Newbie Help

JamworkS

JamworkS

JamworkS

Associate
Joined
23 Jul 2006
Posts
9
Ok, I'm not actually a newbie, but there's been some time since I built a PC and I have been disconnected from PC magazines and all.

I've been reading about power supplys and the new connectors and all that stuff. I'm kinda messed up. My current PSU is a nomake 500w with one serial ata connector, and the normal stuff ... the 20pin ATX, the 4pin ATX, and the whole lot of 5.25 and 3.5 connectors. That's about it. Pretty normal I should say.

But my question is that I want to build a PC, with a possibility to do a Crossfire configuration in the near future. And I've been reading that it seems that the power supplys need to have a lot more connectors now, due to SLI/Crossfire, Intel Core 2 Duo, etc etc.

So in general what should I be looking for in a PSU, from now on. Also, if there are any websites that I can learn from, I will greatly appreciate it.

Please understand my lack of up-to-date knowledge, and don´t tell me to @#$%& off :) .

I greatly appreciate all your contributions.

Regards,


JamworkS.
 
i'm not an "expert" but I would say look for PSU's with the 6pin PCI-E connector, 2 of these for either crossfire/SLi. look for a min of 600W for both crossfire/SLi. I would recomend a higher rated one, (hopefully someone will be able to give more detail). On my mobo as wel as the 20 pin and the 4pin it also requires a 4pin Molex to provide extra power. I certain that all PSU's will have the right connectors that you will require. To be certain I would go for one which is Crossfire/SLi ready.

Hope this helps
 
Thanks very much for the reply. I greatly appreciate it. Any help is welcomed.

About your suggestion, I haven't seen any that say SLI/Crossfire ready. I suppose many of them will be if they provide the right connectors, but I just need to know a bit more about this, because I'm lost in all of this PCI Express x16, x8, stuff and their subsequent connectors.

I hope for someone to show me the light to follow, too :cool: .

Many thanks,

JamworkS.
 
yup, im kind ;)

ok, you will either:
a. need to buy a new PSu or
b. buy some molex - 6pin PCI-e converters, not sure if OcUK sell them, as i have never needed 1

if you go with option a. then you're looking at something in the seasonic or corsair camp, you'll want quite a bit of juice for any C2D and SLI/crossfire config, so around 600+ is a must, which means for a decent SLI/crssfire ready PSU you'll be looking in the £100-£120 bracket, it may sound like a lot of money on a PSU but both seasonic and corsair are quality makes, both with good rails meaning stable system, and if you choose a good brand it should last you a while.

if you choose to go with option b. then you will need a molex- PCI-e converter, as i said i'm not sure if OcUK sell these, and i'm not sure of price, but if you ever intend to run a PCI-e card on your current PSU you will need one. there is also no doubt in a 500w PSU powering a C2D with a single graphics card.

i'd personally suggest option a. and the PSU i'd suggest is the corsair 620w:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-CS
it being more than enough to run a dual graphics config, it should also last a while into the future for other more PSU draining graphics cards

or for a less powerful SLI/crossfire graphics card config, the 520w corsair:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-005-CS
which is great value for money, will last a while, but might lack power for future SLI/crossfire setups

hope that helps ;)
 
JamworkS said:
I've been reading about power supplys and the new connectors and all that stuff. I'm kinda messed up. My current PSU is a nomake 500w with one serial ata connector, and the normal stuff ... the 20pin ATX, the 4pin ATX, and the whole lot of 5.25 and 3.5 connectors. That's about it. Pretty normal I should say.
Click to expand...
No longer quite normal as the 20-pin connector is now 24-pin in addition to the extra 4-pin which can also be an 8-pin. As the others have said you're also looking for 6-pin PCIe and more SATA connectors. I have two PSUs that came with 4-pin Molex to 6-pin adapters but this isn't ideal and, fortunately, I don't need them.

The Corsair PSUs being recommended seem to be 'flavour of the month'. They're made by Seasonic and I'm very happy with my Seasonic PSU.

Jonathan
 
Pretty much every graphics card that needs a 6-pin PCIe connector comes with a molex to 6-pin convertor in the box.

You don't actually need a 24-pin connector either - the 20-pin set to the LHS of the power socket works just fine.

With 500W you should be fine if it's a good brand. If it's generic then it could run out of puff.

