A decent, affordable PSU capable of powering GTX970 SLI?

Amatsubu

Amatsubu

Amatsubu

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Joined
8 Sep 2012
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Hi!

I was told in an another thread that my OCZ SXSII 500W is basically a load of pony incapable of powering a single GTX970 (though it was coping just fine with a 955BE and a 7850, both OC'ed;p). Seeing as I might be going SLI somewhere down the road, I might as well replace the PSU now and buy the card a little later.

The thing is I'm from Poland and we only get the mainstream stuff here (at least when it comes to PSUs). Super Flower, EVGA and Seasonic are less popular and kinda hard to come by (especially Super Flower). Other than that, there's a good selection of PSUs from Corsair, Be Quiet!, Antec, XFX, Chieftec and other brands.

I was eyeballing the Antec (which, as I'm told, is basically a Seasonic in disguise) True Power Edge GOLD 750. Is it any good or should I look elsewhere? What about the Corsair CS series? I'd really like something reliable that won't cost me an arm and a leg...

Cheers!
 
The Antec is a ok unit and is indeed built by Seasonic although the reviews have been nothing special. It has 744w on the 12v rails so would do the job fine.

All of the XFX psu's are Seasonic built and on the whole recive excellent reviews. The problems start if they fail because XFX has abysmal customer service and it's one of the reasons that OCUK stopped selling their psu's.

BeQuiet has a mix of manufacturers and are also a mix in quality. The low end units are poor with weak rails yet the top end units are among the best available. The best units are Dark Power Pro P10/P9/P8 (P9 & P8 now discontinued), Straight Power 10 (fixed cables), Straight Power 10 CM (hybrid modular). The 12v rails tend to be not quite as strong as the XFX units but are still very good, plus they focus on quietness.

There are very few reviews for Chieftec psu's and the ones that I have seen as shown them to be quite poor. I certainly wouldn't touch one.

I really don't like Corsair. Apart from you have to send them to Holland when they break there's also the fact that they got established with high quality psu's mad by the likes of Seasonic then once they got a foothold cheaped out and went with inferior units from cheaper OEM's. I suppose some of their units are good but I would never buy one.

A very good reference site is the RealHardTech X psu review database. It has the details of who actually makes the units, wattage on the 12v rails, whether the unit is modular or not and links to reviews.
 
Thanks!

Yep, I certainly won't put Chieftec anywhere near my build. Corsair's CS series got a "fail" from HardOCP, so I think I'll pass on that too. I heard about XFX's poor customer service and I don't really want to experience it;p

But in general would the Antec be a safe bet? It's got the best reviews out of that bunch and it seems to be good quality. Plus it got a silver award at HardOCP as opposed to the Corsair CS750 actually failing;p If it's based on the Seasonic G-series (HardOCP actually states that Edge's build quality is even better) it can't be that bad, can it? It's also supposed to be pretty quiet, which is rather welcome.
 
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Thanks for the help:) I'll buy the Antec, seems like a decent choice and should power 2 GTX970s easily (not that I'll be able to afford them now;p). Cheers!
 
Oh, I forgot to ask about the +12v rails! The Antec has two rails rated at 40A each. Are the GPUs in SLI supposed to run off a single rail? Sorry for a possibly silly question, I'm not that well-versed when it comes to PSUs and multi-gpu setups. The PSU has both SLI & Crossfire certifications so I guess it should be all right?
 
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