UPS + 900W PSU + 24" Widescreen

[A_Darkfire]

Evening all,

Well the main mission to build a nice new shiny PC continues, but looking at the amount I plan on spending over the next few months, I think it would be good idea to have a UPS to protect it. The trouble is I know next to nothing about these things when it comes to how you work out what they can handle...

Ultmately I'll be using a 900W PSU + a Dell 2407WFP + little extras (headphone amp, mouse, mp3 charger), but I don't need a great deal of backup time. Just enough to shut down cleanly if the power goes and protect me from the Lightning God. But what unit can handle this lot? I've looked at the APC website and their little 'spec me' guide, but it doesn't really look right (and they don't seem to care much about the PC's PSU size which I thought odd).

Does anyone here know which I should look at or what power rating I should use?

 

[BillytheImpaler]

Well a 900W PSU does not always draw 900W. It only draws what's necessary; that's the benefit of switching power supplies. What kit do you have in it? What is its estimated power draw?

 

[squiffy]

I would look at 800VA at the minimum, 1000-1500VA should be sufficient. Use this guide for more info

http://www.apc.com/products/runtime_for_extendedruntime.cfm?upsfamily=23

 

[A_Darkfire]

This system hasn't been built yet...but here are the rough specs

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
nForce 590 SLi Mobo (when they are released)
2Gb DDR2 800Mhz RAM
Nvidia 7950GX2
2 x Seagate 7200.10 350Gb HD
1 x Samsung Spinponit 250Gb HD
Plextor PX-760SA
Creative X-Fi FPS Edition
Koolance PC3-725BK
Tagen 900W
Dell 2407WFP

Subject to change

 

[Raikiri]

600w seasonic/620w enermax liberty would run that easily

 

[BillytheImpaler]

How much are you willing to spend to protect that kit?
This one would do the job and then some: http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR1500I&full_sku=BR1500I + (1)BR24BP

 

[hp7909]

600w seasonic/620w enermax liberty would run that easily

What he said really, 900W's OTT Even from eXtreme PSU Calculator, the Conroe's (Intel Core Duo) seem to consume much less power (your spec is roughly 357W~481W)

 

[A_Darkfire]

The main reason I was looking at a 900W PSU was making the system future resistant. CPU's aren't eating that much now compared to the last versions, but GFX cards are starting to really burn power and with what I've read about ATI making dual GFX core cards and the possiblity of having Quad SLi / Crossfire (or even more if the rumours are true! ) I thought having something that to power that lot would be a good idea...

But yes you are right though...the setup I am currently planning 650W would the best value for what I need.

 

[hp7909]

The main reason I was looking at a 900W PSU was making the system future resistant. CPU's aren't eating that much now compared to the last versions, but GFX cards are starting to really burn power and with what I've read about ATI making dual GFX core cards and the possiblity of having Quad SLi / Crossfire (or even more if the rumours are true! ) I thought having something that to power that lot would be a good idea...

But yes you are right though...the setup I am currently planning 650W would the best value for what I need.

GFX's are also consuming less. Its technology like SLI & Crossfire which make them seem like they need more Watts, e.g. 1900XTX Crossfire (i.e. 2 cards) consumes roughly 252w, while the new 7950GX2 draws roughly 143w both at full load

Also, reviews of the 900w PSU are not that good (try search). But read somewhere here they are noisy

What you need is not ridiculous xxxW's but good build quality, etc to make it 'future resistant'... How to pick a power supply

EDIT: 'Ridiculous' xxxWs are also marketing tactis/ploys e.g....

The Noisetaker 600W suffered the same problems that the previous Enermax did. Anything over a ~120W combined load on +3.3V and +5V would cause the PSU to shut down. That left ~480W to find just from +12V. Will only 36A, that's impossible. The supply only managed to add another 340W to that 120W imposed limit using the +12V rails, stopping at 460W. Dropping back off of the 120W combined load to see if +12V could go further than around ~28A showed no extra headroom. Just over 27A combined is all the PSU can do.

It seems that the 600W quoted is merely a short-burst peak power. No amount of adjustment could persuade the supply to output more. At 460W efficiency was high and it wasn't very hot, but it didn't make the output power it claimed to be able to do, so it was classed as a failure. The supplied EPS to P4&P4+ convertor is a nice touch.

FSP's BlueStorm 500W is an interesting one. FSP openly admitted to us that the 500W rating is a peak power rating, the company marketing it that way to compete with other competitors in Europe that do the same kind of thing. That means it fails our testing, despite doing well at its actual rating of ~445W, since it wouldn't pass a full-load sitting at the peak rating for the full half hour. When the unit failed at 500W it just switched itself off rather than blowing an internal fuse or worse; the output load regulation works well.

At ~445W it was fine, with decent efficiency and the 120mm cooling the unit down adequately. Connectivity is decent and the unit itself looks really nice in a powder-coated blue. However one of the aims of this group test is to weed out those who advertise with peak power ratings rather than a figure a consumer can actually rely on and put some faith in, so it fails overall.

FSP may reconsider the marketing stance for Blue Storm, especially since they have true 500W SKUs aplenty, but costs are forcing their hand at the moment in a market with small margins for the OEM and their vendors.

 

[A_Darkfire]

I see you reasoning and I agree. So my next question would be what PSU should I get then that will support the PC I'm looking to build? True reviews of them seem a little rare (other than the one you pointed out and that is a little old now).

 

[squiffy]

A 600W will be plenty, unless you're going to add banks and banks of hard drives. Things I would drop from your list- Samsung HD (not that fast) and Plextors (expensive)

 

[Energize]

Dual core graphics cards have been avalible before and they didnt use huge amounts of extra power over their single core counterparts.

 

[A_Darkfire]

A 600W will be plenty, unless you're going to add banks and banks of hard drives. Things I would drop from your list- Samsung HD (not that fast) and Plextors (expensive)

I already have the Samsung. I got it as a cheap SATA drive for the my existing machine after I lost two hard drives in as many months. Just wanted something slow and reliable. Planning on using it as the ol' download disk + plus my music collection in the new machine.

As for the Plextor...well there is one thing with it that is worth it's weight in gold to me and that's PlexTools.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

gonna be far more sensible to get a cheaper psu right now like the hiper power 530w type-r. since in the future more psu's will be comming out with higher power and better technology and more efficiency so its best to get one then if you need it.

the future is going to be more about power per watt and overall reduction in power consumption.

one of these: Hiper HPU-4M580 Type R 580W ATX2.2 PSU - Black (CA-009-HP) can be had for around 50 quid all in. and is a good unit and will last you a long time. is fine for sli and crossfire applications too.