Which high end power supply?

VortX

VortX

VortX

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Which of these power supplies?

I've done quite a lot of research and narrowed my choice down to one of the following series, either Tagan Piperocks, or Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro. I cannot however find direct comparison by the same review site so I can compare any of the following which is a bit of a bummer, so I am asking on here to see if anyone has found something I can't find.

The only thing that caught my eye (although I can't find the website now) is that the Be Quiet! PSU's can be unstable on the 12v rail, however I found other review sites quoting the exact opposite.

The reason I have put different versions of both the Tagan and Be Quiet! PSU's is because I am trying to find out whether there are advantages/disadvantages between the different versions (for example the Tagan 1100W is more power efficient then the Tagan 1300W).

Price is not a problem I want to get the best I can (excluding the PC Power PSU which I think is far too expensive)

System 1 (Future build):

Rough future specs:

i7/i9 OC'd to 4Ghz
2x NVIDIA 300's (use 2x 295's as current example)
high end motherboard (not sure which socket will be used by i9 so just use i7 mobo as an example)
6-12GB of DDR3
watercooling setup including 1 triple rad, 1 high end pump.
around 4-6 case fans - LED 120mm's
6-8 hard drives (including 1-2 SSD's)
2 optical drives
4 cathodes
1 PCI express sound card
card reader expansion
around 6 usb devices

Which of the following:

Tagan PipeRock TG1300-BZ 1300w Modular BZ Series Power Supply
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-019-TG&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1100

Tagan PipeRock TG1100-BZ 1100w Modular BZ Series Power Supply
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-018-TG&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1100

Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 1000W ATX2.2 Modular SLi Compliant Power Supply
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-024-BQ&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1083

Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 1200W ATX2.2 Modular SLi Compliant Power Supply
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-025-BQ&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1083


System 2 (Future build for a friend):

Same specs, but without SLI cards, watercooling, cathodes and possibly a slightly less powerful CPU.

Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 1000W ATX2.2 Modular SLi Compliant Power Supply
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-024-BQ&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1083

Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 850W ATX2.2 Modular SLi Compliant Power Supply
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-023-BQ&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1083

Tagan PipeRock TG900-BZ 900w Modular BZ Series Power Supply
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-017-TG&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1100

Tagan PipeRock TG800-BZ 800w Modular BZ Series Power Supply
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-023-TG&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1100


Thanks everyone :)
 
If you shop around you can get a 1200W be Quiet for £5 more than the 1000W so I would say do that for the first build, and the 850W Be Quiet for the second.

Hawker
 
Never used a Be Quiet but have heard good things.

I can say that the Tagan's are nice. Have used the 900w Piperock in the past and am presently using the 1100w version.

It's quiet and has happily run the rig in my sig.

I've used a GTX285 and GTX295 with the 1100w with no issues. Of course my system doesn't come anywhere close to 1.1kw... the 900w was fine (i got the 1100 for a good price) but i find it's nice to have plenty of headroom. It's one less thing to worry about. :D

Only thing i could do without is the bright multi coloured LED's.

What case are you putting it all in?

gt
 
For your friend (system 2) howabout this corsair? It just got released, efficiency is up to 90% and its 80 Plus Gold rated. Here is a review.

If its just between the options you have there, i'd go for the 850W Be Quiet.
 
Unless there are some new USB devices like USB fridge or USB TV that I havnt heard of, your full system won't use anywhere more than 700-850W at full load. You don't really need anything more than 800-900range I would say...

Other than that, I can recommend Tagan/Seasonic for sure.


----
Off topic

Anyways, you want a gaming PC or UFO??
I understand that people are rich and got nothing to do with money but even then I would prefer to buy new stuff every 6months to OC/play around with more than 1rig for 5000GBP that wont be much faster than the 1000GBP ones and will probably drop in price by 50% over the next 1,5month.


6 case fans? 8hdds? 4 cathodes ? 20 usb devices ? Are you serious?

Wont be easier to get 16core mac pro with 32gb ram instead ?
 
PhoenixUK said:
Unless there are some new USB devices like USB fridge or USB TV that I havnt heard of, your full system won't use anywhere more than 700-850W at full load. You don't really need anything more than 800-900range I would say...

Other than that, I can recommend Tagan/Seasonic for sure.


