How much PSU?
- Thread starter ERP
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you could problably get away with a really good 650 but i wouldnt personally go with less than 800.
Core 2 Quad 6600s are going to be released in a few days by the way, just incase you wanted to save some. 2.4 GHz i believe. Price is suppose to be 800US though with stupid early adoption and retailers trying to score an extra buck it problably wont be far away from the QX6700s retail for the first month.
Core 2 Quad 6600s are going to be released in a few days by the way, just incase you wanted to save some. 2.4 GHz i believe. Price is suppose to be 800US though with stupid early adoption and retailers trying to score an extra buck it problably wont be far away from the QX6700s retail for the first month.
650w should be able to cover you (depends on the 7x00 you're gonna use) and whether any your HDDs will be 10Krpm+. Doesn't hurt to go more, I always tend to err on the side of caution and go with more than enough. Also you may want to look into modular PSUs and they tend to be a bit neater for wiring purposes...
BTW, when did you become a moderator?
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There is a PSU calculator out there but it's fairly involved but I believe in GIGO so it's worth it IMO. Look for the one that calculates more than mere amps which I think you can get to by looking at the Power Suppy forum over at HardOCP.
Or play it safe like the others say and go for the Silverstone 1KW or the PC Power and Cooling 1KW. I believe both have at least 4 PCIe connectors.
Or play it safe like the others say and go for the Silverstone 1KW or the PC Power and Cooling 1KW. I believe both have at least 4 PCIe connectors.
you dont really need a calculator, just a general idea of what stuff draws then add a little room for error.
HDDs dont normally break 15W each while seeking, 20x4 =80W
Graphics card wont break 180W for sure
The chipset/processor/memory = 150W
and say an extra 100W for the slave card.
So just over 500W and thats if everything is at load at once which never happens. As i said i'd go for an 800W just to be sure and leave some room, but a really good 650 would certainly suffice. 1KW for a computer like that would be like smashing an ant with an anvil. Even in total system power consumption you'd be hard pressed to actually find a computer breaking 400 Watts in real world testing without Quad SLI or something exotic like a peltier piggybacking on the 12V. Only purpose 1kw PSUs really serve is bragging or for people who are totally paranoid. Technically we should see power draw decline as we head to 65/55nm on GPUs and 45nm on CPUs so hopefully 1KW will become dinosaurs. I personally dont want that heat in my computer
.Well HDs on spin up require a fairly decent draw, almost 3A. So I don't think one should just look at Wattage alone. So you need to consider the draw on the rails, which is why Split Rails aren't necessarily a good thing.
Only purpose 1kw PSUs really serve is bragging or for people who are totally paranoid. Technically we should see power draw decline as we head to 65/55nm on GPUs and 45nm on CPUs so hopefully 1KW will become dinosaurs. I personally dont want that heat in my computer
Heh, fair enough about being paranoid (I myself just decided not to get a 1KW PSU so I hear you). About the heat though, AFAIK, PSUs don't draw more power than they really need anyhow, so it shouldn't be worse in that regard. And if you have more headroom, the larger PSU will tend to be more efficient.
Power supplies are not 100% efficient; a typical high-quality model will sport 80% efficiency (85% for the best of the best). So power equivalent to 15-20% of the load you place on it will be dissipated within the body of the PSU itself (this is in addition to the load of course, so a 500W load will draw 575-600W from the wall and dump the difference in the PSU casing).
whats your chipset? If a 680i go big if not go middle. But realy, i have used a 250w PSU with lots of power needy HW. By big i mean 600/700, middle; 475/550. Unless your into supperOC, and have housefans and the maliblulight show in your case a 1kw is not EVER EVER needed. I went with the "silenced" 750w because there wasnt a 600w "silenced" out yet, Though i am on the single rail club. No multirails for me, just a huge fat 12v at 60amp/ 70amp, also no "modular" cable hookups, they DO come loose if your mucking about insde, and dont rechk them.... but less friken cables is nice.
