New rig, need advice.

avit27 · 28 Aug 2013 at 20:19

Okay,so I'm building a new rig after my current PSU blew and was considering replacing everything before hand this has provided the excuse to give to the wife hahahaha

Anyway my new system will consist of:
- CPU: Intel Core i5 4570 3.2GHz Quad Core CPU with 3.6GHz Turbo enabled
- Motherboard: MSI B85-G43 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Motherboard
- RAM: 8GB 1600MHz Dual Channel DDR3 RAM
- MSI GeForce GTX 670 OC Twin Frozr Power Edition 2048MB
- OCZ ZT 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply

I've done a wattage test on all my components and it comes to 382 watts, I added another 20% onto that for power loss with age and came to 452watts.

So my question is, will this 550 watt PSU be more than enough to run high end games? I'm not a hardcore gamer but I do like to max everything when I do play.I chose this PSU because 1, the calculations and 2, cheapest modular haswell compatible PSU I could find.

RJC · 28 Aug 2013 at 20:56

Your system would pull around 290w from the wall whilst at full load, my system in sig pulled 330w at full load.

So yes your PSU will be ample.

avit27 · 28 Aug 2013 at 21:03

RJC said:
Your system would pull around 290w from the wall whilst at full load, my system in sig pulled 330w at full load.

So yes your PSU will be ample.

I've been reading over the net that this is a bad PSU made by Great Wall? Are they really that bad? 1 guy is claiming that it fried his hardware when the PSU blew? Are they simply pushing it too hard? or is it a poor quality part? Quite concerned about it.

RJC · 28 Aug 2013 at 21:12

Review of the PSU:

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/ocz_zt_series_550w_power_supply_review,7.html

Hard to say, all PSU can fail, I used a Enermax and this failed but luckily had no system damage, what they were doing with there system and spec could have a factor on things.

If you have concerns spend a little extra and have a look at the Seasonic below:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-018-SS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2383

avit27 · 28 Aug 2013 at 21:50

RJC said:
Review of the PSU:

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/ocz_zt_series_550w_power_supply_review,7.html

Hard to say, all PSU can fail, I used a Enermax and this failed but luckily had no system damage, what they were doing with there system and spec could have a factor on things.

If you have concerns spend a little extra and have a look at the Seasonic below:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-018-SS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2383

The problem I'm facing is, I'm getting the new haswell CPU I would like to have a compatible PSU. I've heard you can use any PSU but you have to disable something,which I'm not so savvy when it comes to messing with the BIOS.

avit27 · 28 Aug 2013 at 22:41

Okay,so I've decided against that PSU and gone for the basic fully wired option instead. It's haswell compatible so I'm happy with it. I just hope it can run my machine with those parts above efficiently without issue. Anyway here it is:
Corsair 2013 Edition Gamer Series GS 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply

Corsair are a good brand so I can't complain on that score,so fingers crossed everything will go well and I wont blow this 1 lol