PSU on Intel BAD AXE 2 Advice Needed

Topboy · 22 Jan 2007 at 00:20

Hi There

OK First post on OCUK Forums so hi everyone.

I have the system thats in my Signature and have just ordered 1 Intel Extreme D975XBX2KR BAD AXE 2 Motherboard from OCUK to replace the MB i bought from them last year. Infact all the parts were bought from OCUK, i never shop anywhere else

.

My question is will the PSU be capable and stable running the other hardware on the Intel BAD AXE 2 Board.

The reason im worried is that the PSU gave up recently, the PCIx power leads stopped working. I was playing a game and boom it just died, no display nothing. I rebooted and got the messege to plug the power into my GPUs. After some testing with other parts i have, it was concluded that the PSU had given up the ghost on the PCIx rails. Have sent it back to Tagan UK and they are replacing it no probs, but im worried about these Tagans now with ATI cards in Crossfire, and all the other parts.

Just wondering if i should change it for somthing else like a PC&Power 1Kw PSU as i have heard they are very very good and run a single 12v Rail which is better and doesn't lose as much power on the transfer.

Your advice is much appreciated and I thank you all in advance.

Great to be here and look forward to a good time here talking to you all.

Topboy

tuxy · 22 Jan 2007 at 00:28

Hi, sorry I cant answer your question, I know very little about power supplies.
But just out of interest, why are you replacing the Asus P5W-DH? Its meant to be one of Asus's top end boards. Is it because, like me you have had a lot of trouble with it?
Again sorry for going off topic.I hope your question gets answered soon.

Topboy · 22 Jan 2007 at 00:43

Hi Tuxy

No the Asus board is great, problem is i just mounted it into my Lian-Li PC V2000B to revitalise my Watercooling RIG and the board has heatpipes that should not be mounted upside down.

Plus i really like the look of the Intel, Loads of reviews on it saying its a top board, stable, and OC freindly.

Just really worried about the PSU as i dont want to use a PSU that isnt right for the board.

Cheers

Topboy

Topboy · 22 Jan 2007 at 16:32

BUMP

Can anyone help with this please

Topboy

james32 · 22 Jan 2007 at 17:29

get a Seasonic S12 Energy+ 650W

or if you like modular cables then get a crosair 620w or
the Seasonic M12 Modular 700W.

why would you want a 1100 watt psu?

my seasonic 650 is powering 4 hard drives, 7900gto, 2 dvdroms,
fan controller, and its still silent and has plenty of connections left

and the badaxe 2 is a far better board than the p5w good choice

Topboy · 22 Jan 2007 at 17:38

Hi James32

Yeah BadAxe seems the Mobo of the moment for stability with a slight OC.

Ive read a lot of reports about ATI cards in Crossfire needing very high amps on the PCIx rails. Also the C2D is quite heavy as well.

With all these bits combined and then an overclock in place, just wanted to be safe that the PSU is going to handle it all

Topboy

muppet · 23 Jan 2007 at 20:04

welcome to the forums topboy

i would recomend the best psu you can afford but if you want a beefy psu i would recomend the enermax monster

by the way i got 390 fsb on my bx2

cheers

Flanno · 23 Jan 2007 at 22:21

Topboy said:
Hi There
Just wondering if i should change it for somthing else like a PC&Power 1Kw PSU as i have heard they are very very good and run a single 12v Rail which is better and doesn't lose as much power on the transfer.
Topboy

The Tagans are not very good at all...I would say bad. They don't seem to capable of reaching anywhere near the wattage the manufacturers have specced, internally are not good build quality, and run loud under load. Also the 1100w model is only rated for 1100w at 25 degrees. What a joke. No psu runs at a temp that low, and every 10 degree over the 25 degree mark starts knocking off max watt output. Seasonics on the other hand (and Corsair) are rated at 40 degrees. The likes of PC P&C, Etasis, Enermax Galaxy, Silverstone Zeus are rated at 50 degrees. So while the Tagan would do the job and I am sure there are plenty of happy Tagan customers on these forums, there are better PSU's available for the same money.

If you want a very powerful, modular psu you can't really beat the Seasonic M12 or Corsair HX series. Enermax comes in after these in my book. All 3 are miles ahead of OCZ, Antec, Thermaltake, and FSP. Tagan is not even considered. Personally I would go for the Seasonic. Top build quality (Seasonic make their own psu's), very very quiet, and modular. The Corsair is exactly the same psu but a lower watt rating (compared to the M12 700w Seasonic that is) and just as good.

Have a read of these recommendations here and you can't go wrong.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103

By the way, having 1 single rail being an advantage is a myth (propagated by PC P&Coolings PR department)

Quote
"ARE MULTIPLE 12-VOLT RAILS BETTER THAN A SINGLE 12-VOLT RAIL?
With all the hype about multiple 12-volt rails (ads claim that two rails is better than one, five is better than four, etc.), you’d think it was a better design. Unfortunately, it’s not!

Here are the facts: A large, single 12-volt rail (without a 240VA limit) can transfer 100% of the 12-volt output from the PSU to the computer, while a multi-rail 12-volt design has distribution losses of up to 30% of the power supply’s rating. Those losses occur because power literally gets “trapped” on under-utilized rails. For example, if the 12-volt rail that powers the CPU is rated for 17 amps and the CPU only uses 7A, the remaining 10A is unusable, since it is isolated from the rest of the system."

This is really a load of toss. They suddenly stopped making PSU's with multiple rails and decided multiple rails was bad. The only way the power would be unavailable to other rails is is if the total wattage of all of the rails combined were greater than all but one rail. Also PSU's with four or more +12V rails don't tend to end up with 1 rail getting overloaded and the psu tripping because these sort of PSU's are designed with graphics cards on their own dedicated rails to being with. Even if it did happen a good psu will crossload no bother. Also Intel have relaxed the 220VAC rating per rail where you could only have a max. of 18a per rail (220/12) and crossloading over other rails when going past the 18a limit would cause the overcurrent circuit to kick in and the psu to shut down. In practice that does not happen. Companies have been bypassing this for ages on the qt.

Also - the Seasonic M12 only has 1 rail if this thing really bothers you. They submitted for marketing/safety reasons in Germany with 4 rails, and it is advertised as such but it is really 2 virtual rails coming back to the one single actual rail. See - they bypassed Intel overcurrent protection. So get the Seasonic or the Corsair dude. By the way I ran the Seasonic M12 700w on the board you have with absolutely ZERO issues.