How many watts psu does this system need?

[nytmode]

Hi Guys, Im building a new system for myself. The specifications are listed below. Please tell me what would be the best power supply for this system and also tell me the difference between a modular and non-modular psu?

Intel Core i7 975x (No OC'ing)
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
6GB Corsair Dominator PC3-128000
Intel 80GB SSD
1TB x 4 WD RE4 (Raid 0)
XFX Radeon HD 5870 (Single)
Creative Titanium X-fi Fatal1ty
Noctua NH-C12P SE14 CPU Fan
1x Blu-ray Drive
4x Noiseless Casing Fans

Currently looking at Corsair TX 850W (Non-modular) PSU. Is this enough or more is needed?

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

I think what has been said about modular PSUs is that they add a bit more electrical resistance, but it's nothing to really be concerned with.

And 850w will be plenty.

 

[ksampanna]

Modular PSUs are those which allow you to attach & detach cables according to your requirement. For eg, for a single graphics card, you need only a single 6/8 pin connector. Now if the modular psu has two of them, then you can detach the other since its not needed.
Non modular PSUs do not have these features.
Thus, obviously, with a modular psu, you can achieve better cable management. They also tend to be higher priced than their similarly powered counterparts.

Since you are not overclocking, 850 W is way too much. 750 W should be enough for your system, even if you decide to add a second 5870. So go with the Corsair 750TX.

*since you are not overclocking, why add the Noctua NH-C12P SE14 CPU Fan? No doubt it will keep the cpu temps low, but adequate cooling will be achieved even by the stock cooler. Also since it is the i7-975, the stock coolers are much better for them, than for the rest of the lineup.

I would also suggest you get the i7-980X. Same price as the 975 + 2 HT enabled cores =10-15% more performance.

 

[saaiello]

850 watts is more then enough ATI recommends 750 watt for crossfire and 500 watt for single card. I would say get the 850 watt unit though since that will give you plenty of head room for future upgrades.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

This will "do the math" for you

http://www.antec.outervision.com/index.jsp

This will help you pick it

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs

tell me the difference between a modular and non-modular psu?

Non modular - very hard to find outside of real cheapo models.....essentially every cable is permanently attached to the PSU and you have to bundle up and hide all the stuff you won't use. Example of this type Rosewill Xtreme Series RX850-S-B.

Modular - no cables are permanently attached to PSU ....plug in what ya need....rest go back in the shipping carton. Each connector adds a bit of resistance and drops efficiency a tiny bit. Logic of having any necessary cables modular escapes me. What's the point of adding a failure point, the extra cost, decreased efficiency and the resistance of a connector if you absolutely must have that cable connected (i.e. 24 pim MoBo power cable, 8 pin EPS cable, 1st SATA and 1st e-SATA cabe) ? Modular cables only make sense when cable is optional. Example of this type HX850

Hybrid Modular - best of both worlds .... all absolutely necessary cables are hard wired and permanently attached to the PSU. All optional cables are plug in type meaning if you don't need the cable, you leave it in the box it shipped in and put it in your closet. Examples of this type Antec CP-850, XFX 850W Black Edition

As for choice of PSU, what I'd recommend depends on what case you choose. Best price / performance would be the Antec CP-850 (10.0 jonnyguru.com rating) and Editor's Choice at silentpcreview.com but it only fits in 5 Antec cases (P183, P193, 1200, DX-30 and DX-85 ... last 2 you can't buy yet). Great combo deals available on these combos. Given you stated intention not to OC and single GFX card, I'd recommend the extremely quiet Antec P183.....serious OC's and twin GFX, Antec 1200.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.387490
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.387037

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 asterisks (**) made it onto silentpcreview.com's Editor's Choice List meaning they excelled at both electronic and acoustic performance:

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

The 850 watters run almost the same price as the 750 watters so I say why not get the 850 and have the cushion. Keep in mind that PSU's reach their peak efficiency at 50% load so the extra room also pays dividends. If you're going to do twin GFX and serious OC'ing, I'd recommend the bolded ones in the list above. With one GFX card and mild OC or two GFX cards and no OC, one of the underlined ones will suffice.

You don't say what you're gonna be doing with this PC but I'd be right surprised if RAID 0 did anything for you. Other than movie editing, manipulating huge databases and other extremely specialized applications, RAID 0 does butkus on the desktop.

I much prefer the Asus P6X58D (dual LAN) or P6X58D-E (Single LAN) over the X58A-UD7 .

The Dominators heat sinks may interfere w/ any 3rd party CPU cooler.....not much of an issue as you don't appear to want to OC...the stock Intel cooler will be fine then. In any case, with the money you're spending on the rest of the stuff, I'd be using CAS 6 memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226121

The Noctua came in 18th place here, why not the comparably priced No. 1 Megahalems ? Then again, if not OC'ing, you don't need one.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=492&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=4

For the price of those 3 Gb/sec WD's, consider some 6 Gb/s drives .... for example

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148506

No, a single SATA III drive won't benefit for disk transfers but transfers from cache certainly will ..... also in RAID 0 as you plan, 4 of them certainly would ..... however both the Asus and Gigabyte UD7 boards only support two SATA III connections w/o an add on card.

Blue Ray:

Fastest Blue Ray Writer in existence http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249057
My fav BR Reader / DVD Writer http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249050

 

[nytmode]

Thanks for all the reply guys. I think I will be going with a 850W PSU and a few changes. Sorry that I forgot to mention, I will be editing large amount of 1080p videos with this system mainly.

I have changed the graphics card to XFX HD 5870 2GB EYEFINITY EDITION eventhough I will be using only 2 displays (only because I got it on the same price as the 1GB one)

Newegg.com prices don't really help me as I live in the UK but atleast I got to see the model numbers of your suggestions (thanks Jack) and 6Gb/s drives are too expensive for me, as I would rather have 4x 3Gb/s ones in a RAID 0 than pay the same for 2 6Gb/s.

Downgraded the processor to i7-920 but will upgrade it to the 980x later on so that's why I'm thinking of changing the fan also (to CNPS10X Extreme). Im not comfortable with retail fans so please suggest me something SILENT but GOOD (if not the Noctua) and also a CASING that will bear my configuration.

 

[Shadow703793]

6Gb/s drives are too expensive for me, as I would rather have 4x 3Gb/s ones in a RAID 0 than pay the same for 2 6Gb/s.

Yup. The HDDs are NOT topping out the SATA II yet. SATA III really is for SSDs imo.

Downgraded the processor to i7-920 but will upgrade it to the 980x later on so that's why I'm thinking of changing the fan also (to CNPS10X Extreme). Im not comfortable with retail fans so please suggest me something SILENT but GOOD (if not the Noctua) and also a CASING that will bear my configuration.

Imo, don't bother getting the 980 even later unless ~$200-250 and planing to water cool.

As for case, a HAD 932, Antec 1200,etc are good choices. As for the heatsink, your best option is going to be the Noctua OR if you want, you can get any decent heatsink (ie Hyper 212+) and just swap out the fan to some Scythe Slipstreams or Gentle Typhoons or Yate Loons.

 

[ksampanna]

Downgraded the processor to i7-920 but will upgrade it to the 980x later on so that's why I'm thinking of changing the fan also (to CNPS10X Extreme). Im not comfortable with retail fans so please suggest me something SILENT but GOOD (if not the Noctua) and also a CASING that will bear my configuration.

Can't think of a reason you'd downgrade to 920 for now & get the 980 later. Woudn't the 920 be a waste of money, then?
Also if u HAVE to, then get the 930.