PSU upgrade

gasdoctor

gasdoctor

gasdoctor

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Joined
16 Aug 2004
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182
After changing everything in my dads pc I find its the psu thats causing intermittent post failure.

So hes gonna have my corsair HX520 and i need a new one.

I want to stay with corsair as their customer service was so good.

How big (gonna stay modular too). Specs below but will upgrade in a year to an i7 cpu and bigger gfx =/- crossfire and could do with it being ready for it.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-019-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084 (850W)

or 750W (I figure 650 is prob gonna be on the limit)

cheers
 
Your current PC peaks at mighty 220-230W.
Second card would add 150W at most but with new cards coming out from both sides adding second that old card probably wouldn't make any sense performance wise so if we leave 50W of extra for possibly heavier single card.
For extra 100W you can have reasonably overclocked quad in there and we're again at 400W class.

(in fact that PC in my sig has around 400W worst case peak draw with FurMark and Linpack)


And you might not want to do upgrade precisely year from now... Nehalem's successor Sandy Bridge architecture would be out soon.
 
So 650W makes most sense, though how much difference do peripherals like wheels and sticks make?

Still tempted by 750W as I cant see a situation where ill say wish id bought a smaller psu and its only 15 quid more.
 
I would always recommend going for 750w - 850w if you are thinking of running SLI or Crossfire in your case, putting a psu on the limits is not a good thing as it efficiency will drop when near its full capacity.

Have that little bit extra in the bag will be a good thing as it will work within its recommended specification and should give you trouble free working conditions thought its life.
 
I run the i7 @ 4ghz with 4870x2, 2hds which pulls 530w from the mains with Win mark & Prime running.
 
RJC said:
I run the i7 @ 4ghz with 4870x2, 2hds which pulls 530w from the mains with Win mark & Prime running.
Click to expand...

which only leaves you 70w if you are going to be using a 600w PSU, this would mean that it would not be at its optimal running conditions, in this is mean if the PSU is rated for 600w then the 12v rail could deliver 12v without any load, as soon as you start to get to the limits of what the PSU is rated for this 12v rail could drop as low as 11.4v is some situations which would make the system power off or just the good old blue screen situation.

Depending on the PSU's this situation could result in failure (old saying you get what you pay for) as what is stated on the box is not what you always get in regards delivering the specified wattage.

Please take time to look over the review I did with an Antec unit against the Corsair HX and you will see what I am talking about, you guys will probably never hit these sorts of limits that I have run, but the situation will still be the same if you spec an underpowered PSU.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18090119
 
I was thinking along the lines of 650w not 600w which should give approx 130w ~ to play with if needed.
 
650w would be perfect, although if you updated to the new gen cards (E.G 5870 CF) then you would be looking at either 750 or 850. For the price, I would get the 750w, its good to have an overkill :D
 
gasdoctor said:
So 650W makes most sense, though how much difference do peripherals like wheels and sticks make?
Click to expand...
Max 2.5W per used USB port.


RJC said:
I run the i7 @ 4ghz with 4870x2, 2hds which pulls 530w from the mains with Win mark & Prime running.
Click to expand...
Which probably makes ~450W load on PSU.
LGA 1366 platform is quite power hungry and that crossfire (it's not a single card) electric heater you have in there is plain horrible in both idle and load consumption:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd5870_7.html#sect0
 
EsaT said:
Max 2.5W per used USB port.


Which probably makes ~450W load on PSU.
LGA 1366 platform is quite power hungry and that crossfire (it's not a single card) electric heater you have in there is plain horrible in both idle and load consumption:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd5870_7.html#sect0
Click to expand...


Oh yes, handy in this weather. But I do not have that card any more, failed under warranty, Got a full refund.
Got 5850 under the tree, another one on order for End of Jan.
 
RJC said:
Oh yes, handy in this weather. But I do not have that card any more, failed under warranty, Got a full refund.
Got 5850 under the tree, another one on order for End of Jan.
Click to expand...
What weather? I just got used to -20C and now it's only -13C. (at least better than yesterdays hot -10C)

Two 5850s need only half of 4870X2s power draw when idling and also load consumption drops maybe nearly 100W.
 
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