[Solved] Trying to decide on a new PSU

[cyclometric]

I am looking to upgrade my PSU so I can add a second GPU, pretty much just for folding. My current hardware is:

EA650
Gigabyte 790X-UD4P
Phenom X4 940 @ 3675
2 x 2GB OCZVU8002G
**EVGA GTX260 Core 216 Superclocked
4 x Sata HDDs + 1 x Sata Optical
5 x 120mm LED fans, 1 80mm PWM, 200mm (Antec Bigboy) + KazeServer
2 x 4" cold cathodes

**Will be adding EVGA 9800GX2 as secondary GPU.

The EA650 has been great, but I believe it is pushing it to or past the limit with the GX2 added on.

I would like a modular PSU this time, and since I am upgrading, it seems like I might as well go 800 or 850, though I am pretty sure that 750 (i.e. the EA750) would completely cover my needs, not much more I could add on at this point but prices between 750-850 pretty much the same.

I am looking through this list of PSUs:

700-900W Modular PSUs

I am hoping that I can just use the GX2 for folding, without having make Windows 7 x64 rely on the card to work, since I did have some issues installing it as a primary card. I have since been told by a few users with same mobo as me, as well as other 790X boards, that the card does work on the chipset (but no confirmation as yet on W7x64). An earlier plan I had was to build a separate machine just for folding, and put the GX2 in that, but that's more work/time to setup/maintain, plus I imagine total electric draw would be more, too.

Thank you for any advice/suggestions.

 

[welshmousepk]

ive been trawling thru PSU reviews myself.

i decided on the corsair hx750. from what i can tell, its absolutely unmatched in its price range, and even beats out most of the higher priced competetors.

seems good enough. hopefuly mine will arrive tomorrow.

id recomend checking out some reviews of it. shoudl suit your system well.

 

[welshmousepk]

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/775

thats the review that sold it for me.

the page about max power draw is prety impressive. they say corsair could easily market this as a 950w PSU, but call it a 750w so that it gets a higher efficency rating.

pretty much made up my mind on this review.

 

[cyclometric]

Thanks, I will definitely check it out. Do you agree that 750 is more than enough? I'm not so sure, I guess because you know, once the order is placed, it's hard to change to the 850W if that is indeed what the system needs. . .

I am rather liking this 750W though, too (5 eggs):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817815002

 

[welshmousepk]

yeah, id say its plenty. especially since this PSU is capable of much more than that if needed (albeit with lower efficiency)

im planning on crossfiring two hd 4890s with mine. so i have a feeling a gtx260 and a 9800 should be no trouble.

 

[cyclometric]

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/775

thats the review that sold it for me.
the page about max power draw is prety impressive. they say corsair could easily market this as a 950w PSU, but call it a 750w so that it gets a higher efficency rating.
pretty much made up my mind on this review.

Wow, that is a very strong review indeed!

 

[cyclometric]

yeah, id say its plenty. especially since this PSU is capable of much more than that if needed (albeit with lower efficiency)

im planning on crossfiring two hd 4890s with mine. so i have a feeling a gtx260 and a 9800 should be no trouble.

That's the thing, though, the 9800GX2 is actually 2 cards in a single PCIE slot, so it's like having 3 cards (but not SLI'd, so I think that is about 30% power savings)

 

[welshmousepk]

a tri GPU setup wil surely be demanding, so maybe you hsoudl double check with a power calculator.

but 4890's are infamous for drawing ridiculous amounts of power, so i would assume if it can handle that, it wont be a problem with your system.

i cant say for sure though, sp a little more research may be in order. but like i said, this PSU is cvapable of outputting up to 950w at peak load. so really, it shouldnt have any issues.

 

[cyclometric]

Hey I was checking out the HX750 and noticed that on the 'egg' the TX750 is just $88 after rebate, if you don't care about the modular part -- otherwise afai can tell it is very similiar, but there are some differences... might be worth checking out tho', that's almost half the price, and at 1350 reviews, still has 5 eggs!

Link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&Tpk=tx750

 

[welshmousepk]

yeah, i belive its simply just a non-modular version of the same PSU.

it too fares very well in reviews. i ended up going for the modular simply because i have a new case with a side window,and want to do adecent job at cable management.

but i was also considering the tx750, and it seems very good also.

 

[cyclometric]

Oh oh, I have to do some more research now... I checked again with some PSU calculators, and they were hitting close to or over 600W, so I decided to check the PRO version at http://extreme.outervision.com (easily worth the 2 bucks). It recommends 667W (I input the 2 video cards, not SLI). Adding the standard 100W for good measure, that's got me past the 750's and into the 800's... back to the research!

PS to welshmousepk: are you in Wales? I just saw a movie last night, "I'll Be There", that takes place in Cardiff... really enjoyed it, highly recommend, just thought i'd mention.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

The TX750 is the original non-modular power supply. It's been available for several years.

