1 vs 2 power supplies

[urgatorbait]

Greetings,

I have a couple of things I'd like to get some expert advice on:

Factoring out cost implications, is it better to have one higher wattage power supply or two lesser ones from a heat and noise perspective? I've been doing some minor upgrading to my PC of late and want to start placing more emphasis on heat and noise management. My most recent purchases have been an XFX 7950 GX2 video card and a new Silverstone Temjin TJ07 full tower case.

My previous case was a mid tower Lian-li. I found with it that I was running quite hot and ended up cutting a hole in the side of the case and mounting an additional 120mm fan aligned with the CPU heat sink. That seemed to help. At the time I was running two 6800GTs in SLI.

So for a number of reasons I bought this new case, in part because I wanted more room to creatively bundle and route my cables and wires, better air flow and eliminating the worry I have about the PC case sitting on the floor with an open fan spinning on the case where my 8 month old son may crawl up and stick his fingers in it. My 2 year old daughter already did that once. It scared her more than hurt her, I think.

The Silverstone case seemed to have the best air flow design and heat management that I saw in my research. So tonight I begin swapping over all my components. Currently I have an Antec Neopower 480 watt power supply. Thinking down the road at future upgrades and the probable need for a more robust power supply, I was curious if one bigger supply was better than two smaller ones. The SS case has plenty of room for a second power supply so that could be an option. I've noticed there are also smaller video card power supplies you can get that fit into a drive bay. Possibly an alternate solution?

Anyways, sorry for the long-winded post. Any advice, or suggestions that you think may be helpful in my plight are greatly appreciated. My setup is listed below:

AMD Athlon 64 4000+
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
OCZ Gold Series 2GB DDR 400 Dual Channel RAM
XFX 7950 GX2 Video Card
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer
Antec Neopower 480w Power Supply
Two WD 10k RPM Raptor Hard Drives (RAID 0)
Silverstone Temjin TJ07 Case

 

[urgatorbait]

Thanks for the response. I think I am going to get an entirely new PSU. Mainly for the superficial reason of not liking the brown color of my Antec unit. My new case is black and I am planning on tidying up my cables with black mesh tubing and trying to make for an attractive case-interior.

Can you recommend a good PSU. I don't want to go crazy-expensive but I want quality. I also want quiet and reliability and plenty of room for future power needs including a second 7950 GX2, dual core processor and who knows what else some day. Thanks.

 

[doolittle]

I am considering a OCZ GameXStream OCZ600GXSSLI 600W it is only $105 shipped and has a $15 MIR that is valid through 10/15 - even without the rebate it is an excellent unit for the price, worth a look.

 

[Doughbuy]

Not crazy expensive... but running 2 GX2's... yeah, thats not going to work...

That 600W psu is not enough, the 700W GameXStream just might cut it. Even higher would be the 750W TT Toughpower, Enermax Galaxy, PC P&C, or a Silverstone Zeus, anything above 800W, but those prices go into the stratosphere.

If we say each GX2 uses 150W, thats 300W for 2...

Core 2 Duo runs at 65W

Hdd's + Optical + Fans + mobo + memory + others... 150W

And you would want to run them at most 80% capacity... so thats 650W PSU already. 700W GameXStream should be fine, only around $130 right now...

But if you go watercooling, or add more stuff...

 

[doolittle]

I was thinking the 600w was right on the money

eXtreme PSU calc[/url]"]System Type: Single Processor
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 4000+ 2400 MHz San Diego 1.40v
CPU Utilization (TDP): 85% TDP

RAM: 2 Sticks DDR SDRAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2
Video Type: SLI

SATA HDD: 2 HDDs

DVD-ROM Drive: 1 Drive
DVD-RW/DVD+RW Drive: 1 Drive

Sound Blaster - All Models: Yes

Fans
Regular: 1 Fan 80mm; 2 Fans 120mm;

Motherboard, keyboard and mouse: Yes

PSU Utilization: 100 %

Total: 524 Watts




© 2004 - 2006 OuterVision.com and it's licensors. All rights reserved.

I always thought the realistic values were slightly lower since the calc already anticipates the worst-case scenario which is nearly impossible to obtain since all components have to be 100%.

X-bit Labs[/url]"]we can only say that Nvidia reports a peak consumption of 143W for this device. By our own estimate, the GeForce 7950 GX2 works at frequencies similar to the GeForce 7900 GT (which consumes 48W) and can hardly require more than 110-120W.

So the realistic power consumption would be around 500w or less...

 

[avarice]

For what it's worth - there are some 'add-on' power supplies that can boost the total system power - they are designed to act in a supporting role. I know that Fortron has one that fits in a 5 1/4 drive bay.

I would use such a system if I needed to dedicate more of main PSU for the needs of graphics (300W projected for the next Gen nVidia), and use the 'add-on' to power fans and drives.

I would still suggest getting something in the 700W+ range for those two graphics cards - just make sure you do your research. I am sold on Frotron - but they are not cheap. There are other very capable brands with good track records that would cost you less.

Cheers

 

[Doughbuy]

Yes, but do we want to run the 600W at its maximum rated power all the time?

Do we want to have more headroom or less?

Are we seriously running quad-sli on a 600W? What if he wants to add a couple more hdd's, some more fans, upgrade to a watercooling solution in the future?

Maybe he might get another graphics card for a physics solution, and might drop in a quad-core if he decides. What about overclocking, which also requires more power. There are tons of factors to consider, and in the end, 600W is probably fine for now, but for future upgrades, might not be enough. Is it worth saving the 20 or so bucks and getting a psu that he might have to replace again? Or he could plop down the extra money, not eat out for a day or two, and have a PSU that can handle this whole system with headroom for whatever else he wants to throw at it.

Eh, what does everyone else think?

 

[urgatorbait]

Thanks for all the great replies. I agree that I would rather plop down a few extra buck just to be sure and to provide ample room for future upgrades. I really want to get one on my lunch break today which means I'll need to find one at any one of 3 local computer stores (CompUSA, Best Buy or - my favorite - Microcenter). I believe I'll have the option of some ThermalTake units, Antec, Maybe CoolerMaster and/or OCZ - just guessing form their websites. Any ones preferrable over the others or something to be aware of? Thanks again!

 

[Doughbuy]

The 700W OCZ GameXStream is probably best in its class
Antec makes a decent high wattage PSU, the Antec Trio 650W.
TT Toughpower is also a good steady PSU.
Coolermaster... I would stay away from them since their PSU's aren't top tier.

Have you thought about online sites such as www.Directron.com or www.Newegg.com

I buy Directron because I used to work there, and its usually cheaper than Newegg. I'm not sure if retail stores will have all these PSU's, I know Fry's has a decent selection, but I don't know if you're close to one either.

 

[immagikman]

You could just go with one of these

PurePower Express from Thermaltake

 

[urgatorbait]

Well, I just got back and decided to buy a Silverstone Zeus 650w unit. I'm assuming this is a pretty decent unit. It has ample connectors including 4 PCI-E and 6 SATA if I recall correctly.

Normally I would have bought it from Newegg as I do for most things, but I want to finish putting together my PC tonight so I'm not down for several more days waiting for one to arrive in the mail.

Thanks again for all the advice here. If for some reason someone has something dire to say about why the Zeus is not a good choice please say so now before I crack it open and install it later tonight LOL.

 

[Doughbuy]

The SS Zeus is a very nice, very stable PSU. A bit pricey, but you do get what you pay for.

http://www.systemcooling.com/SST_ST65ZF-01.html

A review if it makes you feel any better.