PSU recommendations

[beoza]

I plan on upgrading to an:

AMD Phenom II 955 BE or 965 BE (cant decide yet only $20 more for 965 BE)
GIGABYTE GA-790FXTA-UD5
ATi 5770 or 5850
4+GB DDR 3
2x hd's,
dvd or br burner
add in Sound Card.

what Wattage and amp would be prefferable? Im thinking somewhere between 500-600w would be fine, amps I have no clue. My last psu I bought was a Enermax 485w Noisetaker which works fine for my current setup but I'm looking for a more efficient psu as that Enermax is 5yrs old. This will be going in a LanCool DragonLord PC-K62, with water cooling added later if that makes any difference in wattage for psu.

 

[shadow187]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

Antec makes good PSU's. You could probably also find a $39 one after MIR that works fine too.

Like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152039

 

[tortnotes]

Corsair also makes good PSUs. Any solid, name-brand 500w PSU should have enough amperage on the 12v rail to support a 5850.

500w is pretty conservative, really--you could get by on 400. The 5850 only uses 150w or so peak.

 

[hunter315]

shadow did you honestly just suggest a raidmax with 26A on the 12V rail?
That PSU provides less power than the Corsair 400CX and comes with a worse reputation and warranty

Consider a PSU an investment, get a good one with a 5 year warranty, if you plan to CF then get a 750W(~60A on 12V rail), if you only plan on running a single card get a good 500-550W(~40A on 12V rail) unit, this keeps the PSU at moderate load which will provide the best efficiency and longest lifespan.

For a single card i suggest the 550vx
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004&Tpk=550vx

For two cards the 750TX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&Tpk=750tx

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Here are the official power requirements for the 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.

Corsair and Seasonic are two of the brands that have a reputation for high quality power supplies that consistently earn high marks in technical reviews. They are reliable, stable, and come with a 5 year warranty. Some of the newer models come with a 7 year warranty. Lately we've been seeing a few other brands offering some high quality units. One example would be the Antec Earthwatts series which is a major improvement over Antec’s older psu’s like the Basiq models.

 

[shubham1401]

+1 to Corsair 550VX.
Just get it and no worries for many many years(Unless you plan on running dual cards).

 

[beoza]

I think I'll go with this one then:

Corsair 750HX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

 

[shubham1401]

^Awesome PSU but overkill for a single card setup.

 

[beoza]

I do plan on adding a 2nd gpu later so yes overkill in the beginning but not after i'm done. A CF setup right off the bat is a lil more than I want to spend atm, that PSU gives me a lil head room in the beginning to play with. Id rather have too much power than not enough when I go to add other devices later. And this PSU is 80plus Silver certified so it fits my efficency requirement too. It is kind of pricey though at $150.

 

[shubham1401]

Get it. Pricey but a very good unit.

If you think its pricey then get the non-modular corsair i.e. 750TX

 

[beoza]

I'll stick with the modular one. Gonna water cool the system a few months after it's built so I dont want all those extra cables in my way...and besides I suck at cable management. I can afford the extra $30 for an increase of 10% in efficiency, it should save me atleast that much in it's 1st yr of use.

 

[beoza]

Best answer selected by beoza.