low to mid range gaming build. PSU ?s

nth697 · Feb 17, 2011

I'm planning on upgrading my video card to a gtx 460 768mb. my current power supply is not up to the job and I'm looking for a new one now.
Id rather not replace the power supply in the next couple of years so I'm trying to choose one based on these specs:

sandy bridge i5 2500k @ ~ 4.5ghz
4gb DDR3 overclocked
2 7200rpm HDD raid 0
solid state drive
DVD burner
2 flash drives
2 120mm fan
2 80mm fan
and the gtx 460 I mentioned above will be overclocked and overvolted.

I'd like to keep the price as low as possible so that means lower wattage. obviously I don't want a piece of junk that will stop working after two months, but I'm serious when I say I want to try to save cash.

extra points for SATA, 6 pin PCIE power, and fan connectors. modular would be nice but I prefer low cost and high quality to extras.

so what am I looking for? I'm guessing I need about a 700w if I ever go SLI and maybe a 600W for a single card.

thanks in advance. all comments appreciated.

EarthDog · Feb 17, 2011

Corsair 550VX would be a good choice for you too...in this section there is sticky covering good PSU's.. check that out.

nth697 · Feb 17, 2011

I like the fat 12v rail and efficiency but I was hoping to get away with spending less.
If it could do SLI for that price I would go for it. Ive been looking for $50-$75 models at tigerdirect.ca and newegg.ca
this is an ULTRA LSP650W for about $55
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3276573&CatId=1483

That sounds like it will handle a single GPU just fine and it might have a shot at SLI. what do you think? it has 38A on the 12v rail.

RollingThunder · Feb 17, 2011

nth697 said:
extra points for SATA, 6 pin PCIE power, and fan connectors. modular would be nice but I prefer low cost and high quality to extras.

Low cost and high quality do not relate, you have either one or the other.

nth697 said:
I like the fat 12v rail and efficiency but I was hoping to get away with spending less.
If it could do SLI for that price I would go for it. Ive been looking for $50-$75 models at tigerdirect.ca and newegg.ca
this is an ULTRA LSP650W for about $55
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3276573&CatId=1483

That sounds like it will handle a single GPU just fine and it might have a shot at SLI. what do you think? it has 38A on the 12v rail.

Any 650W power supply that only has 38A on the 12v rail is overrated. That's more like a 550w power supply at best. A good 650 will be about 50A+ on the 12v rail. The Corsair Earth Dog mentioned is 41A 12V rail and the Corsair 650 is 53A for comparison.

You won't go SLI with that Ultra with 460's, it doesn't have enough connectors and it couldn't handle it anyway.

nth697 · Feb 17, 2011

ok I thought about it for a while and I'm going about this all wrong. forget the SLI. whats important here is:
how many amps will I be pulling when I'm overclocked and at full load on the GPU and the CPU?
if I can figure that out I can try to get something thats efficient, meets my power requirements and is on sale.

I've used the power supply calculator here http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine but it does not say anything about how many amps for what part. I guess thats something that has to be guestimated.

RollingThunder · Feb 17, 2011

nth697 said:
ok I thought about it for a while and I'm going about this all wrong. forget the SLI. whats important here is:
how many amps will I be pulling when I'm overclocked and at full load on the GPU and the CPU?
if I can figure that out I can try to get something thats efficient, meets my power requirements and is on sale.
I've used the power supply calculator here http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine but it does not say anything about how many amps for what part. I guess thats something that has to be guestimated.

I doubt you'll be pulling more than 450w overclocked CPU and GPU, ~37A for the whole system.

Your building a First Class system and you will be doing yourself a big favor in the long run to compliment it with a good power supply. I learned my lesson about this.

nth697 · Feb 19, 2011

Ya I guess I was thinking of the system in my sig when I titled this thread.
I've found some promising ones with single 12v rails but I'm not sure what I would need for a multi rail unit. Would 18 amps per rail do it?
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4435072&CatId=1483

nth697 · Feb 20, 2011

OCZ ModXStream Pro Power Supply - 700-Watt
its modular, 80+ cert, 2 12v rails 25A apiece, SLI cert and is $80 before and $60 after rebate
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4362115&CatId=4294
here is a review I found http://pcwizkidstechtalk.com/index.php/ocz-modxstream-review.html

OCZ OCZ700SXS2 StealthXStream 2 700W
80+ cert, 4 12v rails 18amps apiece and $90 before and $70 after rebate
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6491963&sku=O261-6324
here is a review of the 600w model http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/OCZ-StealthXStream-2-600-W-Power-Supply-Review/1058/10

PC Power & Cooling / Silencer / 750-Watt
80+ cert, lots of cables, single 60amp 12v rail, rated for SLI, $110 before and $90 after rebate.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3247717&CatId=4294
review http://www.anandtech.com/show/2278/17

Corsair TX650W 650-Watt Power Supply
listed on the recommended PSU thread. $100

Ultra U12-40874 LSX 750-Watt Power Supply
80+, 58A 12v rail, 4 8pin pci-e but no 6pin (maybe I cant use this one with gtx460?), SLI cert, $100.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicati...asp?EdpNo=6250832&CatId=2533#productresources

obviously I like the first 2 due to the prices and reviews. all listed look like they will do the job. Id really like to hear some opinions on these PSUs before I take the plunge though.

