OCed Q6600 with a HD6870 (rated at 151W compared to your HD5870's 188W) on a 430W Seasonic and I still have room to spare.

Most people just ridiculously oversize their PSUs either because they have no clue what to get (confused as to how to calculate what a system does or could actually draw) or because of mediocre to crappy units that just didn't cut it, making you think you need a bigger PSU, while in reality, all you'd need is a quality one.

Semi-OT: A lot of the older / lower wattage OCZ's are Fortron Source OEM, which are infamous for using bottom-barrel capacitors (capxon), causing them to fail (instability or no startup at all) after 2 or so years (which "coincidentally" matches the warranty period most of the time.. go figure..)

I've been fixing so many of these up it just ain't funny anymore.. It's called "planned obsolescence"

[ChristTheGreat]

Originally Posted by Bambooz

@m1dg3t: considering your sys specs (even with OC), a good 500W would be plenty.
I'm currently running an older OCed Q6600 with a HD6870 (rated at 151W compared to your HD5870's 188W) on a 430W Seasonic and I still have room to spare.

Most people just ridiculously oversize their PSUs either because they have no clue what to get (confused as to how to calculate what a system does or could actually draw) or because of mediocre to crappy units that just didn't cut it, making you think you need a bigger PSU, while in reality, all you'd need is a quality one.

Semi-OT: A lot of the older / lower wattage OCZ's are Fortron Source OEM, which are infamous for using bottom-barrel capacitors (capxon), causing them to fail (instability or no startup at all) after 2 or so years (which "coincidentally" matches the warranty period most of the time.. go figure..)

I've been fixing so many of these up it just ain't funny anymore.. It's called "planned obsolescence"

this is for really older... the Modxstream Pro use Highpower based PSU, like the Z series. ZZX used great wall PSU, which is a OEM from china, and seems quite good.. I personnaly have a friend running a modxstream pro 700w, for 2 years, no problem.

As for now, the ZS, ZT, Z, are very good Power supply.

@AnomalouS

You have a budget? a good 600-650w is nice. If you are planning going SLI on future for future proof, you should go with a 900w plus. But it's not the same price also.

Seasonix x-6*0, tha twould be fine, corsair AX-650, Antec HCG M620w... any good PSU will be fine.

[AnomalouS]

Budget...Keep it under $200

Is it safe to assume my Cooler Master RS-750 is not a great PSU?

[DOM]

a few weeks back i picked up a ax1200 for $218 after mir to bad theres no codes for them right now or not that i know of on newegg

[AnomalouS]

Now that I am reading the PSU guide... I realize my PSU is j.u.n.k.

[TeXBill]

I bought this one about 3 months ago. Works great with room to add on l8tr.
Also one of the few that's completely modular.

COOLMAX CUG-950B 950W ATX12V v2.3 EPS12V v2.91 SLI...

[ChristTheGreat]

theses would be my choice:

SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold ((SS-650KM Active PFC ...
SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 ...

CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX650 650W ATX12V...
CORSAIR Professional Series HX650 (CMPSU-650HX) 65...

CORSAIR Professional Series HX750 (CMPSU-750HX) 75...
CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX750 (CMPSU-750A...

OCZ ZT Series 750W Fully-Modular 80PLUS Bronze Hig...
OCZ ZX Series 850W Fully-Modular 80PLUS Gold High ...

XFX PRO750W XXX Edition Semi-Modular 80Plus Silver...
XFX PRO850W XXX Edition Semi-Modular 80 Plus Silve...



or: ENERMAX Platimax EPM600AWT 600W ATX12V / EPS12V SL...


You have choice, these are good PSU. My real, choice since you had budget, I would go with something seasonic ro corsair at 750w. Your PSU will run on low wattage, most of the time, and you have room. if you plan going overclocking + SLI, then 200$ is kinda short.

but for a 850w, the OCZ is kinda good for the price I had my OCZ Z 850w for 119$ after MIR on NCIX on november.

[AnomalouS]

leaning toward the SeaSonic X750 Gold... $149
Going to place an order a little tonight or tomorrow am.

[m1dg3t]

Originally Posted by Bambooz

@m1dg3t: considering your sys specs (even with OC), a good 500W would be plenty.
I'm currently running an older OCed Q6600 with a HD6870 (rated at 151W compared to your HD5870's 188W) on a 430W Seasonic and I still have room to spare.

Most people just ridiculously oversize their PSUs either because they have no clue what to get (confused as to how to calculate what a system does or could actually draw) or because of mediocre to crappy units that just didn't cut it, making you think you need a bigger PSU, while in reality, all you'd need is a quality one.

Semi-OT: A lot of the older / lower wattage OCZ's are Fortron Source OEM, which are infamous for using bottom-barrel capacitors (capxon), causing them to fail (instability or no startup at all) after 2 or so years (which "coincidentally" matches the warranty period most of the time.. go figure..)

I've been fixing so many of these up it just ain't funny anymore.. It's called "planned obsolescence"

500w? You're kidding right

My system could pull almost 600w @ max using the latest http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp (i'm VERY realistic/truthfull when using the calc) and nearly 650w with just 10% capacitor aging, which was confirmed by system crashing/instability prior to my PSU upgrade I was running a 3yr/4yr old 700w unit. I have a bit more in my case than just a CPU/GFX card (which consume ~400w themselve's) so 500w would be cutting it REAL close and the PSU would definately not last long! I find most people grossly under estimate their component's to try and "save" a few $$ on the PSU.

When sizing a PSU i try to get something with 100w - 150w more than what i need, i find it is the "sweet spot". Like i said i have never had a PSU issue/failure and i have always used OCZ unit's so i suggest them You can still get the zx850w @ http://ncix.com/products/?sku=58861&...y&promoid=1215 for $140 after rebate

[cadaveca]

I suggest Silverstone SST--ST75F-G, a 750 W (850 W max), gold-rated, 100% modular PSU. Silverstone also sells a "short cable" kit for installing these units in smaller cases. The one I have is awesome, and worth every penny.

