QUIETEST PSU WHATS YOUR OPINION?

[Mekrel]

Too right. There is simply no need for a PSU that's any larger than that, but 99% of people think they do need masses of power. It takes a really top end SLI and Crossfire rig to break even the 300watt barrier, so why anyone needs a 1Kw power supply is beyond me!

I have a fairly modest setup ATM.

X2 3800+
3GB RAM
nForce 4 SLI board
X800XL
1 x 500GB hard drive
1 x DVD-RW
1 x X-Fi.

My fanless, 300watt Silverstone PSU is more than capable of powering all of this, without the need for any active cooling near it at all.

Sometime in 2008 I plan on adding an 8800GT, if funds allow, and I have no doubts that my 300watt fanless PSU will continue to operate quite happily with all this.

And the ironic thing is, if I upgraded my rig to a juicy quad-core Penryn, my power consumption would actually be lower than it currently is. The trend these days is to consume less power, not more. PSU manufacturers must be cursing because until now, they have relied on the naivity of most people to sell their ridiculously overpowered PSUs.

Actually, you're very far away from the truth. Yes Power supplies are very efficient across the board, but they peak (well what's classed as good) at 80-86% so you wouldn't run one at complete full load 24/7 just like a phase change system.

SLi easily breaks 300w, Jokester's rig a while back pulled something like 600+ watts (624 sticks in my mind) and I'm sure he said it was yet to be clocked.

 

[mrochester]

SLi easily breaks 300w, Jokester's rig a while back pulled something like 600+ watts (624 sticks in my mind) and I'm sure he said it was yet to be clocked.

He would need Quad-SLI to pull anything like that, and a massively overclocked top end processor.

Quoted from another forum...

I put together my new system, only to find out that the SeaSonic S12-430 is DOA. While it's being exchanged, I hooked it up to an HEC-300AR-TF, and it works fine, although I'm not going to try OCing.

Intel Q6600
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
4x1GB OCZ PC-6400
GeForce 8800GTS 640MB
WD 500AAKS HDD
Philips SATA DVDRW
T-Balancer bigNG
2x Noctua 120mm 1200rpm fans
2x Scythe S-Flex 120mm 800rpm fans

So there you have it, 300watts for 95% of people would be fine.

ZEN 300W runs this system np:

- Core2Duo E6300 OCed at 3.15 GHz
- Gigabyte DS3
- 3GB ddr2
- Gigabyte 7600 GT passive cooling
- 1x 2.5" 5400 RPM HDD
- 2x 3.5" 7200 RPM HDD
- DVDRW
- Sunbeam Rheobus
- 2x Nexus 12cm at 12V
- 1x Antec 12cm at 12V
- two LEDs at 12V Smile

Fortron Source 300watt "Green" PSU had no troubles with:

Intel Core2Duo 6420 2.13gHz @ 20% OC = 2.56gHz
2X 1GB Corsair DDR SDRAM 533
Asus P5N-E SLi
Gigabyte 8600GTS
320GB Western Digital SATA HD
120GB Samsung IDE HD
20GB Western Digtal IDE HD
Sony DVD-RW
Antec 3-speed case fan (in Solo)
GlobalWin NCB (on Thermalright SI-128)
no-name PCI serial port card

I just finished my new system (outside of needing to do some major cabling work to clean things up and some thermal work) and it's way below the 300watt threshold.

Running the following (which shows at about 180w idle/225w load at UPS load detector..which I estimate to mean about 150/190w actual power taking into account 80% efficiency)

Core 2 duo E6600 at 3.0ghz and 1.2v core
Gigabyte P35 Mobo
EVGA 7900GTO at 1.3v core
2X120mm Yate Loon
2X92mm Nexus/Scythe
Sound Blaster X-fi + Front Audio Bay
802.11g Wifi Card
Nec 18x Dvd Burner
3 Sata HD
4X1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 at 1.8v

It's hard to imagine many non-sli scenarios that could surpass the 300w barrier at all considering this setup is far below.