----
Off topic

Anyways, you want a gaming PC or UFO??
I understand that people are rich and got nothing to do with money but even then I would prefer to buy new stuff every 6months to OC/play around with more than 1rig for 5000GBP that wont be much faster than the 1000GBP ones and will probably drop in price by 50% over the next 1,5month.


6 case fans? 8hdds? 4 cathodes ? 20 usb devices ? Are you serious?

Wont be easier to get 16core mac pro with 32gb ram instead ?
Click to expand...

lol, I'm not rich. Far from it in fact. The only reason for once in my life I can afford to get a nice computer is because I will be recieving my student loan in a few months time. And for once In my life I would like to buy a decent computer rather than get 'what I can just about afford' all the time.

A6GB system is fairly comon now what with DDR3/i7.

8 HDDs... well I already have 4... I will quite easily buy another 4..

4 cathodes.. I already have 2, top and bottom, I want to buy another 2 for the sides whats wrong with that?

Yes 6 case fans... thats 2 at the front, 1 at the back, and 3 on the tripple rad... hardly over the top...

20 usb devices? ... I said 6.

Stop being so stupid, the system I have specced will cost around 2-2.5k, not 5k for goodness sake.

And the system I have specced will use more than 700w, by far. You obviously don't realise how much power 2x 295's draw, that is 4GPU's the same as have 4 280s in quad SLI - a lot of power. Not to mention that coupled with an OC'd i7 which also uses a lot of power. 700w isn't enough, 850w might 'possibly' be enough, but I want to be safe, so 1k plus is what I am looking for.
 
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I can understand the urge to get a sweet system - personally I'm very happy I acted on it.

I know this is not anywhere near a full spec, but i would throw out a few suggestions:

Don't go for LED fans, they are almost always inferior to non-LED ones. Something like these Noctua fans provide great airflow and are whisper quiet.

2 of these Uber graphics cards looks awesome, but just one of them is enough to destroy any games. Adding a second only gives diminished returns in terms of performance, but loads of extra heat and noise. It would be better to save the money and if you want to spend the cash- buy the next uber card that is released a year later (can always sell your old one).
 
cmndr_andi said:
I can understand the urge to get a sweet system - personally I'm very happy I acted on it.

I know this is not anywhere near a full spec, but i would throw out a few suggestions:

Don't go for LED fans, they are almost always inferior to non-LED ones. Something like these Noctua fans provide great airflow and are whisper quiet.

2 of these Uber graphics cards looks awesome, but just one of them is enough to destroy any games. Adding a second only gives diminished returns in terms of performance, but loads of extra heat and noise. It would be better to save the money and if you want to spend the cash- buy the next uber card that is released a year later (can always sell your old one).
Click to expand...

I have been considering doing just that - and most probably will. As for heat and noise I am watercooling the system that includes having a GPU block so no worries there. And most of the time I would agree with you about LED fans, however I have some NorthQ 120LED fans, and they are stunning, made out of pure steel (I think), they look fantastic, they are VERY quiet, and because they are metal (apart from the fan itself) the build quality is fantastic and they have been running constant for 2 years now and no problems at all, so I will be purchasing some more of these when the time comes to it. :)
 
So basically, you're blowing the majority of your student loan on an über watercooled SLI gaming rig? You realise you can't eat it, drink it, chat it up, read it or sleep under it? :p

Anyway... you'll find that Tagan PSUs have gone out of fashion, so few people will have opinions on them. BeQuiet is a solid buy, though.
 
PCPOWER&COOLING ?

althrough be quiet and tagan is good, corsiar is also worth a look
 
VortX said:
I have been considering doing just that - and most probably will. As for heat and noise I am watercooling the system that includes having a GPU block so no worries there. And most of the time I would agree with you about LED fans, however I have some NorthQ 120LED fans, and they are stunning, made out of pure steel (I think), they look fantastic, they are VERY quiet, and because they are metal (apart from the fan itself) the build quality is fantastic and they have been running constant for 2 years now and no problems at all, so I will be purchasing some more of these when the time comes to it. :)
Click to expand...

The part that you watercool the system doesn't change the fact that you will see no difference at all between having single 295GTX and 2 , 3 or even 8 of them ;-).


