Another PSU Thread: Corsair? 520W? 620W?

Mattus

Mattus

Mattus

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OK, for the last three years or so I've been running a trusty OCZ Powerstream 420W PSU. Today my Q6600 G0 arrived to replace my E6300. This makes my rig as follows:

Q6600 @ 3.2
Gigabyte P965-DS3 mobo
4GB PC6400 DDR2
8800GT superclocked 512MB
Seagate 7200.10 320GB HDD
X-Fi sound
2 opticals
3 120mm fans

I've been amazed at how well the OCZ has done with the Core2 and 8800, but I think it's finally met its match with my Q6600 - about half an hour into a game of Crysis with all four cores running Folding@Home in the background, my rig turned itself off. It's made me realise that I'm putting ridiculous demands on a 420W PSU, especially one that's probably lost a lot of its capacity from three years of 24/7 running - I'm a bit worried it might explode next time, so it has to go before I play any more games!

Anyway, enough of that... it seems like Corsair is where it's at, but should I go for the 520W or the 620W? On one hand, I doubt I'll ever need more than 520 as I think SLI is silly :p On the other hand, I want a unit that'll last as long as my current one has.

Or is there another PSU that you think is more suitable? And do you think I'm walking on thin ice running this much gear off an old 420W?
 
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If you want to stick to OCZ the 600w StealthXtreme is just under 60quid here, cheaper than the corsair520. Only problem is the PSU is far from stealthy, I use one, sound isn't an issue and it hasn't skipped a beat, awesome quality for the money.
 
PSUs do get less efficient with age so I'd hazard a guess that if you ran a brand new OCZ 420w you'd probably get away with it for a year or two before having problems.

The HX 520w should be sufficient for any single graphics card system for the next few years but if you want the extra capacity/peace of mind then it is only £20 extra for the 620w which is a negligible amount when spread over 3 years. :)
 
Yeah, just worked out that my CPU and GPU alone are pulling 250W under load... assuming my 420W can now only provide about 350, I guess it's no surprise it's struggling.

Thinking I might splash out for the 620. The 520 pushes 40A on the 12V rails, which isn't that much more than my OCZ which can/could give 30A. The 620 packs 50A, which is quite a bit of extra room. I think the power consumption of graphics cards is gonna get worse before it gets better, and I was thinking of adding a second HDD, so perhaps the 620 would be a good idea.

(edit) Wouldn't mind another OCZ as I trust them not to die on me, but my current PSU is pretty much silent and I've got used to it - if the OCZ 600 is quite loud it'd probably annoy me! I've heard that the Corsairs are pretty much inaudible? Though the OCZ 420's fans are silent, the internals do make a noticeable humming noise - if the Corsairs do away with this, even better. I'm not that bothered about noise when gaming etc., but I'd like it to be silent when pushing 200W or so, so I can run Folding overnight.
 
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Mattus said:
Yeah, just worked out that my CPU and GPU alone are pulling 250W under load... assuming my 420W can now only provide about 350, I guess it's no surprise it's struggling.

Thinking I might splash out for the 620. The 520 pushes 40A on the 12V rails, which isn't that much more than my OCZ which can/could give 30A. The 620 packs 50A, which is quite a bit of extra room. I think the power consumption of graphics cards is gonna get worse before it gets better, and I was thinking of adding a second HDD, so perhaps the 620 would be a good idea.

(edit) Wouldn't mind another OCZ as I trust them not to die on me, but my current PSU is pretty much silent and I've got used to it - if the OCZ 600 is quite loud it'd probably annoy me! I've heard that the Corsairs are pretty much inaudible? Though the OCZ 420's fans are silent, the internals do make a noticeable humming noise - if the Corsairs do away with this, even better. I'm not that bothered about noise when gaming etc., but I'd like it to be silent when pushing 200W or so, so I can run Folding overnight.
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As I said above my stealthxtreme 600 isn't stealthy at all :p

I can basically hear it over my 2900xt, and thats saying something!
 
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