Help me convince my friend to not go overkill on his psu

exia989 · Jan 22, 2013

So a buddy of mine is just starting to put parts together for his first desktop, and he's been running parts by me the entire way to make sure hes good to go. He was doing great, hes going to get a 3770k, he has the Asus z77 sabertooth mobo, and he has some corsair dominator platimum ram. However, hes getting ready to order a power supply and has it in his head that he wants the ax1200i because he wants to future proof his computer. As far as i can work out, that psu is only really necessary if you are running quad sli, which he won't be.

Help me convince him to save that money, and get like an ax860 or something.

Knufire · Jan 22, 2013

Those are all overpriced, highly marketed parts, lmfao.

Make him do the math of how much his parts will draw and how much a higher efficiency PSU will save him on his power bill. And if he's not willing to do the math than he shouldn't be building a computer. There's a difference between wanting to build a well rounded, good-for-the-price computer vs wasting a ton of money on a cool looking and expensive toy.

I.M.O.G. · Jan 22, 2013

If you are going to go overkill anywhere, the PSU isn't a bad place. If he gets a 1200W unit, he'll never use that capacity regardless of which components he gets, and he'll likely be able to use it for the next 10 years. Over time, it's not that expensive assuming he gets that lifespan out of it.

Granted, its even cheaper if he gets a reasonable 600-800W unit that will still be plenty for his needs, and run just as long.

Seebs · Jan 22, 2013

If he wants to go overkill on the PSU (best place to do so by the way); he can do that without spending the kind of money that the AX1200i runs.

Just show him the SeaSonic X-1250 unit. $50 cheaper and as much of a beast as the Corsair unit. Hell; he could even go to the any of the other 80 Plus Platinum rated units in the 800 to 1000 watt range and save up to $100 while still being more than future proofed for years to come.

If he insists on Corsair; the AX860i is the baby brother to the one he wants... All of the good stuff without the $100 upcharge for unneeded wattage.

EarthDog · Jan 22, 2013

We could help even more if you listed the gpu he wants to use. If its single gpu, 550w is plenty to o/c both cpu and gpu to the moon. Dual cards, 750w and that is futureprooding considering the power consumption trend has been going down for the past few generations.

exia989 · Jan 22, 2013

Well i don't suspect hes going to get anything more than a gtx 680, but for the time being hes just going to run integrated graphics until i believe the new gtx 700 series comes out...making that 1200w seem even more pointless. But i guess if this is the one part he feels like going overkill on, i guess i can just leave it alone

EarthDog · Jan 22, 2013

It only hurts the wallet... A LOT, to go 1.2KW vs something proper (500W). Difference there is nearly $200.

Ajay57 · Jan 22, 2013

I would go with I.M.O.G. and Seebs on this, a PSU like the AX860i is a good investment for the future and a least up to 10 years life. Giving plenty of scope for other builds and up grades of any kind the OP wants! AJ.

reap3r · Jan 22, 2013

I always have had a bad habit of going way overkill on PSUs myself, I don't think I've built a PC in the last 5 years that didn't have less than 1k watts... But then again most of my builds are SLI if not 3-way SLI and are heavily overclocked so it is *more or less* justifiable. I'm building a new computer now and am using the AX1200i myself only because I'm a big fan of Corsair's products and would happily pay the premium for a reliability I've come to get used to.

If he's really planning on a single card setup, there's absolutely no reason why he needs to go with 1200. As previous people said, the 860i is a great PSU and would be my recommendation also.

Bobnova · Jan 22, 2013

The dominator platinum RAM is a waste of money, same performance can be had for a lot less.
The Sabertooth is a waste of money, same performance can be had for a lot less.
The 1200i is a waste of money too, the same performance can be had for a lot less

Same performance at his load levels, anyway.

If he's doing a single 680 he could use a 450w PSU and still OC!
If he wants some overkill, the Seasonic 660w piece is what I'd recommend. The corsair i series doesn't seem to meaningfully better than the non-i bits from my digging.

A quality unit in the 500-750w range will save him money now as well as save him a little bit of money as the years go by, as it'll almost certainly be more efficient at the low load levels he'll actually be running.

I.M.O.G. · Jan 22, 2013

Bobnova said:
The dominator platinum RAM is a waste of money, same performance can be had for a lot less.
The Sabertooth is a waste of money, same performance can be had for a lot less.
The 1200i is a waste of money too, the same performance can be had for a lot less Same performance at his load levels, anyway.

If he's doing a single 680 he could use a 450w PSU and still OC!
If he wants some overkill, the Seasonic 660w piece is what I'd recommend. The corsair i series doesn't seem to meaningfully better than the non-i bits from my digging.

A quality unit in the 500-750w range will save him money now as well as save him a little bit of money as the years go by, as it'll almost certainly be more efficient at the low load levels he'll actually be running.

+1

This is a pretty good example of what this site is all about, and what the general public don't understand. I wish I knew better how to promote this side of overclockers, because I feel like it is truly the biggest part of what we do.

Many think Overclockers is just about buying enthusiast stuff and tweaking like crazy, but the biggest thing I think we do is advise on the right parts for the right job and do things the smart way. Like "you should buy a instead of b, because a gets you all the important stuff, saves you money, and b is a worse choice for these reasons". Exactly that is why I came here, learn here, and stay here. :rock:

blackdragon1186 · Jan 22, 2013

Just putting in my .02. Last night I plugged my pc into my killawatt. I was pulling just under 400 watts with prime 95 and furmark running.

Help me convince my friend to not go overkill on his psu

exia989

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