Seasonic X-Series 1050w or EVGA Supernova G2 1300w for fan noise

Hi everyone,

My estimated build wattage is around 600w. I plan on adding a 500gb SSD scratch drive very soon, two 2TB-4TB HDs soon, and a second GTX 780 6gb in a while, which will bring the total wattage to around 900w.

My first choice of a PSU was the Seasonic X-series 1050w, mostly because of the Seasonic name. But after factoring in future upgrades, I don't really want the PSU to be that close to its limit. I've read a lot of good things abut the EVGA G2 PSUs, and having and extra 250 watts is quite good. These are the two I'm comparing, but if a different PSU is in the running, I'm not opposed to other brands. It's just that these two were on the top-tier of a PSU list that I have seen.

But at the same time I'm trying to build the quietest PC I can. I've already got a Fractal Design XL R2 and Noctua NH-D15 in order to reduce noise. So will either of these PSUs be significantly louder than the other? If by chance anyone has used both of these and can comment, it would be great. But I'm sure a lot of people on here have more experience than me, and can offer some insight into my volume-related issue.

Thank you in advance to anyone who has a suggestion.

I'd go with the EVGA G2. Can't beat the price.

I've run the 850W G2 with Crossfire 280X's and a 4770K, didn't ever see the fan cut on (it's an open-air stand).

I've heard from a couple people that these PSUs are really overkill (I knew they were a bit overkill), and that I'll only need a 600-700 watt PSU. That seems a bit low, based on what I'll be adding, but maybe I'll look at the 1000w G2 instead of the 1300w. Does that sound like a safe bet, based on the info above?

If you can list your full specs I can size it more accurately.
Include usage of the system, rough overclocking amounts, and cooling methods.

My parts list is

PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/Nppxxr
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/Nppxxr/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-5930K 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($609.99 @ Memory Express)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler (Purchased For $111.00)
Motherboard: Asus RAMPAGE V EXTREME EATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($539.99 @ Memory Express)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($559.99 @ Memory Express)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $220.00)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.99 @ Canada Computers)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 6GB Superclocked ACX Video Card ($579.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 (Titanium Grey) ATX Full Tower Case (Purchased For $153.00)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000G2 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($174.99 @ Memory Express)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-209DBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For $74.00)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (Purchased For $163.00)

I'm still not decided on a mobo. I will probably be going with either an ASUS X99 Deluxe or Rampage V.

I plan on overclocking the CPU to around 4. It's not much, but I don't want to deal with any possible instability. I have never overclocked a PC before, so I'm not yet sure about what voltages to run, but from what I've read, if I don't OC too much I won't have to adjust voltages (maybe that's true).

And I haven't put much thought into overclocking my RAM or GPU, so it's pretty much just a modest CPU overclock right now.

And within the next 2 years, I plan on having 2 500gb-or-so SSDs and 4 1-3TB harddrives. And shortly after that I'll be looking at getting a second GTX 780 (or second whatever card I have, now that I've read the new line of GTXs is almost here). I may also get a quality audio card, because I do music production on the side. But I might end up going with an external card for that.

I'm not sure if there's anything wattage-related that I've missed, but that's what came to mind.

ATMINSIDE, thanks again for you're help with this.

Oh yeah, I will be using the system to edit/process/render 1080p (for now, and 4k likely within the next 3-5 years) video, and large (20-20 megapixel) photos with multiple adjustment layers. The PC will be used for these purposes for about 2-3 hours a day on average, which is all the time I can allocate for these projects. Which is why I'm going with a higher-end build, as I need to get through these editing tasks fast.

I also use a few different music production programs, but I'm not really considering these. I know they will not use much from the system, other than a lot of RAM.

First, look at the ASRock X99 Extreme6. You're tossing a lot of money on features you won't ever use with the Rampage V and the Deluxe.
If those HDDs will be in some form of RAID then be sure to get a controller for them. Onboard will work, but anything higher than a 2-drive RAID is better served with a dedicated card.

As for power, it doesn't seem like you'll be OCing any parts more than moderately.
Even if you go for a custom watercooling loop I would be very comfortable with a 1000W G2 for that system.

Agree with not getting those high end motherboards for no reason...

The motherboard has been the most confusing piece of the build for me. Will all of the harddrives I use be connected to 6gb SATA connections? Will having an M.2 SSD for my OS make a big difference in speed?

What are a couple major differences among mobos that make biggest difference in the long run. I know I don't need 4-way SLI, but are the new mobos that boast 12 phase VRM any better than others based on this fact?

bobjackson said:

The motherboard has been the most confusing piece of the build for me. Will all of the harddrives I use be connected to 6gb SATA connections?

Click to expand...

See my post above about RAID.

