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Help choosing a power supply

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Alright, so I've been overclocking my CPU (e5200 to 3.8 stable with 1.368 volts) and my graphics card (Sapphire 4830 to 740 core and 1080 memory) and it worked just fine for about two months on my Asus P5Q MB with the 450 watt PSU that came with my Power-Up case. That is until recently when I was playin some FEAR 2 online I started to see some slight green artifacts on the screen and thought nothing of it and continued playing thinking it was my mind playing tricks on me LOL Then, I smelled something burning and closed my game right away. I then quickly shutoff my computer, took out the power cable and started feeling all my different parts and almost burnt my damn fingers on my 4830's heatsink! This was all very strange to me because when I was overclocking my GFX card I was running Furmark for 10 minutes to check for stability and the temps never got above 70 C (which I know is kinda high for my card). I tried to run Furmark to see if it was still stable, or whatever, and the screen would just flash over and over with the hairy doughnut spinning in the middle :'(  I tried another program called OCCPT and it was stable for 2 hours with temps at almost 100 C, and on top of that, only under GFX card load the 12 volt rail would drop to 11.65 from 12.04, which is apparently not good from what I've been reading. I also ran into another problem when trying to use a PCI NIC where I could not boot into any OS at all! It would just freeze on loading screens and believe me I tried every compatibility mode and safe mode I could! I at first thought it was because I was only using a 4 pin 12 V connection instead of an 8 pin sooo I bought a 4 pin molex to 4 pin ATX which did nothing at all for me. So I have reason to believe that I need a new power supply. I have a very small budget right now, let's just say I owe someone a lot of money, and have been looking at a BFG Tech and an OCZ. I know they are not the BEST brand of PSU's but they are the best I can afford.

here is the OCZ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

here is the BFG
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Which one do you think I should get?

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Awesome. Thanks for the replies guys. I have read a lot of great things about Corsair so I think I will go with one of those, preferably the cheapest one lol. I am also very interested in upgrading my GFX card to a 4890 one day. Would any of the PSU's listed be enough to power it??

smoothcig said:
Awesome. Thanks for the replies guys. I have read a lot of great things about Corsair so I think I will go with one of those, preferably the cheapest one lol. I am also very interested in upgrading my GFX card to a 4890 one day. Would any of the PSU's listed be enough to power it??

Hmmm... I'd say that the Corsair might juuuust make it. Although, if you buy the cheapest one (I cheap out all the time) you may need to take out a hard drive, or optical drive in order to have enough power. But the 550W will be fine for that, I reckon.

Sweet. Seeing as how I have just one 500 GB SATA HD and an external DVD and CD burner I should be good to go. Thanks so much for your opinions and thoughts :)  BTW I think I will go with the 550 w Corsair Axeon recommended.

smoothcig said:
Sweet. Seeing as how I have just one 500 GB SATA HD and an external DVD and CD burner I should be good to go. Thanks so much for your opinions and thoughts :)  BTW I think I will go with the 550 w Corsair Axeon recommended.

VERY smart move. The PSU is the most commonly overlooked part of a computer. If you want to put hardcore parts in, you'll definitely want a quality 550W Corsair to feed them. Nice choise. Have fun out there!

Well, guys I think I'm gonna have to go with the VX450 from newegg. I don't have much money right now and even the 74.99 with free shipping is pushing it. I think that maybe in about 8 months or so when I upgrade my GFX card I will buy a larger PSU. You guys are great though. Thanks.

smoothcig said:
Well, guys I think I'm gonna have to go with the VX450 from newegg. I don't have much money right now and even the 74.99 with free shipping is pushing it. I think that maybe in about 8 months or so when I upgrade my GFX card I will buy a larger PSU. You guys are great though. Thanks.

You're welcome. I know what it's like to be on a budget. I'm a little bit of a hypocrit (spelt wrong) in that regard, the PSU I use is a "ThermalMaster" - a cheap and nasty PSU that comes with CoolerMaster cases. Do a quick Google, and you'll find that there are a lot of people who have their's blowing up etc. I'm gonna upgrade when I have the money.
Cya! Make sure to visit again sometime! :hello: 
Power supply Expert

smoothcig said:
Well, guys I think I'm gonna have to go with the VX450 from newegg. I don't have much money right now and even the 74.99 with free shipping is pushing it. I think that maybe in about 8 months or so when I upgrade my GFX card I will buy a larger PSU. You guys are great though. Thanks.


VX450 can handle a 4890, but will require a Molex to PCIe adapter.

theAnimal said:
VX450 can handle a 4890, but will require a Molex to PCIe adapter.

Turns out I have no choice but to buy a VX-550W to power a 9800gt, and I have to sacrifice a hard drive I was going to buy so that I can afford it. But now I can have two 9800gt s in SLI by the end of the year! *salivates*. Oh well...

Xenonvector927 said:
Turns out I have no choice but to buy a VX-550W to power a 9800gt, and I have to sacrifice a hard drive I was going to buy so that I can afford it. But now I can have two 9800gt s in SLI by the end of the year! *salivates*. Oh well...


haha nice! I would prefer to have one single very powerful card rather than two very good cards lol I'm not saying that two 9800gt s would be bad, it's just not my style ;)  and I couldn't afford it for a long time too, or until I get a more steady income.

smoothcig said:
haha nice! I would prefer to have one single very powerful card rather than two very good cards lol I'm not saying that two 9800gt s would be bad, it's just not my style ;)  and I couldn't afford it for a long time too, or until I get a more steady income.

True. I never thought I would either, but all I can afford is a PSU and vid card now, and that combo seems to add up to the right price. And I don't want to buy a 9800gt and then upgrade to a better card later - I'll have a 6 month old expensive card lying around gathering dust - my gut feeling is that I want to put both to good use. And it will probably be my last LGA775 rig too, so I want it to go out in style :lol:  . Plus SLI looks cool. :sol: 
Power supply Expert

mamw93 said:
Get the Ultra LS600... it's awesome and will have all the leads you need.


Wow. A whopping 32A on the 12V rail, and mediocre quality. That's a real winner there.

Well, I just ordered a Corsair VX450! I'm certain that I made the right choice by going with the top dog of PSUs. I'm pretty excited about this purchase and I think it will last me a long while. And once I get it I can start messing around with Backtrack 3 on my Atheros chipset PCI card too :)  Thanks again for all the help!

smoothcig said:
Well, I just ordered a Corsair VX450! I'm certain that I made the right choice by going with the top dog of PSUs. I'm pretty excited about this purchase and I think it will last me a long while. And once I get it I can start messing around with Backtrack 3 on my Atheros chipset PCI card too :)  Thanks again for all the help!

W00t! Corsair rocks! Good choice. Yup, the warranty for those is 5 years (what I saw on Newegg for the VX-550). Apparently the customer service is great too. And you get to brag to your friends - I've got the best! :kaola: 
Atheros PCI card? Gooooo wireless cards! Feels weird having wireless internet on a desktop - and I love showing it off. You're welcome!! Have fun with the Corsair!! I have to wait another month until I can buy mine... :cry:  Me want NOW!

EDIT: Oh, and be careful not to break your back moving it around - apparently they use quality copper in the transistors - people on Newegg say they weigh a ton (not literally, of course).
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