Corsair VS 650 vs XFX Pro Series 550 vs Coolermaster GX 550

[CaptainAngel13]

Hello guys I'm back.

So I finally bought the gigabyte gtx 770 but my psu(corsair vx 550) couldn't run it so I'm looking at other options.

I'm already over my inital budget, so money matters. I won't be going for one that can support sli in the future or anything like that.

Options then:

56 euros: Corsair VS 650: Bottom of the line Corsair psu, 3 years warranty, 50amps on 12v rail, barely off the 80+certification(85% maximum efficiency I think).

57 euros: XFX Pro Series 550w: Good quality psu, 5 years warranty, 44amps on 12v rail, 80+ bronze,

Coolermaster GX 550w: Available used for 10 euros less, around 3.5 years of warranty remain(5 year total), 44amps on 12 v rail, 80+ bronze. CM psus get bad reputation for some reason, but 5 year warranty can't lie.

So I wanna be able to easily run and maybe OC even further the gigabyte gtx 770. I also want to O/C the cpu(i5 3570k) close to 4.5 ghz.
Quiet operation is important. It's hot over here(Greece) and my psu sometimes goes crazy in the middle of the night, while I'm trying to game.

Do you think the 6 extra 12v rail amps on the VS 650 will be worth the 2 year less warrany and no 80+ certification?
Will I be perfectly fine with the XFX and enjoy the 5 year warranty, 80+bronze and better quality overall?
Or should I just save some money and get the coolermaster?

If I ever upgrade it will be for a maxwell chip which will probably consume less power. I'm thinking that the gtx 770 wants 42 amps on the 12v rail. It is making me a bit uncomfortable that the XFX and CM can only provide 2 more than that. Any OC will make the margin even smaller. Am I being paranoid?

I guess bottom line is, is it worth getting the slightly less quality+efficiency psu to get the 6 more amps?

system specs from my profile:

Gigabyte GA-Z77x-D3H, i5 3570k, Sapphire 6950 2gb(trying to get the gtx 770 in there), Corsair Vengeance 8gb 1600mz, Kingston HyperX 240gb, WD Caviar Blue 1TB, Corsair VX 550W

Thanks in advance.

 

[EarthDog]

As I mentioned in the other thread you need to list your system specs in order to help out here.

That said, the VX550 should not have a problem with a 770 and any CPU, especially at stock, and even while overclocking. THe 770 is a 230W card. And CPU's are around 100W give or take at stock...

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I would take the XFX Pro 550W out of those choices.

 

[Mandrake4565]

As I mentioned in the other thread you need to list your system specs in order to help out here.

That said, the VX550 should not have a problem with a 770 and any CPU, especially at stock, and even while overclocking. THe 770 is a 230W card. And CPU's are around 100W give or take at stock...

Agreed with ED here, the 550 should be plenty to run the Gtx 770.

 

[CaptainAngel13]

Agreed with ED here, the 550 should be plenty to run the Gtx 770.

Well yes. Except it doesn't. It freezes on the bios screen. I tried it with a 750 psu on an almost identical pc(only difference were the 750w psu, mobo and 120gb ssdnow vs my 240gb hyperx) and it ran fine.

What's weird is that I've also seen the vx 550 run a gtx 770 lightning in some video.

Could it be that it's not the psu's fault? The pc runs fine until I plug in the gtx 770.

Could it be that it is 6 years old and has degraded?

Here are the system specs from my profile:

Gigabyte GA-Z77x-D3H, i5 3570k, Sapphire 6950 2gb(trying to get the gtx 770 in there), Corsair Vengeance 8gb 1600mz, Kingston HyperX 240gb, WD Caviar Blue 1TB, Corsair VX 550W

 

[Bobnova]

The VX550 is probably just old and worn out.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

The VX550 is probably just old and worn out.

This +1.
Six years is about all you'll get out of a mid-range PSU like the VX series.

 

[Bobnova]

My CX400 has (well, had) a bulging cap in the 5VSB secondary side. I'm disappointed.

 

[CaptainAngel13]

Yeah.

I will be retiring the good old vx 550(was my first proper psu and has served me more than well for the past 6+ years), by putting it on my home theater pc which draws something like 50W total(LOL).

So.. What about my choices? Are the 44 amps of the 550s a bit risky, or should I choose quantity over quality and get the vs 650?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

See above suggestion, I would take the XFX over the other two.