If it is single HDDs/SSDs, yes.

bobjackson said:

Will having an M.2 SSD for my OS make a big difference in speed?

Click to expand...

No.

bobjackson said:

What are a couple major differences among mobos that make biggest difference in the long run.

Click to expand...

The one I linked will work perfectly long-term for you, at half the price of the MVE.
It'll push you as far as ambient cooling will take you for CPU OCing.

Almost every X99 board will be rock stable, with only a few exhibiting any small issues.
The feature sets are very similar over them all, with the only differences being things like WiFi/Bluetooth.

The top-end boards are made for extreme overclocking and are literally a waste of money for your usage.

I will be running the harddrives in RAID, so I will definitely check out RAID controllers, as well as some cheaper mobos. Thanks again.

I don't understand the need for a hardware RAID solution with more than two drives. In SOME forms of RAID there is a SLIGHT performance hit due to overhead, but I don't think he wants/needs every last IOPS/MBs out of them if they are storage drives? The only good part about a separate RAID card in this situation is that he can take the card to his next platform. What am I missing in this person's case?

EarthDog said:

I don't understand the need for a hardware RAID solution with more than two drives. In SOME forms of RAID there is a SLIGHT performance hit due to overhead, but I don't think he wants/needs every last IOPS/MBs out of them if they are storage drives? The only good part about a separate RAID card in this situation is that he can take the card to his next platform. What am I missing in this person's case?

Click to expand...

The issue is that you'll hit bandwidth caps on the SATA ports.
You get a large RAID array with an SSD on the integrated ports and you'll hit the limit of the two PCIe lanes attached to the controller.

Hence two drive arrays are fine, three starts getting iffy.
Not to mention that if you have to replace your motherboard with another model you'll most likely lose the array.
With hardware RAID you can keep the same controller. And a replacement controller will reinitialize the array without data loss.

Right, I got the point about the ability to switch motherboards (mentioned that.. ok alluded to by saying 'switching platforms)...

But what I don't get is how the bandwidth works. As I understand it, there are x amount of SATA ports native to the chipset while there are others, using separate controllers that use the PCIe lanes to communicate. With each SATA port, you get the full bandwidth of the port (~550MB) outside of the PCIe...

... I think I need to look at some mobo diagrams...LOL!

EDIT: Didn't find anything about the SATA ports native to the chipset using PCIe bandwidth. 3rd party controllers, M.2, and SATAe use PCIe bandwidth. So assuming my google foo was solid, it seems like bandwidth isn't an issue on the native ports?

EarthDog said:

Right, I got the point about the ability to switch motherboards (mentioned that.. ok alluded to by saying 'switching platforms)...

But what I don't get is how the bandwidth works. As I understand it, there are x amount of SATA ports native to the chipset while there are others, using separate controllers that use the PCIe lanes to communicate. With each SATA port, you get the full bandwidth of the port (~550MB) outside of the PCIe...

... I think I need to look at some mobo diagrams...LOL!

EDIT: Didn't find anything about the SATA ports native to the chipset using PCIe bandwidth. 3rd party controllers, M.2, and SATAe use PCIe bandwidth. So assuming my google foo was solid, it seems like bandwidth isn't an issue on the native ports?

Click to expand...

I think your edit is right, that those three are the ones using PCIe bandwidth.

Either way, for a decent sized array (he mentioned 4x HDDs) software RAID just doesn't compare.
The CPU usage to serve a software RAID array, for the OP's usage, would be better served processing the video/music/photo he's rendering.

Yeah, my plan is to get 2x1TB drives to run in RAID1. Then, probably next year, I'll get 2 more drives (probably 3-4TB) and run those in their own RAID1 setup. So at that point I'd have 2 different RAID systems (one for photos, and the new larger one for video).

I was looking at RAID controllers on Newegg, and I'm not sure what I need. I'm guessing that I'll need one with at least 4 SATA connections. But the price ranges from $20-$700. I also don't know much about a lot of the brands making these controllers. Does anyone have any recommendations? This will be an extra expense for me, so I'd like to stay far away from $500 RAID controllers. Also, what is the purpose of external ports on the back of the RAID card? What would I use them for if the point of the controller is to be used internally with internal drives? Are these to use external drives in connection with internal drives?

Im not sure with the onboard controller you can mix RAID modes like that. You may need to use the other controller to mix software RAID (have two different arrays)... Not 100% on that though.

To me, the only raid controller worth it is one that has its own cache/ram and controller on it (read, the more expensive ones). That said hardware RAID is not in my wheelhouse so I am not 100% sure on that.

If I can't have to different RAID1 setups (each using 2 drives) running off the same controller, it's not the end of the world. It would just have been to keep different file types completely separate.

I'll narrow my searching to cards with their own cache, and see how much they'll run me.