PSU ......Modular or not ?

Mal X · 15 Jul 2009 at 21:34

wont a modular PSU loose efficiency due to having sockets at the PSU end,
rather than a standard soldered connection ?

i'm thinking of the ``be quiet dark power pro 750W ``for a top end rig/single GTX 295......

and also, will 750w still be powerful enough next year, when a card more powerful than the 295 is released?

i need to get this right, before the end of this month
THANKS

StevenRaith · 15 Jul 2009 at 21:43

The amount of efficiency you'll lose due to modularity is nothing compared to the fact that you won't have half a dozen extra cables floating around blocking airflow.

Modular PSUs = the way forward, and along with screwless cases are probably one of the biggest benfits to us habitual system builders of recent years..

As for the power requirements, really would need to know the extact specifications, right down to the number of fans, or whether you'll be doing water cooling etc - calling it a 'top end rig' simply isn't enough.

Point is by next year, i5 and new i7s should be available, AMDs bulldozer platform will be in the wings, teh 5xxx series will be maturing, SSDs will be more common, etc - and no-one other than the people currently designing that kit will have any idea what sort of power requirements they will need.

If you are really concerned about this, get a 1kW+ PSU. Otherwise, get something to cover your current specs, and upgrade as required.

JonJ678 · 15 Jul 2009 at 21:51

Hopefully the next graphics cards will be less power-hungry as well as quicker, but there's no way of knowing really.

I vote for a non-modular (captive) psu. Modular adds another point of resistance through which youre pushing voltage, so you get a voltage drop across it and resistive heating as a result. Captive psu's don't have this point of failure.

The choice is between thi point of failure, and hiding cables. Probably depends what case you have, the Akasa I use has no problem hiding enormous numbers of spare cables. The other point is that modular always cost more, so at a given price you're normally comparing a higher quality captive with a lower quality modular.

Mal X · 15 Jul 2009 at 22:00

StevenRaith said:
As for the power requirements, really would need to know the extact specifications, right down to the number of fans, or whether you'll be doing water cooling etc - calling it a 'top end rig' simply isn't enough.

ok...........LIAN PC-71A .....6fans
AMD 965........air cooled only
DDR3 ram ...maybe 6 GB
not sure about mobo
card....single and next gen on from gtx295 ...DX11
sata........not sure yet......but definitely only one
BLU-RAY
no other harware/drives etc

so basically is ``be quiet 750W`` ok

thanks

Russu_cs16 · 15 Jul 2009 at 22:03

Mal X said:
wont a modular PSU loose efficiency due to having sockets at the PSU end,
rather than a standard soldered connection ?

i'm thinking of the ``be quiet dark power pro 750W ``for a top end rig/single GTX 295......

and also, will 750w still be powerful enough next year, when a card more powerful than the 295 is released?

i need to get this right, before the end of this month
THANKS

Lol i currently have same question on my mind...should i go for modular or non-modular PSU?

either
PC Power and Colling 750W
or
OCZ ModXStream Modular 700w?

my system will be

Core i7 920
asus p6t
patriot viper 6gb
Antec 902
XFX 4890xt..

Will 650 be enough or should i go for some thing like those 2 above?

RJC · 15 Jul 2009 at 22:08

Modular can be more expensive but it is down to personal preference, if you like your case neat and tidy then non modular might be easy due to the fact all cables come from one end and not across the front of the psu which can block fan ports ect.

Mal X · 15 Jul 2009 at 22:10

Russu_cs16 said:
Lol i currently have same question on my mind...should i go for modular or non-modular PSU?

either
PC Power and Colling 750W
or
OCZ ModXStream Modular 700w?

Hiper M1000 Power 1000w........There is this, it got 4 good reviews and one poor one...but it's only 100 quid.

yes, my guess is non-modular is more efficient.... but modular will still be excellent for us. ..... non-modular does have quite a few dangling cables and does look sruffy... my OCZ 600 has quite a few floating around inside... you could cut these off and heat shrink onto the ends of each to prevent short circuits..

my guess is that 750 W is well powerful enough, but i need to make sure

Sasahara · 15 Jul 2009 at 22:14

avoid the Hiper pls.

The PC Power and Cooling 750W is the best one, so far mentioned here.

Bequiet Dark power is over priced, get a Corsair HX 750W if you are looking in that price range.

