I need a 1200W reliable power supply....

[gamrWraith001]

I was thinking about getting either the antec Quattro 1200
or the thermaltake Toughpower Cable Management 1200W PSU

 

[gamrWraith001]

Which one is better and more stable? Im gonna be doing some gaming and im gonna crossfire some 5870's.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

You do not need a 1200 watt power suply for an overclocked gaming pc with two ATI Radeon HD 5870 video cards in Crossfire mode. That is total overkill and a complete waste.

Here are the official power requirements for the new ATI Radeon HD 5850 and HD 5870 video cards.


ATI Radeon™ HD5850 System Requirements:

PCI Express® based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard

500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75 watt, 6-pin, PCI Express® power connectors.

600 Watt or greater power supply with four 75 watt, 6-pin, PCI Express® power connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode.


ATI Radeon™ HD5870 System Requirements:

PCI Express® based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard.

500 Watt or greater power supply with two, 75 watt, 6-pin, PCI Express® power connectors.

600 Watt or greater power supply with four, 75 watt, 6-pin, PCI Express® connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode.


The power supply recommendations are for an entire pc system. Manufacturers tend to overestimate poer requirements because they know there are people who will buy low budget, low quality psu's of questionable performance and value.

Here is a link to Seasonic's newest high quality, high performance power supply, the X650 Gold which earned an 80+ Gold certification for energy efficiency:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088

Here are links to technical reviews:

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

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Seasonic_X650

 

[gamrWraith001]

There is actuallly a bunch of more stuff i a minstalling and i need an estimated 1000-1200 watt psu

 

[JohnnyLucky]

List your pc components. Without a complete list it is not possible to make a valid recommendation.

 

[Upendra09]

if ur Xfiring 5870 u don't need 1200 watt PSUs an 850-900 watt should be fine

look at Seasonic, PC&PC, Silverstone, Antec, OCZ, Corsair

 

[Upendra09]

you beat me to it johnnylucky

 

[jsc]

If you are going to use a PSU of that capacity, get the Antec.

 

[logitic]

Here is the Power Supply I use. Ultra x4 1050.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4558889&CatId=106

It powers my two 5870s, water pump, CPU, RAM with room to power a third card if need be. It's completely Modular so cable management is great.

 

[gamrWraith001]

List your pc components. Without a complete list it is not possible to make a valid recommendation.

Right I forgot about that.

-Asus Rampage 2 Extreme or the P6X58D Premium haven't decided yet.
-2 Xfx ati 5870's
-LG Black 8X Blu-ray Burner SATA Model WH08LS20
-LG Black 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-ROM SATA Internal Combo LG Blu-ray Reader & 16X LightScribe DVD±R DVD Burner
-4 Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M080G2R5 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk
-Intel i7 960
-CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000
-areo cool touch 2000
-also a sound card i haven't decided on yet
-a decent amount of leds for lighting mabey 6 strips with 4 leds on each
for my cooling
MCP655™ series 12 VDC Pumps
I am asumming the water blocks don't matter much
4 fans at most

i think it needs a lot of power im pretty new too choosing parts and stuff

 

[Upendra09]

u don't need a sound card, mobo sound is enough

 

[mi1ez]

u don't need a sound card, mobo sound is enough

You can't say that without knowing fully what the PC will be used for and if the guy's a complete audiophile.

Right, Given the components you've listed 1200W is complete overkill.

 

[gamrWraith001]

oh ok then im just gonna get a 900 watt modular then

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Thanks for listing the parts. Fairly typical build. Even overclocked you're still in overkill mode. A high quality, high performance power supply such as the Corsair TX 750 or the brand new Seasonic X750 Gold can easily power an overclocked Intel Core i7 system with two HD Radeon 5770 video cards in Crossfire mode. I've been reading technical reviews where the new ATI 5xxx series video cards were paired with an overclocked Intel Core i7 920 and in some tests with a 975 Extreme. A high quality 750 watt psu is still enough. You just have to make sure you get a high quality psu instead of a low budget, low quality psu of questionable performance and value.

 

[geofelt]

Right on, Johnnylucky.

Quality psu's come from corsair, seasonic,PC P&C, antec, and others.
Do not worry about modular. You will be using most of the leads anyway.

As to the build, here are some thoughts:

1) Onboard HD sound is very good. Try it out first, you can always add a sound card later.
2) Why 4 X25-M 80gb ssd's? The 160gb X25-m's are faster. Don't tell me you want them is raid-0 for fast loading. I think you will be limited by the sata bus.
If you want the ultimate in loading speeds, get a discrete raid card with hardware raid. They can be expensive.
3) Ram faster than 1600 does not gain you much, perhaps a few percent in FPS. Spend the cash elsewhere.
4) What resolution will you be gaming at? If it is not at 2560 x 1600 then you might want to rethink your vga configuration. Perhaps a 5970 would be better.

 

[logitic]

If your building a gaming rig your going to want a good sound card. It really is night and day if you are going to use headphones. No respectable gaming rig goes without a good sound card.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

^5 +1 what geofelt said about memory and sound.

During the past two weeks I read every Tom's Hardware article about DDR3 memory published during the last 12 months. I had to go back and read some of the articles several times. Then I branched out and read technical reviews at other sites. Based all the information that was available it's not worth going any higher than DDR3 1600 memory. The actual best bang for the buck is DDR3 1300 memory. You can do other things to improve performance.

My current motherboard has very good onboard sound via hdmi or spdif (fiber optic) connections on the rear panel. No need for a sound card. I have the sound hooked up to my old 5.1 channel audio system via an spdif (fiber optic) connection. The sound is awesome. My new Asus Sabertooth 55i motherboard will arive Monday. It's supposed to have even better onboard audio, including 10 channel sound. It's supposed to be superior to the typical stuff.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Right I forgot about that.

-Asus Rampage 2 Extreme or the P6X58D Premium haven't decided yet.
-2 Xfx ati 5870's
-LG Black 8X Blu-ray Burner SATA Model WH08LS20
-LG Black 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-ROM SATA Internal Combo LG Blu-ray Reader & 16X LightScribe DVD±R DVD Burner
-4 Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M080G2R5 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk
-Intel i7 960
-CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000
-areo cool touch 2000
-also a sound card i haven't decided on yet
-a decent amount of leds for lighting mabey 6 strips with 4 leds on each
for my cooling
MCP655™ series 12 VDC Pumps
I am asumming the water blocks don't matter much
4 fans at most

i think it needs a lot of power im pretty new too choosing parts and stuff

Using this, I came up with 654 watts

http://www.antec.outervision.com/PSUEngine

Try it yaself.....

If ya read these sites:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=142

you won't find more glowing reviews than for the Antec CP-850 which is well matched with the Antec 1200. If the styling don't "do it" for ya, look at the Cooler Master HAF932 and the HX-850 from Corsair.

Best 850 watters

Antec Signature SG-850
Antec CP-850
Corsair HX-850
Seasonic M12D 850W

If wanna do extreme OC, get the rampage and this instead if the aerocool (great fan controller and convenient OC tool):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131409

If not into OC, then the P6X

This memory is faster and won't be around more than a day or 2 so act fast
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226050

This box deserves Plextors
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249057
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249055

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Hey Skeleton Face! :lol:

Jack! It's a bloody miracle we finally agree on something. I have been using Plextor optical drives exclusively for quite a few years. They might cost a little more but I've never had a problem. In all those years I've never burned a coaster.