1200W PSU too much for my PC setup?

[forest4]

Hi gang. PC specs are, so far:

i7 920
XFX 5870
6 GB Patriot DDR3 RAM @ 1600 MHz
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 Motherboard
1 TB Hard Drive (WD Caviar Black)
Blu-Ray reader/DVD-RW (Lite-On)

And, a 1200W ANTEC Power Supply

I have not used any of this hardware yet because I still need to buy a case to fit the XFX 5870 into. I have ordered a CoolerMaster Storm Sniper Black Edition, and it should hopefully arrive soon.


I think I might have overdone it with the ANTEC 1200W PSU. I hear from a lot of sources that I could probably run my new PC with just a 600W (about) PSU. Recommendations? I could just return the ANTEC 1200W and get a smaller PSU. The 1200W was pretty expensive too, about $300+

Cheers.

 

[ac1d1ty]

way overkill.

 

[cmndr_andi]

More likely 450W at full load tbh

But if you can afford it, it is generally fine to have a heavily overspecified PSU. This is because PSUs usually run at their most efficient at around 50% load (i'm sure there will be a graph somewhere showing the efficiency curve for your own PSU). Also, having a really OTT PSU mean you have a massive warranty (my corsair for example came with 7 years) and loads of headroom for future upgrades.

With that all said, a 1200W PSU is a bit mad for your system.If I were you and able to return the PSU I would suggest getting something like this. This one in particular because it still has loads of headroom, but also because it is ridiculously efficient. Here is a review.

 

[Tweaker]

Are you thinking about Crossfire in the future?

 

[forest4]

TBH, I do not think I will be adding another XFX 5870 to my PC. I only use a CRT display, and the max resolution is 1280x1024. So, having 1 XFX 5870 is probaly already enough to max out Crysis and anything else for that matter on my computer screen.

Great suggestion. A 750W would be a very good choice. Would a 700W power supply be OK? I ask this specific question because the PC I am currently using has a 700W PSU powering it.

When I bought this PC, it had a 350W PSU, and no videocard, only onboard graphics. So I bought a GeForce 8500GT and a 700W PSU made by Rocketfish. The 700W PSU that I bought then, in late 2007, was brand new, just like the 8500GT was.

I am thinking I could take out the 700W PSU from my current PC and replace it with the old one that came with it in 2007 (the 350W). Then, put the 700W Rocketfish PSU into my new i7 PC to power it. Keeping the 350W PSU all this time was a good choice, making this opportunity possible to save a lot of money, maybe for an SSD, who knows?

What do you guys think? Should I use my 700W for my i7 and my old(er) 350W for my current, soon to be old PC?

Thanks in advance!

 

[cmndr_andi]

The 700W Rocketfish should run it OK, but after reading this review I'm not sure I would want it powering a £1000+ PC, your call.

You may also want to have a look at this PSU calculator, you may be surprised how little a PC really needs. Often the 600W or more PSU suggestions by graphics card makers and the like is to account for the £20 quid "850W" supplies that some people buy.

 

[mattjd]

If you returened your PSU for a 650-750W PSU you could buy a nicer monitor with the left over moeny

I got my Samsung Syncmaster P2250 for about £130

 

[forest4]

There are some parts to that PSU calculator that I do not understand. To the top right, there are so many PCI types - I do not know which is a simple standard 16x PCI-E videocard slot. I have an external Router/Modem connected to my PC with a yellow ethernet cable, so I doubt that takes a lot of power if any. "Additional PCI Card" I will leave blank, since I only have the 1 5870, right? The CM Storm Sniper Case has 2 240 MM fans, not any 250 MM fans, but there is not option for 240 MM fans :/ Is a 3.5-inch Floppy Drive considered a "Tape" drive (bottom left part)? Because I bought one for $10. I like them because they are small, cheap, and you can delete stuff off of them and write another thing onto it, unlike most DVDs, unless you buy the more expensive DVDRW kind. I know, I am old school, heh. No water coolng for me. There is a spot for another 140 MM fan at the bottom of the case which I may end up installing in the far future, I donno.