Mal X · 15 Jul 2009 at 22:28

Sasahara said:
avoid the Hiper pls.

The PC Power and Cooling 750W is the best one, so far mentioned here.

Bequiet Dark power is over priced, get a Corsair HX 750W if you are looking in that price range.

the pc power and cooling is bright red :eek:

...i'm not having something like that inside my case :cool:

it looks like either the corsair or the be quiet...best bet is the corsair 750 modular

Russu_cs16 · 15 Jul 2009 at 22:35

Mal X said:
the pc power and cooling is bright red ...i'm not having something like that inside my case

it looks like either the corsair or the be quiet...best bet is the corsair 750 modular

I want to stay in the price range of the Pc Power & Cooling 750....

But is the OCZ better than this?

Mal X · 15 Jul 2009 at 22:38

Russu_cs16 said:
I want to stay in the price range of the Pc Power & Cooling 750....

But is the OCZ better than this?

i have the OCZ STEALTH X STREAM 600W and it's excellent, i'd say the OCZ is as good...it's got an excellent reputation....

BUT OCZ dont go above 700W in Modular format..... only above as a normal PSU, and i'm after modular; so this rules out OCZ, because if so i'd get another OCZ

JonJ678 · 15 Jul 2009 at 22:39

pc power and cooling and ocz are the same company. The former is the higher quality brand, the latter the cheaper brand. Both are good though, and the warranty behind each is very good. OCZ are generally considered lower quality than corsair, I at least consider pc p&c to be higher quality than corsair. I daresay someone will disagree

Hiper, they have quite a bad rep. The supply I used from them worked quietly and excellently for ages, but they're still not popular. They had one range in particular where a remarkable percentage of them failed.

Russu_cs16 · 15 Jul 2009 at 22:40

JonJ678 said:
pc power and cooling and ocz are the same company. The former is the higher quality brand, the latter the cheaper brand. Both are good though, and the warranty behind each is very good. OCZ are generally considered lower quality than corsair, I at least consider pc p&c to be higher quality than corsair. I daresay someone will disagree

Hiper, they have quite a bad rep. The supply I used from them worked quietly and excellently for ages, but they're still not popular. They had one range in particular where a remarkable percentage of them failed.

So...

Should i go for
PC&c? or the OCZ modular one?

JonJ678 · 15 Jul 2009 at 22:42

Id go for the pc p&c, hands down. I'm using two of their 860W models at present. One survived a motherboard blowing up hard enough to kill itself, the processor, and the ram. The 8 pin power cable burnt out on it, but beyond that the psu hasn't flinched. I'm using it now, on the secondary 8 pin cable.

Mal X · 15 Jul 2009 at 22:47

Russu_cs16 said:
So...

Should i go for
PC&c? or the OCZ modular one?

i cant answer that can i

....because i'm not you, but the OCZ is very impressive, mine runs dead silent and freezing cold.

now the ``be quiet`` is a better colour match for my pc than the Corsair.... it'll look better, but the corsair is cheaper/ more efficient ...even so, the ``be quiet`` will be well good enough.... because it's still top quality...............i'm getting a bit fussy now, time for a cigarette break!

Ace Modder · 15 Jul 2009 at 23:57

OCZ are releasing some new PSU's soon.
850W and 1000W in both modular and none modular.
I will put them up tomorrow on Pre-Order on the website

Mal X · 16 Jul 2009 at 00:27

Ace Modder said:
OCZ are releasing some new PSU's soon.
850W and 1000W in both modular and none modular.
I will put them up tomorrow on Pre-Order on the website

great thanks

Russu_cs16 · 16 Jul 2009 at 00:58

Ace Modder said:
OCZ are releasing some new PSU's soon.
850W and 1000W in both modular and none modular.
I will put them up tomorrow on Pre-Order on the website

Ace Modder...

What do you think?
The OCZ ModXstream 700w is good for:

Antec 902
Core i7 with stock cooling
Asus p6t
patriot viper 6gb
4890 XT
maybe one more case fan in the future...
DVD drive
1 HDD drive

Do you think it will be stable and good with those components...

are they efficient enough?

EDIT ::: What does ATX2 mean?

demonfatality · 16 Jul 2009 at 01:04

PC Power and Colling 750W

RJC · 16 Jul 2009 at 07:12

The OCZ will be fine for your system, ATX 2 I think means the main ATX connector has 24 pins instead of the older 20 pin.