Don't you think it will be better if you upgraded your stuff more frequently ( you probably wont need even that but whatever ) other than throwing your hardly earned cash on newest stuff that you won't even use in half of its power ?

Times have changed over the past few years, you can run everything new maxed out on 400GBP PC now ;-).

Just my 2cents.


PS. what happend to the thermaltake toughpower PSUs ?? Can't see them anymore in here. They were lots better than corsairs and cheaper :).
 
On my 2nd Bequiet now (the 850) and can honestly say it's the best i've ever used.
Was also a bit worried about some of those review sites when talking about the 12v rail but went for it anyway as i LOVE silence and it doesn't let itself down in any way.

HTH
 
hmmm.
Well, my system --in sig-- draws up to 960w from the wall while just running furmark, and is similar to your primary spec. My tagan 1300w annoys me, when im drawing under around 600w its silent, cant hear it over my yate loons, which i can barely hear.I can hear it slightly between 600w and 700w. But, under heavy load i can hear the tagan loudly, over everything else in the pc (two pumps, 5 yate loons 120mm, 2 92mm somethings, corsair dominator triple fan and 2 asus chipset fans).

Its redeeming feature? the only difference in volts I have noticed between 300w draw and 960w draw is on th e5v rail and that changed from 4.97 to 4.96 for a few seconds.minutes, then returned to 4.97 and stayed there again. In fact, its the only way i knew the monitor was working lol.

I have heard the be quiet ones are quiet. I like corsair, the 520 moduler one i have is silent (8800gtx, C2D E4500, 2gb DDR2, 4 HDD, some fans and lights, 2 dvd drives etc) while gaming, although i havent tested it under furmark, and i dont know how much its drawing.
 
Yes I do in fact realise that :p I probably won't be spending the amount I would love to anyway it’s just planning and hoping stage atm lol.

However I am not moving away from home during my college/university years so I don’t have to pay for accommodation + food + all the other stuff.

I just want to have something to enjoy my money on, I don't need a car atm I’m more than happy taking the bus so getting a nice new comp, considering the one I have is on its last legs, will cheer me up greatly. :)

It's not as though its money I haven't 'earned' as such, because I will be paying it all back later in life.

We will have to see, if I can get a decent enough computer, to play the games I want, and have enough money spare to upgrade it in the future if need be then I will do that rather than just buying a stupidly high end computer that will most likely be out of date within a year.

On top of that though at your comments about 'the rest of life’s expenses', I will be getting the odd part time job to account for that, at my college, work experience pay ect (I'm very good at saving, so I save up money quickly :)).
 
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VortX Honestly Mate have a look at Corsair or Bequiet, Tagan isnt the worst psu out there but the two i mentioned before are my personal favourites at the moment:)
 
Jimmy23 said:
VortX Honestly Mate have a look at Corsair or Bequiet, Tagan isnt the worst psu out there but the two i mentioned before are my personal favourites at the moment:)
Click to expand...

I have looked at the corsair ones, however tagan and be quiet! seem to come out on top, first with stablity. But looking at the pictures of the Corsair PSU, they don't have a modular cable design, and I seriously can't live without this :) not after having a modular cable PSU. However the new Corsair which does have modular cable has caught my eye :)

Edit - just realised, TX = non-modular, HX - modular :)
 
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What about a Thermaltake Toughpower 1500W PSU?

I can get one from my local supplier for £214.58 inc vat - non bad considering? (Plus plently of headroom)

I currently have a Thermaltake Thoughpower 700W PSU and its very very good, however that was over 2 years ago that I brought it.. have things changed, are their companies out there better than Thermaltake now, or are they still a top notch PSU provider?

Edit:

I have been greatly swayed after looking at the Corsair 1000W HX PSU, it looks fantastic can't find a single review to fault it... about anything (that matters), but its only 1000W, will this be enough??... Just looking at what was said about, about a simalar spec system drawing 960W whilst running furmark, I know that is from the wall... so probably equates to around 800-850W for the PC, but still only 150W headroom, and thats not even at full load everything.... Not to mention the capacitor aging..

Edit 2:

Have researched the Thermaltake 1500W, basically its a mega power PSU with poor stabiility and is quite loud. Toughpower series 850W < Below are the better lot of these series and are very stable and very quiet.
 
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