I want to get this calculation right on the money (no pun intended), and if I put in the wrong information, I will obviously get the wrong readout. Thanks for all the help.

A good question is, is a 350W power supply enough for this PC:

Intel Celeron 3.33 GHz CPU
PNY Nvidia GeForce 8500GT 512 MB PCI-E DDR2 videocard
3 GB DDR2 RAM
103 GB Hard Drive
DVD-RW Drive

I will probably still use this PC in the future as a media PC. It is pretty loud though, that review is accurate. If I could, I would feel OK about just buying a new 750W (or so) PSU for my i7 PC, hopefully one that is quieter than my Rocketfish 700W PSU.

Power supplies have really dropped in price. I could get a good PSU for a small fraction of the price of my ANTEC 1200W PSU that would be OK for my i7 PC probably.

Monitor? PC monitors seem too expensive to not be a scam IMO. I mean, a 30 inch can go for the same price as an LCD HDTV that is much much bigger, and can be used as a monitor. I think I would use an HDTV as a monitor before I used an LCD monitor as my PC's display. But I am old school. Go big or go home with enough money to eventually go big, heh.

 

[marc512]

having a 1200watt powersupply is like having....£100 in a pound shop...youll never spend it all. In this case youll never use all 1200 watts. unless you use 10000000 cathodes in your case.

 

[cmndr_andi]

I'll try and help you out with the PSU calculaor as bet as I can.

To the top right, there are so many PCI types - I do not know which is a simple standard 16x PCI-E videocard slot.

You don't need to put the graphics card here, as you already pick that on the left hand side, hence it already assumes you are using up one PCIe x16 slot.

I have an external Router/Modem connected to my PC with a yellow ethernet cable, so I doubt that takes a lot of power if any

If this is externally powered then you don't need to connect it. The power used by the ethernet interface is included in the power envelope of the motherboard which has already been selected. I would suggest picking "high end - desktop" for the motherboard.

"Additional PCI Card" I will leave blank, since I only have the 1 5870, right?

Yup leave it blank, if you had a second 5870 in crossfire then that would be accounted for in the "Video Type" option on the left

The CM Storm Sniper Case has 2 240 MM fans, not any 250 MM fans, but there is not option for 240 MM fans

Just pick 250mm in this case, the power difference is negligible in the scheme of things.

Is a 3.5-inch Floppy Drive considered a "Tape" drive (bottom left part)?

There is an option for floppy on the bottom left.

I like them because they are small, cheap, and you can delete stuff off of them and write another thing onto it, unlike most DVDs, unless you buy the more expensive DVDRW kind.

I'm not being funny, but have you tried a USB flash drive? They can be had for very cheap and are much larger, smaller, quieter (silent) and tougher than a floppy.

A good question is, is a 350W power supply enough for this PC:

Maybe, it depends on the PSU in particular. If its a good quality, well made PSU then you will have no trouble, but if its a generic 350W then I wouldn't even try.

Monitor? PC monitors seem too expensive to not be a scam IMO. I mean, a 30 inch can go for the same price as an LCD HDTV that is much much bigger, and can be used as a monitor. I think I would use an HDTV as a monitor before I used an LCD monitor as my PC's display. But I am old school. Go big or go home with enough money to eventually go big, heh.

I suppose it depends what you use it for. Monitors are relatively expensive because they use high pixel density panels with large resolutions, also most are made with gaming in mind so they have very fast response times to eliminate ghosting.

TVs are a good shout for use with a PC if you plan a lot of TV/movie watching and gaming from a reasonable distance away. If you just want to use it at the same distance you would a monitor, then you may be disappointed. The brightness is usually very high and the pixel size will be pretty big - which can detract from the experience. Also, be weary of "HD ready" or "720p" TVs, these are TVs which have a resolution of only 1280x720 - stretched over a 30in + screen - this looks very poor when even moderately close. What you really want is a TV branded "Full HD" or "HD 1080p" or the like. These TVs have a resolution of 1920x1080, but are usually a decent chuck more expensive than their "HD ready" brethren.

