PSU Differences and Recommendations.

t_aitch · 3 Apr 2006 at 01:10

Ive been looking in that custom pc issue where it compares all the PSUs on the planet almost (well a very detailed comparison of a lot).

Anyway, i see that becuase of this review the seasonic 600W has shot up to over £100 becuase i think everyone might be buying them. This is the one i wanted until i saw it at that price.

Anyway, the one they reviewed next to the seasonic was the FSP 600W, which i quite like the sound of, however the 12v rails werent supposed to be to good.

I have a 485 enermax noisetaker, and im thinking about something quiet and very reliable to power the below setup but with an Overclocked Athlon X2 4400+ soon.

Any recommendations from anyone on a suitable PSU would be brilliant.

fenderbass86 · 3 Apr 2006 at 09:20

Tagan 580W is what i'm gonna be going for, that's getting a lot of praise on these boards.

booyaka · 3 Apr 2006 at 09:56

Got the 530 tagan and solid as a rock on the various rails and lovely and quiet too.

nyzrox · 3 Apr 2006 at 10:39

Go for the Seasonic, i have 1 and it is so silent and solid, never gave me problems

and its atx, btx and eps compatible

t_aitch · 3 Apr 2006 at 11:05

Yeah all i need is an ATX one, but the seasonic is so damn expensive now, wish it was still £80, OCUK this week only maybe??

That tagan one, is that the modular PSU?

nyzrox · 3 Apr 2006 at 11:14

you may only need atx now, think about in future.

also it has 2 pci express plugs on 1 cable rather then using that daft molex - 6pin which come with some psu's

squiffy · 3 Apr 2006 at 13:37

I have a similar similar system, 4400+, Asus MVP Deluxe, X1900XT. Enermax Liberty 620W. Very quiet, much quieter than the stock PSU with another case (first time I bought a seperate PSU) Seems like a good PSU, not much to talk about. Black, boxy and cably.

Dutch Guy · 3 Apr 2006 at 13:51

Why do you want a new PSU, your old 485W Enermax should run your system just fine and they are also one of the most quiet PSU's :confused:

t_aitch · 3 Apr 2006 at 14:28

You sure?

I want to be able to overclockthe new 4400 x2 when i get it, and my gfx cards ocd too ah the moment.

You sure that it will be ok?

Dutch Guy · 3 Apr 2006 at 14:59

t_aitch said:
You sure that it will be ok?

I'm quite positive, even a highly overclocked SLI rig doesn't use more than 400W of power and as you have a quite recent PSU the power on the 12V rails will also be sufficient.

fornowagain · 3 Apr 2006 at 17:06

Your Enermax PSU has a combined maximum wattage at 12v of 32A/384w. Add up the 12v loads and see how much the total comes to. The only thing to watch for is the total current on each rail, as dual rails are limited to 240VA per rail.

Here's a start just a guess at simple system like yours. All 12v, it's all that really matters with an AMD64 system.

E4/E6 4400+ @ 2.6GHz 1.5v = 120w
Motherboard approx ~ 45w
X1800XTPE = 110w (95% is 12v)
2 x sata = 28w
1 DVD = 26w
1 FDD = 5w
3 x 92mm fans ~ 36w
Water pump ~ 25w
2 usb devices ~ 5w

What's that just using generic values? 400w all on the 12v and it's not even crossfire. Some components run from the 3.3/5v lines, but your not going to load them much. Now that assumes everythings running flat out all at once. They don't, in power calculation its normal to include factors for diversity, loss (inc derating) and efficiency. I've no idea what they are for a PC, but say the load is only 80% of maximum, but the losses to heat and resistance are 5% and the PSU is down 5% from age. At a conservative estimate say you need 90% of the maximum load 30A/360w at 12v.

Will you PSU be enough? Probably, but you can see how close its getting.

t_aitch · 3 Apr 2006 at 17:47

I might just stick with my PSU for now then, and wait till i have some more funds for a new one.

So what your saying is, on my setup, my Psu is on full load almost?

fornowagain · 3 Apr 2006 at 20:45

t_aitch said:
I might just stick with my PSU for now then, and wait till i have some more funds for a new one.

So what your saying is, on my setup, my Psu is on full load almost?

Yeah, wait. Get a multimeter, once the rig is together test the 12v from a molex. If it's moving around too much then change it. If you want a nice PSU for less than a ton look for a Silverstone Strider ST60F, £90 ish. 600w (at 50C) 4 rails 42A/504w at 12v and it's modular.

t_aitch · 3 Apr 2006 at 21:21

Yeah that looks like a great PSU, ill have to check out some reviews on it.

Will that be dangerous? I have a multimeter with a toolkit that i have but never used it, which colour cable will i have to test?

fornowagain · 3 Apr 2006 at 21:39

t_aitch said:
Yeah that looks like a great PSU, ill have to check out some reviews on it.

Will that be dangerous? I have a multimeter with a toolkit that i have but never used it, which colour cable will i have to test?

Dangerous? No. The only dangerous place is inside the PSU.

Put the DMM on voltage DC, set the range to 20. Put the DMM black on the molex black and the DMM red on the molex yellow. If it flashes ---- up the range. If it says 0.12 put down the range.