Well now I have something on a 300watter, this one uses around 100w on idle, load power usage has not been tested yet.


Core 2 duo E6750 at stock settings
ECS G33 Mobo
EVGA 8600GT Superclock at stock
802.11g Wifi Card
Liteon 20x Dvd Burner
1 Sata HD
2X1GB OCZ DDR2-800

Really not a demanding system at all, but certainly similar to a lot of mid-range systems.

 

[Mekrel]

He would need Quad-SLI to pull anything like that, and a massively overclocked top end processor.

Quoted from another forum...



So there you have it, 300watts for 95% of people would be fine.

No he wouldn't because Tri/Quad SLi wasn't even out then, it's only just arrived with 780i boards.

None of those rigs you've quoted are top specification computers. I will try to find the post in question.

 

[helmutcheese]

You coulds still run 3x GPU's on the 680i and thats old now.

 

[Mekrel]

You could, but no one would as the 3rd PEG slot was massively starved of bandwidth.

Oh also, I was right:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9624765&postcount=168

 

[helmutcheese]

Not really 2x 16 slots for SLI and 1x 8x in for Physics.

The 780i also runs the middle slot at 8x if all 3 cards are fitted, and 8x is enough for any GPU right now.

So that arguement above about power is not valid, 3x 8800Ultra in my Mobo would use a lot of power, dont matter if they aint in TRI SLI.

 

[mrochester]

No he wouldn't because Tri/Quad SLi wasn't even out then, it's only just arrived with 780i boards.

None of those rigs you've quoted are top specification computers. I will try to find the post in question.

You have a funny idea of top spec then.

Intel Q6600
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
4x1GB OCZ PC-6400
GeForce 8800GTS 640MB

is certainly a top spec computer.

 

[mrochester]

You could, but no one would as the 3rd PEG slot was massively starved of bandwidth.

Oh also, I was right:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9624765&postcount=168

Come on at least show us a shot from a proper watt meter attached to the plug socket the PC uses, not some questionable figure a Zalman front panel shows. The Zalman front panel would have to have a connector between the power socket and kettle lead to get an accurate reading.

EDIT - Having read up about the Zalman, it seems it does intercept the main kettle lead. However, I suggest there is something very wrong with the reading in those pictures. I can assure you that not even SLI would get anywhere near 600watts power usage.

 

[Jokester]

Come on at least show us a shot from a proper watt meter attached to the plug socket the PC uses

That's how the Zalman works...

 

[Mekrel]

Not really 2x 16 slots for SLI and 1x 8x in for Physics.

The 780i also runs the middle slot at 8x if all 3 cards are fitted, and 8x is enough for any GPU right now.

So that arguement above about power is not valid, 3x 8800Ultra in my Mobo would use a lot of power, dont matter if they aint in TRI SLI.

780i is PCI-e 2.0.

Of course it's valid, he said it would take Quad-SLi to break 600w, I showed him it only took two Ultra cards. If you've not got the cards in SLi, and only using them as a monitor card, then 2 of the three GPU's are always going to be idle as they won't be processing.

Stating that 95% of people only need a 300w PSU when talking about enthusiasts is wrong, there isn't even enough connectors on a 300w PSU for my computer let a lone needing 4x PCI-E plugs for SLi for high end cards.

Then you need to take into consideration that a 300w PSU will most likely have quite low amperage 12v rails.

 

[helmutcheese]

MY FleshLite uses more power.

 

[mrochester]

Stating that 95% of people only need a 300w PSU when talking about enthusiasts is wrong, there isn't even enough connectors on a 300w PSU for my computer let a lone needing 4x PCI-E plugs for SLi for high end cards.

Who said I was talking about enthusiasts? What makes you assume that everyone posting on here is an enthusiast, other than someone who is just looking for help and advice before making a purchase? Hardcore enthusiasts make up a tiny percent of the market, hence I said 95% of people only need 300watt PSUs. And even those who think they need more will probably find that they actually don't.