As for the 30in PC monitor you mention, then I guess you are referring to something like this. However, there is a good reason for the massive price, it is a very high quality screen. It uses a frankly massive 2560x1600 resolution, an IPS panel (which reproduces colours faithfull for graphical work and has very wide viewing angles and more connections than you can shake a stick at. However, this monitor is not representative of PC monitors as a whole. This lovely 22in, IPS based monitor is less than a quarter of the price of the 30in, meanwhile you can get this (admittedly lower quality, but still perfectly adequate for gaming and work) 27in for the same price.

 

[forest4]

You don't need to put the graphics card here, as you already pick that on the left hand side, hence it already assumes you are using up one PCIe x16 slot.

Oops, I mught have missed the GPU part on the left.

If this is externally powered then you don't need to connect it. The power used by the ethernet interface is included in the power envelope of the motherboard which has already been selected. I would suggest picking "high end - desktop" for the motherboard.

OK. This router has its own plug, and therefore its own power supply.

Just pick 250mm in this case, the power difference is negligible in the scheme of things.

OK

There is an option for floppy on the bottom left.

Darn. Again my eyes playing tricks on me.

I'm not being funny, but have you tried a USB flash drive? They can be had for very cheap and are much larger, smaller, quieter (silent) and tougher than a floppy.

I know. But you left out the part there I said I was old-school! hehe

Maybe, it depends on the PSU in particular. If its a good quality, well made PSU then you will have no trouble, but if its a generic 350W then I wouldn't even try.

It looks OK. But I do not look at a lot of power supplies. It is quite dusty from sitting on the shelf in a box for a long time without being used. Still works though I think, though I have not tried to test it, nor do I know how to.

I suppose it depends what you use it for. Monitors are relatively expensive because they use high pixel density panels with large resolutions, also most are made with gaming in mind so they have very fast response times to eliminate ghosting.

I think I like CRT displays. But maybe if I find a reasonably priced LCT flat panel I will pick one up. But it is unlikely. I will peobably upgrade my PC's internal hardware before I upgrade my diaplay, or buy more PC games.

I was just looking at your signature. You have almost the same PC as I do!

WOW! 389 Watts? That is the result from the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Lite v2.5. WOW. I could get away with a 600W! Easy!

But would it be better to go over that for a possible future Crossfire setup?

 

[cmndr_andi]

I was just looking at your signature. You have almost the same PC as I do!

Yup, ain't life sweet?

WOW! 389 Watts? That is the result from the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Lite v2.5. WOW. I could get away with a 600W! Easy!

Aye, its madness really. Before I really looked into it I thought my PC used WAAAY more power than it actually did. For 3 upgrades I kept upping the power capacity of the new PSU assuming more power is better for all the new kit. But really, its all to do with quality components, stable hardware, high efficiency and a nice long warranty.

 

[forest4]

Dude, you made my year.

 

[gareth170]

you'll only need 650w psu tbh..

for example my system (in sig) uses 390w~ under load

 

[Phatzy]

if you can afford to keep the 1200w psu, then keep it and in the near future you wont need to go out and buy a new psu, as the 1200w is capable of powering the next next gen cpu, gpu etc.

 

[arc@css]

You've got it now, I'd be inclined to keep it. It'll get used for the next rig you build...and possibly the one after that.

 

[forest4]

OK, a special thanks to cmndr_andi for his help.

MOD, please close the thread, the issue has been resolved

 

[Meaker]

I have a zalman fan control with power consumption monitor. It opened my eyes to these things.

 

[bhavv]

If in doubt, you can just get the Corsair HX 850w. More than enough power for anythin, plus it is completely fine up to 1000w usage.

 

[NathWraith]

1200w is overkill, but its nice to have just incase you want more gfx cards etc, I have a similar setup with a 1250W psu (I used to have tri sli though )