Yes, this is true (PC Power & Coolings are 83%, some Seasonics at 85%) but not sure how it speaks to what I was referring to in the case of a 1KW PSU vs. a 550W PSU.
If the load asked of them is the same, then the former PSU does NOT automatically mean heat is generated. It simply depends on the load required AFAIK.
Do you have the PowerPc Silencer 750?
Well, on the cheaper end there's my Aerocool ZeroDBA 620W which I think would handle that lot, and is dead silent.
For a bit more, I've heard Rys singing the praises of the Coolermaster RealPower Pro 850W. That would be more towards the future-proofing end, or at least greater margin. I'm presuming your 7x00 for two additional monitors is 2D work not 3D. If you're running 3D on all three simultaneously, then probably Rys' choice is better than mine.
For a bit more, I've heard Rys singing the praises of the Coolermaster RealPower Pro 850W. That would be more towards the future-proofing end, or at least greater margin. I'm presuming your 7x00 for two additional monitors is 2D work not 3D. If you're running 3D on all three simultaneously, then probably Rys' choice is better than mine.
Yes to my understanding an 80% efficient 550W and 80% efficient 1000W PSU both loaded with a 500W placed upon them will create the same amount of excess heat; it's a function of load not capacity. The slight subtlety is that efficiency is a function of power draw for any given PSU and peaks at different loads; however it's a weak dependency and probably irrelevant at these sorts of loads.
Your wording was slightly ambiguous (PSUs do draw power than they need, ie. more than the load), and I'm a pedant. My apologies
I'll give a nod to and add OCZ's GameXtreme 700W psu to that list as well (virtually silent, uses a single 130mm fan). Think its about the same price as the Aerocool but has more robust independent 12V rails that the multiple cards and HDDs might appreciate more.
+3.3V: 36A
+5V: 30A
+12V1: 18A
+12V2: 18A
+12V3: 18A
+12V4: 18A
vs
+3.3V: 32A
+5V: 36A
+12V1: 20A
+12V2: 18A
I should add however that Xbit didnt like the OCZ at all for some reason. Most reviews (from purchasers as well) i've read have said it was a very good PSU. Xbit just finished a pretty extensive PSU roundup so maybe you'll find some useful info in it.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/
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It's also worth considering that the higher-spec'ed PSUs may run quieter than lower-spec'ed ones in the same line. This isn't always the case, but it's probably applicable more often than not.
I was considering the Antec Neo 550 that's $50AR at Outpost ATM (see BensBargains.net), but a quick trip to SilentPCReview showed that the Neo gets much louder than a comparably-spec'ed (but pricier, alas) Seasonic. In that case, I'd probably spend the extra money on a PSU that can supply just as much power but will remain quiet at far higher power draws.
What's also interesting is that in SPCR's review of two Seasonics, 550W and 650W (IIRC), the 550 was as quiet as the 650 as far as its specs allowed. The 650 just allowed for higher power draw (and correspondingly higher noise at the higher levels). It's like they had the same power/noise graphs, just the 650's extended further.
(I just used Antec and Seasonic as examples of PSU sellers I've read a lot of reviews of. Dunno as much about OCZ or Coolermaster.)
I was considering the Antec Neo 550 that's $50AR at Outpost ATM (see BensBargains.net), but a quick trip to SilentPCReview showed that the Neo gets much louder than a comparably-spec'ed (but pricier, alas) Seasonic. In that case, I'd probably spend the extra money on a PSU that can supply just as much power but will remain quiet at far higher power draws.
What's also interesting is that in SPCR's review of two Seasonics, 550W and 650W (IIRC), the 550 was as quiet as the 650 as far as its specs allowed. The 650 just allowed for higher power draw (and correspondingly higher noise at the higher levels). It's like they had the same power/noise graphs, just the 650's extended further.
(I just used Antec and Seasonic as examples of PSU sellers I've read a lot of reviews of. Dunno as much about OCZ or Coolermaster.)
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