 

[Mandrake4565]

See above suggestion, I would take the XFX over the other two.

I agree, aren't all XFX Psu's Seasonic units?

 

[Bobnova]

The GX you can forget about. Not good.

The other two are both Seasonic S12II based I believe (as is your VX550). Neither uses especially good capacitors, though both should at least make it out of warranty period.

Do you have a website you plan to buy from that I can dig through? My ability to find good PSUs will likely be hampered somewhat by being in Greek, but I can probably find something.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

BobN nailed it. Again.

I would take the XFX over the Corsair for the longer warranty, and the fact that it supplies more of its rated value on the 12V rail.

 

[CaptainAngel13]

Alright. You all seem quite certain that the XFX is the better option.

But just to be clear, can you elaborate a bit on why I shouldn't be worried about running into problems with OC/heat/future upgrades with it, even though it is so marginally above the requirements of a Gtx 770?

I'm thinking that something like the r9 290x at full load would probably push it to the limit, while the VS 650 would use those 6 extra amps to stay relatively cool and it would certainly never run out of juice with any single card setup.

And no Bobnova no need to go through the trouble. One person searching 24/7 is enough
I know what I'm looking for it's just that I come up with very specific dilemmas when it comes to technical differences like that.
If you insist though you could go on this website and type keywords. It basically searches almost every Greek store for the product.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

The "requirement" on the NVidia site is a blanket statement for PSUs.

Add up your TDP for all your components, you'll find that you're actually about 350W at full load. Probably just over 400W with OCing.

 

[EarthDog]

Alright. You all seem quite certain that the XFX is the better option.

But just to be clear, can you elaborate a bit on why I shouldn't be worried about running into problems with OC/heat/future upgrades with it, even though it is so marginally above the requirements of a Gtx 770?

I'm thinking that something like the r9 290x at full load would probably push it to the limit, while the VS 650 would use those 6 extra amps to stay relatively cool and it would certainly never run out of juice with any single card setup.

And no Bobnova no need to go through the trouble. One person searching 24/7 is enough
I know what I'm looking for it's just that I come up with very specific dilemmas when it comes to technical differences like that.
If you insist though you could go on this website and type keywords. It basically searches almost every Greek store for the product.

Let's put it a different way...

I ran a 4930K at 4.5Ghz (1.3v) and a 780ti HOF (overclocked out of the box), on a 560W PSU and it's fan didn't turn on except in the summer, or if I was mining (both CPU and GPU running 100%).

It'll handle what you have.

 

[CaptainAngel13]

I guess that's quite convincing EarthDog.

It's just that after the VX failed me I'm getting quite worried about the 550s, since they are only marginally enough to run systems like that so they probably get stressed a lot. The 770 needs at least 42 amps on the 12v rail and the VX puts out around 41.5. I guess it has dropped a lot now since it can't run it.

It seems like a bit of a gamble. I guess I'll have to think about it a bit more but thanks anyway. I will be updating this once I buy the new PSU.

Edit: Nvm lol I think I made my mind on the XFX. I'll see what I'll do on Monday.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Not sure where you get that it needs 42A...

The 770 uses 230W at full load. Which equates to 19.2A for the GPU.

 

[EarthDog]

I guess that's quite convincing EarthDog.

It's just that after the VX failed me I'm getting quite worried about the 550s, since they are only marginally enough to run systems like that so they probably get stressed a lot. The 770 needs at least 42 amps on the 12v rail and the VX puts out around 41.5. I guess it has dropped a lot now since it can't run it.

It seems like a bit of a gamble. I guess I'll have to think about it a bit more but thanks anyway. I will be updating this once I buy the new PSU.

Edit: Nvm lol I think I made my mind on the XFX. I'll see what I'll do on Monday.

LOL, its not marginal at all. that 42A value I have no idea where you are getting that from. 42A * 12v = 504W. That card uses a MAXIMUM AT STOCK (it wont reach that anyway really) of 230W.

You can say its a gamble all you want in the face of knowledgable people, including our former PSU reviewer (Bobnova)... that is your choice.

 

[CaptainAngel13]

I've read in many places that it has 42amps as a requirement(does not consume that much but it is set as a general requirement).
But even if that's not the case, how do you explain that the vx can't run it? It runs the 6950 at 100% load just fine except for the hot days when the fan gets noisy.
Could it be that something else on my system is messing with the card and makes it freeze?(BIOS has been set to default settings).