Best power supply

[ABBDVD]

Hello
I'm planning a new computer and can't find out what power supply i should take. I did some tests and it always ended up that i need like 700W, so with some headroom like 850. I also have no clue what cable ports my power supply needs...
My computer will be about the following:

Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 (ready for USB 3.0 and 6 Gb/s Sata connection in the future!)
i7-960 intel processor
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB)
ati radeon HD 5850
2x samsung spint f3 1tb hard drive (=>raid 1)
2 optical drives (Blu-Ray Disc iHES208 (Lite-on it) and Samsung SH-S223A )
card reader
CM 690 Advanced II
Microsoft Digital Media Keyboard 3000
SteelSeries Xai Laser
LG M227WDP 21.5" monitor (doesn't matter for the power supply, of course)
Windows 7 Professional

My idea is the Corsair HX850

I'm planning with 850W more than it needs mostly because I want to keep free the possibility to add a second video tuner (crossfire), a third hard drive and some more additional ram when the time comes, that this computer is old again.

I listed all the things i want to use also because i'd like to know if you have any concerns about this combination. I might have forgotten to check to compability of some things, so if you notice something, feel free to comment

I also haven't decided yet if i should buy a sound card. I don't have good speakers, but great Bose headphones... Does anybody have some experience with the onboard sound card of gigabyte?

Thanks a lot!
ABBDVD

 

[jonpaul37]

Brand is key here, not watts. That being said, brands to choose from are as follows:

Seasonic
Corsair
OCZ
Antec
PC Power & Cooling

For that particular setup, you will need no more than 600w PSU from any of the above brands, possibly even less. If planning on crossfire, you will want a 700w or above.

Most important things to look for are efficiency & AMP rating on the 12v rails.

For example, my 610watt PSU from PC Power & Cooling has 49 amps on the 12v rail and it powers my PC fine, check my sig for my PC specs.

 

[lothdk]

I guess you have your reasons for going with an i7 960, but would you mind explaining why you chose that over the $300 cheaper i7 920?

If you are spending that much on a power supply, you might as well go for the Antec Twelve Hundred case + Antec 850CP power supply combo.

The Antec 850CP is a killer power supply but only fits in a select few Antec cases. Review at JonnyGuru.

If you are having doubts about the sound already, I say go ahead without the sound card, see what the system is like, if you feel it does not deliver, only then aquire a discrete sound card, it is simple to plug in and set up.

 

[fatfatr]

There's an Antec Earthwatts 650W PSU on newegg for $75, not sure if it will leave any headroom while crossfiring.

I would like to add that the i7-960 is nothing but a waste of money. It's practically an overclocked i7-920. No reason to buy an i7-960 IMO. Stick with an i7-920 and it will be more than you'll need.

 

[MagicPants]

I'd go with the enermax revolution 850

 

[XencryptX841]

Ultra X4 1050-Watt Modular Power Supply - 135mm Fan, ATX, Lifetime Warranty, 80+ Silver, NVIDIA SLI & ATI Crossfire Certifications.


http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4558889&CatId=2535

 

[deadlockedworld]

-No, you do not need a sound card. If, after using the onboard sounds its not satisfactory do not, under any circumstances choose a Creative product. They are useless.

I think corsair is a good PSU option, but you could easily run that system with a corsair 450vx. (the corsair psu calc will back me up if you check)

Some wiggle room would probably be wise and offer greater efficiency, --so you should consider a VX550 if you dont plan to ever crossfire, and the VX650 if you do.

 

[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.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

First place I look for a PSU is here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs

Then I dbl check at jonnyguru.

For comparison purposes , the list below contains performance ratings (10 scale) at jonnyguru.com / prices as per newegg on 02/21/2010 and ones w/ double asteris (**) made it onto silentpcreview.com's Editor's Choice List:

Antec SG-850 - 10.0 ($220) **
Antec CP-850 - 10.0 ($110) **
XFX 850W Black Edition 10.0 ($185)
Corsair HX850 850W - 10.0 ($180)

Antec TruePower Quattro (TPQ-850) - 9.5 ($150)
Corsair TX850 - 9.5 ($140)
Seasonic M12D 850W - 9.5 (NLA) **
NorthQ Giant Connector 850W - 9.5 (NFS)
Etasis ET850 - 9.5 (NLA)
Silverstone Zeus ST85ZF - 9.5 (NLA)

Enermax Revolution 85+ 850W - 9.0 ($250)

Thrmaltake Toughpower XT 850W - 8.5 ($216)
OCZ Z Series 850W - 8.5 ($200)

NorthQ Black Magic Flex 850W - 8.0 (NFS)
Coolmax CTG-850 - 8.0 (NFS)

SilverStone Decathlon DA850 - 7.5 ($230)
Enermax Galaxy DXX 850W EGX850EWL - 7.5 (NFS)

SilverStone Strider ST85F - 7.0

Silverstone Element ST85EF 850W - 6.0

NFS - Not For Sale / NLA = No Longer Available


Your case is a bit "light" for the rest of your system. Your case / PSU combo costs $280....this is $36 less ....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.335367

Alternately, I'd consider keeping the HX850 and get the HAF 932 but that total is $340-$360 ..... you can see how the PSU's compare above .... the 1200 or HAF 932 is a big step up ... and the 1200 / CP-850 combo is just an incredible buy.


I'd consider this MoBo alternate, also w/ USB 3 and TA III
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614

Consider the 930 (out in a week) as an alternative to the 960 ....the 920 overclocks well past the 3.2 GHz speed of the 960 (well past 4 GHz) and the 930 should do even better.