 

[helmutcheese]

You know something, back in 2001 I had the new out Thunderbird 1.2GHZ DDR CPU.

AMD's site had a PSU guide on it and the Min was 300watt for my CPU and the Rec was 330watt for my CPU.

Ok times move on and the CPU's dont need 1.75v today but the overall power use of a modern PC is up esp the GPU's.

I would never ever today (or in recent years) build a PC and risk all the hardware on a 300watt PSU, I used 430watt Antecs back when NF2 was king.

 

[mrochester]

You know something, back in 2001 I had the new out Thunderbird 1.2GHZ DDR CPU.

AMD's site had a PSU guide on it and the Min was 300watt for my CPU and the Rec was 330watt for my CPU.

Ok times move on and the CPU's dont need 1.75v today but the overall power use of a modern PC is up esp the GPU's.

I would never ever today (or in recent years) build a PC and risk all the hardware on a 300watt PSU, I used 430watt Antecs back when NF2 was king.

At the end of the day, you can do what you like, it's your money. Those of us in the know however, can make a more informed decision, and live with powerfull systems running from 300watt fanless PSUs. I think I'd rather have that than a fanned PSU

 

[helmutcheese]

@ mrochester You dont know anything much m8 (going by what I read above) and seem not many agree with you.

Many in the "dont know how", build a top PC with all £££ parts but skimp on the Ram (wont damage PC but could act up) and PSU (can damage every other part of Hardware).




@ Mekrel, m8, You read my post wrong, Im saying its a massive power need (hense I posted about 3x GPU's), a 300watt PSU is a joke IMO.

Dont matter if 680i with 3 GPU's (NON SLI) or 780i with 3 GPU's in TRI SLI, lots of power needed there (and both will have middle slot at 8x with 3 GPU's fitted).

 

[mrochester]

@ mrochester You dont know anything much m8 (going by what I read above) and seem not many agree with you.

Many in the "dont know how", build a top PC with all £££ parts but skimp on the Ram (wont damage PC but could act up) and PSU (can damage every other part of Hardware).

I know I am right, so there's no point trying to argue saying I'm not. Whether you believe me or not is your choice, and I couldn't care less if you did or not. But people giving incorrect advice narks me off and that's what others are doing in here.

 

[Mekrel]

Who said I was talking about enthusiasts? What makes you assume that everyone posting on here is an enthusiast, other than someone who is just looking for help and advice before making a purchase? Hardcore enthusiasts make up a tiny percent of the market, hence I said 95% of people only need 300watt PSUs. And even those who think they need more will probably find that they actually don't.

Of course you were on about enthusiasts, your comment alone on needing a good SLi/Crossfire setup to break 300w proves that.

I agree with you that there are people buying ridiculous sized power supplies, I've seen 1KW power supplied powering rigs which have a lower power consumption than mine.

I know I am right, so there's no point trying to argue saying I'm not. Whether you believe me or not is your choice, and I couldn't care less if you did or not. But people giving incorrect advice narks me off and that's what others are doing in here.

What? You said it would take a good crossfire setup to break 300watts, to which I disagreed stating a user on here broke 600watts (doubling your original limit, not just about breaking it) with a dual SLi setup at stock to which you said it would take a Quad-SLi setup. Showed you the post in which you said it needed to be measured from the wall, which the user of said rig stated that it actually was. You couldn't be any more wrong.

 

[Jokester]

Not according to Corsair.

You do realise that the system loading for each PSU is different?

For the 620W case 100% = 620W, 520W for the other. As power consumption increases the 520W gets noiser and noiser compared to the 620W. According to that graph the 620W reaches max noise at approx 550W whilst it's 520W for the 520W model.

Jokester

 

[helmutcheese]

Well you make statements about others being wrong

I know your wrong thats all that matters and some day it may cost you an entire PC because of your ideas. (I hope not for you sake or any others you do a build for).

 

[mrochester]

Well no because I know that if I'm building a really high end setup for someone, it will need more than 300watts. But for 95% of people, 300watts will be fine, and I've built plenty of PCs in my time.