PSU spec and brand for new build?

katie279

katie279

katie279

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Hi all,

Right geniuses, keep me right as lost track of all the PSU brands and what's good, bad and ugly!

Have thus far:
- 4090
- 7950x
- 96gb ram
- 4 x 2tb nvme
- Proart x670e MB

Now looking for PSU

Am thinking a 1200w should be plenty?!

Any tips on brands?
 
Seasonic GX-850 & 1000 are solid and well priced, don't think you need to go as far as 1200w.

I'd personally be comfortable running a 4090 rig on a modern 750w unit but appreciate most people want a certain amount of headroom.
 
Have you got a budget in mind? It’s a very high end system so deserves an equally decent PSU.

I own a Seasonic Vertex 1200, they offer a Vertex in both Gold and Platinum. Both have a 12 year warranty. I’m not sure Platinum is worth it over gold, but either would be more than up to task. I would go for either a 1000 or 1200w, the later being overkill but it’s the one I went for because who knows where future GPU’s may land.
 
Re budget - that's the harder thing with PSUs - I don't mind paying more for something if I'm getting better quality/capability, but it's hard to judge with PSUs. So likewise don't want to just waste money on something!

I've had probably 20 PSUs over the years and I can't recall one ever failing, so difference between gold and platinum as you say appears to be a little dubious IMO!?

That vertex seems good - I must say the brands change quite a lot over the years also - ie go back 15 years and you still had Intel/AMD CPUs, Nvidia/AMD GPUs etc, but lots of newer PSU brands seem to appear and fade!
 
The good thing with Seasonic is they’ve been around a very long time. Some of the old brands that used to be top tier seem to have gone out of fashion these days but still make good products (like Enermax).

The efficiency difference between hold and platinum isn’t massive, it would take a long time to pay it back. Honestly either of them is fine and both backed up with one of the longest warranties.
 
katie279 said:
Does this one look decent?!
www.overclockers.co.uk

Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1200W Fully Modular Native PCIE 5 80 Plus Gold Power Supply

Order Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1200W Fully Modular Native PCIE 5 80 Plus Gold Power Supply now online and benefit from fast delivery.
www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk
Click to expand...

By all accounts it’s a solid reliable choice. I think the only criticism is it’s potentially a bit noisy with a lower operating temperature threshold than some other units.

hwbusters.com

Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1200W ATX v3.0 PSU Review - Hardware Busters

Hardware Busters - Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1200W ATX v3.0 PSU Review - PSUs
hwbusters.com hwbusters.com
 
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katie279 said:
Am thinking a 1200w should be plenty?!
Click to expand...
Yes, you can power a 4090 on much less (prebuilt PCs are often 850, or even lower :o ), but 1000-1200 is common for high-end PCs and leaves you plenty of headroom for overclocking, upgrades, power spikes, etc.

katie279 said:
Any tips on brands?
Click to expand...
I'd just check the reviews on sites like hwbusters and anandtech. For the most part, there's less than half a dozen platforms being used by the majority of PSUs, so when you've read one review, you've read them all :D
 
Ah that's good to know - I could see myself plugging in loads of extras I haven't covered, so don't mind a bit of overkill for upgrades as you say.

Cool, been reading hwbusters - I feel ashamed to admit I was an hwbusters virgin until tonight! Good stuff on there!
 
He is the go to for PSU reviews :)

Hardly anyone does it properly now, they just do unboxing videos on YouTube…!
 
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