RollingThunder · Feb 20, 2011

nth697 said:
OCZ ModXStream Pro Power Supply - 700-Watt
its modular, 80+ cert, 2 12v rails 25A apiece, SLI cert and is $80 before and $60 after rebate
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4362115&CatId=4294
here is a review I found http://pcwizkidstechtalk.com/index.php/ocz-modxstream-review.html

OCZ OCZ700SXS2 StealthXStream 2 700W
80+ cert, 4 12v rails 18amps apiece and $90 before and $70 after rebate
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6491963&sku=O261-6324
here is a review of the 600w model http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/OCZ-StealthXStream-2-600-W-Power-Supply-Review/1058/10

PC Power & Cooling / Silencer / 750-Watt
80+ cert, lots of cables, single 60amp 12v rail, rated for SLI, $110 before and $90 after rebate.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3247717&CatId=4294
review http://www.anandtech.com/show/2278/17

Corsair TX650W 650-Watt Power Supply
listed on the recommended PSU thread. $100

Ultra U12-40874 LSX 750-Watt Power Supply
80+, 58A 12v rail, 4 8pin pci-e but no 6pin (maybe I cant use this one with gtx460?), SLI cert, $100.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicati...asp?EdpNo=6250832&CatId=2533#productresources

obviously I like the first 2 due to the prices and reviews. all listed look like they will do the job. Id really like to hear some opinions on these PSUs before I take the plunge though.

Keep in mind that you'll need 4 6-pin connectors for SLI so make sure one has them all before ordering it. That usually means a 750W unit. Not sure if all those have them. That PC Power & Cooling looks like your best bet.

If you are sure you want SLI capability, it makes a big difference to the size unit and your wallet:

Recertified:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703029

After MIR:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

The Corsair 650 doesn't have the connectors, otherwise it would be fine:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

nth697 · Feb 20, 2011

I'm not really concerned about the number of pcie connectors. I'll just use adaptors if the need arises.

After reading reviews and checking out prices, I've realized that there wasn't any reason to look at the lower priced models. There looks like there is a large performnce drop off below the $50 point. For a couple of extra $'s I can get something that will handle everything I can throw at it and could do SLI for sure (with reduced overvolt?).

But I'm still intrested in single gpu solutions. Could I use a cheaper psu that I have listed with one video card and still overclock and overvolt everything without worrying about power delivery?

EarthDog · Feb 20, 2011

With a single 460 a corsair 550vx would be plenty with overclocked and overvolted everything.

RollingThunder · Feb 20, 2011

EarthDog said:
With a single 460 a corsair 550vx would be plenty with overclocked and overvolted everything.

NTH,

Big +1 with Earthdog, then that's the one. You can clock both all you want with that one.

Tech Tweaker · Feb 20, 2011

RollingThunder said:
After MIR:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

That's a good one from my experience, whisper quiet too, in case noise is a factor for you.

I've had one in my system running fine now for six months or so.

About the only thing you'd probably have to worry about with it is where to stuff all of the leftover cables after you've connected everything up.

nth697 · Mar 21, 2011

I screwed up my raid 0 drives and was knocked out for a little. everything is up and running now though.

I ended up settling on an x power 780 that has 780w peak and 600w continuous, 3 12v rails 25A apiece shipped for about $45 CAD. my system is running fine and I'm happy about the value I got for my $.

for my video card I picked up a asus top gtx 460. I decided that to keep my budget low I would stay away from SLI.

I'd like to say thanks for all your input. this conversation really helped me make my mind up.

ratbuddy · Mar 21, 2011

Erm, you did pretty much the opposite of the advice given here. You bought a crappy overrated PSU with a horrible 1 year warranty.

Theocnoob · Mar 21, 2011

nth697 said:
I screwed up my raid 0 drives and was knocked out for a little. everything is up and running now though.

I ended up settling on an x power 780 that has 780w peak and 600w continuous, 3 12v rails 25A apiece shipped for about $45 CAD. my system is running fine and I'm happy about the value I got for my $.

You didn't get any value for your money. You bought a 780W power supply with 25Amps which should be illegal to call 780.

Why did you make this thread and get all this advice and then turn around and make the worst possible purchase? :shrug:

Buying a trash PSU puts everything down stream of it in jeopardy, If you're feeding uneven power with a crappy sine wave and lots of noise to your components they won't last as long.

Given the rest of your system, at bare minimum, I would have gone with a TX Corsair PSU 650W. Not a lot more money, a lot more PSU.

Tech Tweaker · Mar 23, 2011

nth697 said:
I ended up settling on an x power 780 that has 780w peak and 600w continuous, 3 12v rails 25A apiece shipped for about $45 CAD. my system is running fine and I'm happy about the value I got for my $.

So, why did you ask for the input if you were just going to buy a cheap no-name power supply.

nth697 · Mar 30, 2011

I disagree. this PSU was less than half the price of the TX Corsair PSU 650W.
I'm using a pentium d 820 (2.8ghz) at 3.7ghz. If I choose a i5 2500k I will be drawing less power than I do now.
SLI is totally out of the question now. I know that. but because I'll be drawing less power I feel pretty good about it.
I don't have any numbers in front of me now but I checked it out and even if this PSU is totally overrated it should still be able to handle anything I may throw at it for the next couple of years.
I've been testing with P95 and fur mark running at the same time to load CPU and GPU at the same time. no problems. the PSU fan moves air nicely. I really don't have any complaints about it.
and in the end, if it comes to it, I'll drop my overclock down to improve stability.

its not like I ignored your advice. I just didn't follow it to the letter. my conversation with you all helped me understand that I needed to get some hard numbers for how much power individual components would draw. I used that to find this seriously cheep unit that I hope will last me a while.
thanks again

johan851 · Mar 30, 2011

I used that to find this seriously cheep unit that I hope will last me a while.

It's good to find out how much power draw your system actually needs, but the problem is with your statement above. A seriously cheap unit won't last you a while, and when it gives up, it might decide to take the rest of your components with it. That's not saving money - that's throwing it away.

What's cheaper, a $40 unit you have to replace after a year or a $90 PSU that lasts you for five?

low to mid range gaming build. PSU ?s

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