The HX750 is the new modular power supply

In the meantime, I just found out about the brand new Seasonic X-750 and X-650 100% all modular power supplies that earned Gold certification for efficiency. I haven't seen a review of the X-750 yet but here is a link to a technical review of the X-650 that will give you a good idea of their performance capabilities:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=169

The down side is the price.

 

[cyclometric]

The TX750 is the original non-modular power supply. It's been available for several years.

The HX750 is the new modular power supply

In the meantime, I just found out about the brand new Seasonic X-750 and X-650 100% all modular power supplies that earned Gold certification for efficiency. I haven't seen a review of the X-750 yet but here is a link to a technical review of the X-650 that will give you a good idea of their performance capabilities:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=169

The down side is the price.

thank you, JohnnyLucky -- I will follow see about the 850 versions of those. I know Seasonic is a good brand. Do you or does anyone have any opinion on the Seventeam ST-850ZAF, shown here?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817176002

Apparently Seventeam is a supplier for some good brands, including Seasonic, and that price tag for a 1000W modular is hard to sneer at. Just looking at some reviews & forum info on it now, trying to decide between that & a couple of others.

Update: Never mind re: Seventeam, at least for me. I am relying on some helpful advice from somone on Overclock.net, thread is here.

I can tell you that build quality is acceptable but could be better, and it [the Seventeam ST-850ZAF] makes a decent 750W. If you try to push this design any further than that, you will run in to issues. It is the exact same PSU internally as this (http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=164)Silverstone. It should handle your rig. As long as it is priced well it's an ok choice, but I would probable pick a better performing and more efficient 750W (more efficient because it will be on a lot for folding).

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The SG series from Antec (650/850) and the HX Series from Corsair are the cream of the crop. You'll find them both listed as among the best PSU units listed here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs

Note that brand name is not a good indicator of PSU quality. Like laptops, the sticker on the side of the unit is generally NOT the actual manufacturer. The SG series from Antec for example are made by Delta....their other lines are made by other manufacturers and not up to the same rigid standards.

Not saying everything else is crap .... but the Antec SG / Corsair HX are a step above the TP / TX series and so on with the other lines.

I have been going with 650 watts on single GFX w/ OC intent and 850 w/ 2 GFX cards and OC intent....drop 100wor drop down to the TX / TP series if not planning aggressive OC'ing ....also note depending on deals, the 850's can be cheaper than the 750's as was true on Black Friday.

 

[welshmousepk]

lol, cyclo i am from wales originally. though i now live in new zealand. ill check out that movie though. thanks for the recomendation.

looks like theres still alot of deciding to do on your psu. my hx750 should arrive tomorrow though...

 

[cyclometric]

Enjoy your new PSU (and that movie, too!)

ATM I am convinced single rail is the way to go, meaning HX850 probably. Single rail bcuz some days I tend to turn folding off and on, on 4 cpu cores & soon, on 3 gpu chips. Further study & words of smarter folks can always change my mind if the single rail argument doesn't always make sense. Cheers,

 

[welshmousepk]

as far as i know, single rail is always the best way to go. i belive all of the corsair PSUs above 650w are single rail. but i didnt look into them too much.

i guess its better to get a PSU thats more powerful than you need, than to get a weak one that buckles under the pressure.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Most of the power supplies that claim mutiple rails are not true seperate rails. Instead they are more of an advertising gimmick. Think of them as "virtual rails". There are a few high end, high wattage power supplies that have true separate rails but they are few and far between. The advertising gurus got a little too creative with the concept. For a typical user or typical gamer it doesn't make much difference.

I have an excellent reference which explains the difference between single and mutiple 12 volt rails. Unfortunately I am not at home right now and can't look it up.

 

[cyclometric]

Just to close this thread, at least for the moment, I purchase the Corsair HX850, hoping it might arrive tomorrow. This was after running the pro version of the online PSU calculator and it recommended for a setup with OC'd Phenom & 2 video cards (GTX260 & 9800GX2, not in SLI) that I have at least 667watts, so adding 100Watts standard gave me 767, and 850 seemed like the logical choice.

Thanks everyone for helping me figure this out. Now when the PSU arrives and I plug it all in, I think I'll reseat my CPU at the same time, using IC Diamond 7. It's got AS5 on there now, and I think when I had the Diamond on it before it was just a shade cooler, but it's hard to say... tinker tinker.

Latest Update: The 9800GX2 that I wanted to add to my system turns out to be either completely incompatible with my motherboard, or drivers do not exist that will work. I could not get it installed by itself as the only GPU, much less as a secondary one. And from what I hear, driver support is going to be dropping off for this card, not getting better. So I didn't need to upgrade my PSU at all. I did receive the HX850, enjoyed putting it in my system and not worrying about power issues while tinkering with trying to get the GTX260 and the 9800GX2 to play nice together. Meanwhile, while my former PSU, EA650, was out of the computer, I accidentally spilled a little diet soda on it (some went inside). Waited a few days and just fired it up out of the rig, tested voltages (spot on) and ran a couple fans. I am going to go ahead and put it back in my case. But, since I think this could not bode well for the longevity of the unit, I am going to replace it with a modular Corsair, probably the HX650.