Recommended PSU's tend to come and go. Hiper were supposedly the bees knees then they were taken over by someone else and the quality went out the window for a couple of months. That got them a bad reputation. I'm told by somone in the trade that there are only about 4 big PSU manufacturers who make stuff for everyone else. FSP are the biggest. They make PSU's for Akasa, Hiper/Coolermaster, some Thermaltake and Enermax as well as their own FSP 'green' brand. All these brands are equally good in my opinion. QTec have a spectacularly bad reputation and they make most of the cheap generic PSU's and (I think) some Thermaltake. The next biggest is a Taiwanese manufacturer with a chinese name. They make Tagan and they are VERY high quality, but you do pay for it. Finally Seasonic have their own factory and they make Corsair apparently. I would buy the Seasonic given the choice as I know and trust that brand. Corsair are also a good brand but PSU's are not their core business. They make great RAM, but their PSUs are bought in from someone else.

Akasa Paxpower 460W or Akasa Green Silent 80 Paxpower 500W would be my recommendations. Both are great and very stable. The Green one runs verty efficiently and doesn't give out much heat which may or may not be a good thing in your build.
 
Hi, not forgetting that seasonic make some Antec PSU's too, thus they can be recommended..
ChrisC
 
WJA96 said:
The Green one runs verty efficiently and doesn't give out much heat which may or may not be a good thing in your build.
Click to expand...
In what situation would giving out less heat not be a good thing, if JamworkS' furnace was broken?

If you're doing new build it would be a fine time to ditch the no-name 500W PSu and go for a quality new one. WJA's recommendations are very good.
 
Thank you very much

Well, thank you very much. Your help is greatly appreciated. I never thought of such a response from you guys :).

At least now I know what makes of PSU's I need to go for.

Next question. Which is better SLI or Crossfire? I read that ATI's implementation is a bit more flexible, but dunno why. I've seen that with ATI's, you need a master card and then a slave one. Is it the same with Nvidia?

Well, again, I can't stop thanking you for your replies.


JamworkS
PS: what's all the fuss about modular PSU's and sleeved cables? thank you.
 
JamworkS said:
Next question. Which is better SLI or Crossfire? I read that ATI's implementation is a bit more flexible, but dunno why. I've seen that with ATI's, you need a master card and then a slave one. Is it the same with Nvidia.

what's all the fuss about modular PSU's and sleeved cables? thank you.
Click to expand...
Modular PSUs and sleeved cables make the case tidier. Modular means that you can disconnect unused leads rather than trying to hide them. Sleeved cables means that the wires will be bound together and will be generally smaller-looking and tidier.

Crossfire can be considered more versatile becasue SLi requires that the game support it. Crossfire works with all games. With the latest drivers ATi's X1900 range no longer needs a master card for crossfire. Expect cards released in the future to continue the trend.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
Modular PSUs and sleeved cables make the case tidier. Modular means that you can disconnect unused leads rather than trying to hide them. Sleeved cables means that the wires will be bound together and will be generally smaller-looking and tidier.

Crossfire can be considered more versatile becasue SLi requires that the game support it. Crossfire works with all games. With the latest drivers ATi's X1900 range no longer needs a master card for crossfire. Expect cards released in the future to continue the trend.
Click to expand...


Thanks very much dude. I owe ya a pint for the answer :D. I was actually thinking in buying a 1950 PCI Express card and then buy a second one in sometime. I suppose they have to be identical in order to work. And that all cabling needed will come with them (I think there's the need to connect them through a cable).

Again thank you all for your help,


JamworkS.
PS: any good site to read about news and reviews?
 
BillytheImpaler said:
In what situation would giving out less heat not be a good thing, if JamworkS' furnace was broken?
Click to expand...

Indeed. What I meant to say was it might be a plus point if he was building a system where temperature build-up could be an issue. Sometimes you can put a very hot PSU into a case with no problems, sometimes it can give huge problems. I'll stop digging myself in deeper now. :rolleyes:
 
WJA96 said:
Indeed. What I meant to say was it might be a plus point if he was building a system where temperature build-up could be an issue. Sometimes you can put a very hot PSU into a case with no problems, sometimes it can give huge problems. I'll stop digging myself in deeper now. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I don't think heat is a problem. My case is always open :p, that's why. My problem is finding the right components. Regarding PSU's I more or less have it clear now (thanks to you, obviously).

As I said in an earlier post, I want to go for an ATI 1950 because I heard is very good for games, supports widescreen LCDs and crossfire too. My question is if it has to be the exact same card (make, model, memory) to use crossfire and if it needs special cabling to connect both cards, or is it included.

Thanks very much lads,

JamworkS.
 
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