Memory - which set ? get lowest CAS you can afford

CAS 6 - $269 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226052
CAS 7 - $179 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145286
CAS 8 - $139 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

Hard Drives - Check out the performance charts and pick whatever 500 GB per platter drive performs best under your usage patterns. The WD Black 2 TB is a good choice but at smaller capacities, you are limited to the Seagate 7200.12 or the Spinpoint F3. The 7200.12 excels in gaming, multimedia and pictures whereas the F3 wins at music and movie maker. See the comparisons here (copy past link in manually, link won't work in forum):

(http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/compare,1006.html?prod[2371]=on&prod[2770]=on)

Sound - Stick w/ on board

The KB / Mouse weren't well reviewed....hesitate to suggest anything as its such a personal issue .... the MX-518 mouse is a great buy but I couldn't help pointing out this "camo setup" after seeing it

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823175007
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826102042

 

[mrmazo]

Corsair, hands down. However, 850 watts might be a bit more than you need. If you were running 2 video cards, then sure. 500 to 700 watts would be fine. I get the impression that you are planning on future expansion, if so, stay with the 850 watts if your budget permits. Regardless, Corsair is THE brand to consider ( no, I don't work for them ).

 

[ABBDVD]

thanks for all your answers.
power supply:
ok, so i'm probably going to get the antec cp-850 because mrmazo was right with the impression that i'm planning to expand to crossfire in the future. the antec is also quite a bit cheaper then the corsair and seems to be not bad either.
case:
i'll probably also get this "Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower" case even tough i can't order in the combination from newegg as i'm not living in the US.
processor:
i'm anyway not gonna order the parts just yet, so i'll wait for the i7-930 and have a look at the price. i read before that the i7-960 isn't worth that much money compared with the i7-920 so something must be true about it, if you say so too.
motherboard:
the asus p6x58D looks really good as well and is even a bit cheaper then the gigabyte mb i was thinking about, so i tend more to the asus now.
hard drive:
i'll probably get 4x seagate 7200.12 500gb to make 2 raid 0 pairs which i combine then with raid 1. it's cheaper then just 2 x 1tb

i hope i have about everything together now (but i of course steel have both ears open in case you have any concerns), and thanks a lot again!

ABBDVD

edit: i'm not going to buy a sound card yet

 

[Kewlx25]

Antec TP-750 New is really good. It got excellent reviews from every site that opened it up and looked at it piece-by-piece. Not only that, it had only 25mv of noise on 12v rails and 15mv of noise on the 3.3v/5v parts. To put it in comparison, other namebrand PSUs(including Corsair) had 50-75mv of noise which is still great but 25mv is better.

I'm not saying all of Antec's PSUs are like this, but the TP-750 stands out.

I would think a 750watt psu would be good enough for you. One reviewer put it "To load a 750 PSU, you'd have to have a dual socket board, a crossfire setup of 5870s, 8 harddrives, and all the fans a full sized case could hold"

5870 rated for ~190watts(188watt) times 2 = 380
i7 920 OC'd, lets give it a gracious 180watts (my brothers 920 @ 3.8ghz pulls about 120watts with 8 threads of prime95, so 180 is plenty to assume)
Samsung claims their DDR3 4gb consumes about 1.45watts, so lets say 10watts
add an extra 150watts for random HDs and fans and your NIC/etc.

Recent tomshardware review of 2010 HDs showed the highest watt HDs pulling a hair over 11watts under max load. So that 150watt group above would be good for ~10 HDs and your fans/NIC/sound/etc. SSDs use less power.

And the above total with 10 HDs come out to ~720 watts. Bit close, but do you plan on having 10HDs and somehow magically pulling 180watts on the CPU? If you shave off the over-estimated CPU power draw and remove 5HDs, you're back down to 620watts MAX draw.

Even then the TP-750 still had better power characteristics (voltages/noise) at 920watt load than the other PSUs had at their rated load. (yes, even at 150watts over rated it still beat others in power quality)

One reviewer said all the parts used could have let them sell it as a quality 900watt psu, but it'd lose it's bronze 80+ badge.

It has 4 12v 25amp rails, but don't let the 25amp fool you, they were easily delivering 33.3(400watts) per rail(they couldn't test higher with their equipment). The PSU won't let you do that on all rails *at the same time* as it will shut itself down because total watts would be too high.

just saying.

 

[ABBDVD]

hmm, if your calculations are right then it would be enough for sure and even a lot cheaper to get this antec tp-750. can anybody else approve that this power supply is that great? i also just read somewhere that it has just 4 modular cables. i don't know much about the cables from the HD's, mb, cpu, ram, ... going to the power supply, so i have no clue what you actually need the modular cables for specifically.
so can i connect 6 hd's & 2 drives to this thing?
Thanks for your help again!

 

[delluser1]

can anybody else approve that this power supply is that great?

Newegg has them for $90 again, I got mine a few months back at the same price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025
They usually price them at $110 - $130 , so now's the time to grab one.

The OCP on the 12v rails says 25a but is set at 40a, keep what Kewlx mentioned in mind though.
http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=MTc2MA==

Review
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=140

 

[jsc]

Antec TP-750 New is really good. It got excellent reviews from every site that opened it up and looked at it piece-by-piece. Not only that, it had only 25mv of noise on 12v rails and 15mv of noise on the 3.3v/5v parts. To put it in comparison, other namebrand PSUs(including Corsair) had 50-75mv of noise which is still great but 25mv is better.

As long as noise figures are below specs, it doesn't matter how far below they are, especially with the 12 volt rail. Drive motors and fans won't care. Neither will the power converters that run the CPU and GPU.