SILVERSTONE Strider Gold ST75F-G 750W ATX 12V v2.3...

[ChristTheGreat]

with my computer, they tell me at 90% I need 499w... (minimum 449w)..

I have checked at the wall, my computer, overclocked at 4.4 at that time, furmark + Prime95, never higher than 340w..

I can test this week again, with the actual overclock, what's the wattage at full load



So GTX 580 + i7 2600k and if overclocking, I would go with a 650w PSU, that has minimum 600w on the +12v, and you are good to go with overclocking. Forget about SLI in that case!

[specks]

I would choose Corsair HX850. You cant go wrong with these PSUs. Only $175 on newegg.

[Bambooz]

Originally Posted by m1dg3t

500w? You're kidding right

No. Not at all.

Originally Posted by m1dg3t

My system could pull almost 600w @ max using the latest http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp (i'm VERY realistic/truthfull when using the calc) and nearly 650w

Yet another bogus calculator which ridiculously oversizes everything.
According to that POS my system as it stands supposedly draws ~570W and it's recommending me a 620W PSU minimum.
Words cannot describe what BS that is.

Originally Posted by m1dg3t

with just 10% capacitor aging, which was confirmed by system crashing/instability prior to my PSU upgrade

Your mainboard most likely has solid polymer capacitors. Capacitor aging is a non-issue in general, unless they're talking about the PSU caps, in which case the polymer caps on the board and everywhere else would eat up the little bit more ripple old (5+ years) PSU caps would "let through". If the PSU has crappy capacitors which have failed, that won't help though and would in the and still cause instability or weird glitchy-ness. In that case though, the PSU is simply defective, not underrated.

Originally Posted by m1dg3t

I was running a 3yr/4yr old 700w unit.

Most likely a junker with bogus labels if it wasn't able to power your system properly. Or it had crappy/bad caps, causing insane ripple (noise in the power), in turn causing instability.

Originally Posted by m1dg3t

I have a bit more in my case than just a CPU/GFX card (which consume ~400w themselve's) so 500w would be cutting it REAL close and the PSU would definately not last long!

A HD5870 is rated at 188W max. Unless the "V2" in your specs means you're running two cards in crossfire, or you OC'ed the card, that value doesnt change much. Assume 200W if you're REALLY cautious or running a mild/stock OC.
The Q9550 has a rated TDP of 95W, with the absolute max. power dissipation being 132W.
If you're OCing it, let's say a somwhat unrealistic value 180W, which is almost double the TDP.
For the sake of argument, I'm gonna say 190W GPU, 180W OCed CPU. That's a total of 370W of load on 12V. A good ~500W PSU will have the majority of oomph on the 12V rail.
The pretty ancient/outdated Seasonic S12-II 520W for example has a combined rating of 480W on the 12V rails alone (see attached pic). You'd be 110W away from that limit with this setup. This isn't including other stuff like HDDs, ODDs etc. though, but even then you'd still have headroom not to blow shit up. Under full load (CPU + GPU) with OC that is.

Originally Posted by m1dg3t

I find most people grossly under estimate their component's to try and "save" a few $$ on the PSU.

Quite the opposite. Most people grossly overestimate the component power consumption, just like you do. Gospel posts like yours in various forums then spread the misinformation all over the place. Nothing personal against you, just for the records.

The system in my specs thing on the left has been working fine with the Seasonic S12-II 430W since mid-2009. Graphics cards changed quite a bit over time though. 8800GTS (G80, 152W), temporarily (4months) a 8800 Ultra (175W), a GTX260 (the older 192SP version, 182W) and now a HD6870 (151W). The rest of the system has been pretty much identical, apart from a few HDD swaps and going from DDR2 to DDR3.
The PSU never complained, and like I said before I still have room to spare. I once temporarily stuck a customers HD5750 into it to see how far I could push it. Granted, it was only running in a modified PCIe x1 slot (open end) so that wasn't really the greatest idea, but those extra 86W didn't cause any havoc either while stresstesting (which was quite a challenge by itself).
So either my theory is correct, or my PSU is somehow underrated by one heck of a lot (as in: capable of far far more than 430W), which I pretty much doubt

Originally Posted by m1dg3t

When sizing a PSU i try to get something with 100w - 150w more than what i need, i find it is the "sweet spot".

Generally a good idea, if you weren't relying on those bogus PSU calculators, which already add a (sometimes quite massive) headroom to each and every component. See my result above. 570W power consumption with a 620W PSU being recommended? lol

Originally Posted by m1dg3t

Like i said i have never had a PSU issue/failure and i have always used OCZ unit's so i suggest them

Nothing wrong with that, but it's no wonder you didn't have any problems with a PSU at a bit more than half load at the worst. It won't die from being bored to death.. It'll just have horrible efficiency.

Originally Posted by m1dg3t

You can still get the zx850w @ http://ncix.com/products/?sku=58861&...y&promoid=1215 for $140 after rebate

No intent to buy a new one, at least not for my own rig. I have to order PSUs all the time for customer boxes though :P
PS: that Seasonic S12-II 430 (the older non-Bronze version sadly) cost me 50eur back in 2009 when I built the system, which with the current conversion is roughly 66usd.

edit: this post ended up being quite a lot longer than I expected
edit2: I seem to have a tendency to try and close quotes with [/url] somehow

[AnomalouS]

I have been dealing with random disconnects and ctd with BF3... I do not believe it to be the psu bu t who knows...

[AnomalouS]

Corsair AX850 installed.
Thanks for the input people!