What make PSU?

Jock

Jock

Jock

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Is there specific makes that should be avoided when buying a psu?

I dont want anything notorious, and I am currently looking at a sapphire one, should that be decent?
 
the only thing you should avoid when PSU shopping is unbranded no names, buy decent brands and spend the cash and you wont be left with a broken machine :)
 
Unless it's a direct replacement avoid generic PSUs and buy decent branded PSU, such as Corsair.

Avoid any PSU with that are less than 80% efficient.

Check your graphics card for rail requirements. Some cards require a good strong flow of 40amps on the +12v rail.
 
The current psu was 1200W

Though i'm hoping to get a smaller one if possible to save some money.

I used one of the calculators from Admiral Huddys link in another thread and it tells me i only need 500W.

I'll need to look into the gfx card requirements, ive no idea what it is at the moment.

This is the spec:

• Intel Skulltrail, i5400 Express 771x2 PCI-E (x16) DDR2 ECC/Non-ECC 800MHz, SATA II, SATA RAID, E-ATX
• 8 gig ram
• 2 x Intel Xeon Quad E5420 @ 2.5GHz
• 2 x Zalman CNPS9500A-LED CPU Cooler
• Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
• 2 x Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB SATA-II 32MB Cache
• Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200S 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
• Lian Li PC-A71B Aluminium Tower Case - Black
• Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music 7.1 Sound Card
• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-Bit
• SST 1200W SST-DA1200 MODULAR PSU
 
The only thing is it makes me wonder why i was specced a 1200W psu in the first place if 500W would do. I assumed it must be because 2xcpu's were quite demanding.

The only thing with corsiar is the modular ones dont start till the price gets pretty high. If it isnt modular does that just mean i have all the cables hanging there, even if they arent used?
 
Also when you look up the net at other skulltrail builds they all seem to be running about with 1200W psu's in them.
 
Dont a bit more reading and Intel are the ones who say when using a dual socket skulltrail, you need 1000W minimum. Now one issue seems to be the fact you need 2x8pin connectors which a lot of psu's dont seem to have. The one i've seen so far is:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-012-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

Though also on the net it says if youre not overclocking then you could just connect one 8pin power connector, not two. That obviously opens up the amount of psu's you can get though is it wise to do so, or are you safer sticking with using two?
 
Or heres a cooler master which does have 2x8pin connectors for the cpus.

Is cooler master a good make?
 
Your CPU's are rated at 80W max each... making.... counting toes... total max draw of 160W for both :)

search around for a average max loading for your GPU add say 150W for the rest of your bits and you won't be far off your ball park figure.

EDIT

I have the HX1000 and that would connect with 2 x 8pin connectors :)
 
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I would if i could, dont really even have the money to pay for a new psu but i'll need to find it from somwhere as i'll lose a lot more if i dont get my work done before the deadlines.
 
I wouldn't go anything lower than 800w tbh. Yes, at the moment you could probably get away with a 600-700w psu, but say in 18 months time your looking to upgrade to crossfire or something else thats going to demand more power, you'll just have to upgrade the psu again - negating any savings you've made in the first place.

According to toms, the board only requires one 8pin cpu connector if you are not planning any overclocks. however, if you did want to OC in future would require another psu upgrade.

Also, what has happend to the current psu?
 
The problem is, you guys clearly know what youre talking about, and as you can tell i'm not too clued up, but i'd feel so much better if i could find a build online where they use a psu similar but out of loads ive read, the least i've seen is 1000W, with 1200W being the norm.

I do apprciate the help massively but i do feel a bit uneasy having not heard of anyone else with a skulltrail go below 1000W.
 
Sturm: It looks to have died on me though i cant be certain, i'd need to run some tests that someone linked me to to know for sure. Problem is i need to sort it asap as i use the computer for work and every day its down i lose more money.

I really wish there was some ocuk guys somewhere near me (darlington) that i could pay to sort all my computer issues. I'm just not clued up enough. This was my first build but i still feel a bit out of my depth.
 
Similar reason why I have a HX1000 to be truthful. It's way over the top for my current requirements but I have had many different GPU/HDD and other combos in the box so far. The only thing I have not had to worry about is power supply! It's a big dollop of money to dole out but for peace of mind always go for the best your wallet can manage. :)

Not many of us run Skulltrails because they appear to be geared towards business/industry applications and not enthusiast devils found around here :)
 
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Essexraptor said:
Your CPU's are rated at 80W max each... making.... counting toes... total max draw of 160W for both :)

search around for a average max loading for your GPU add say 150W for the rest of your bits and you won't be far off your ball park figure.
Click to expand...
I would expect that dual CPU motherboard to rise that later figure to 200W but then again in return both CPUs definitely won't be loaded fully by games.


Essexraptor said:
Not many of us run Skulltrails because they appear to be geared towards business/industry applications and not enthusiast devils found around here :)
Click to expand...
Majority of games are struggling to fully load four cores so that second CPU just pretty much idles there.
Can't really think that many home user softwares which would thread up to eight cores...
 
Essexraptor said:
always go for the best your wallet can manage. :)
Click to expand...
Is that why your second PC has PSU with CrapXon or what ever crap China caps FSP can get for cheap enough at the moment? ;)

Seraph said:
buy decent brands
Click to expand...
Brand guarantees pretty much nothing.
Out of more commonly available PSU "brands" only FSP, Enermax and Seasonic are actual makers behind those PSUs and out of three FSP is fully incapable to using high quality capacitors... And unfortunately actual maker of many other brand PSUs, like most OCZs.

Coolermasters are now big lottery on how cheap platform and how cheap components there are inside.

Also Corsair is just brand which now went cheap after first establishing reputation with PSUs made from quality components and good base platforms:
New CX-models (also replacing CX400) are lower end platforms sold with overrated specs which attitude also gives good hint about components being "anything cheap enough".
http://www.overclock.net/power-supplies/837679-psa-corsair-cx-series.html
 
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