Which 650 would you lean towards?

[Raiddinn]

I have spent about the last 3-4 hrs trying to get up to speed on what constitutes a good PSU and the best companies and searched around for deals available online and I was hoping to get a few second opinions before I take the plunge.

I have used the calculator here http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine and it says I need at least 340 minimum. From what I gather it is best to go 30% - 100% over this figure for efficiency and longevity reasons. I looked at this page

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f210/power-supply-information-and-selection-192217.html

And it suggested that a Power Desktop Class computer (which is probably what mine fits best in) should probably be around 650 which fits in with the 340 x 1.3 the 2.0 range.

Anyway, I have a pretty low quality 700 right now and I am confident a better quality 650 would do the same job just fine if not better so that is what I am aiming for.

Anyway, the 3 I have been looking at are



Antec Earthwatts Green 650W Power Supply ATX12V V2.2 EPS12V Active PFC 80PLUS 120MM Fan

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply

XFX P1650SNLB9 Core Edition Power Supply - 650W, 80 Plus Bronze, 135mm Fan, Active PFC, Single +12V Rail




I was hoping that some others more experienced in these things would be able to tell me which way among these to lean towards or perhaps clue me in on another PSU in the $50 - 75 range that would trump those.

Brand > Wattage for me at this point

My motherboard has a 24 pin and a 4 pin connector and my video card has 2x 6 connectors on it. I would prefer some room for upgrading so 4+4 and 6+2s would be ideal as would a modular PSU but that last one is probably too much to hope for. Extra PSU cables just kinda irk me, but its only minor.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

- Edit - Higher than 650 is fine with me. If there is a 700 or 750 in the same range that is superior to those I don't mind taking that option, I just don't want to sacrifice quality for quantity on this.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

the three you listed are all good quality, reliable psu's. I would probably take the XFX out of the 3 if they are all the same price.

 

[jsc]

Both the 650V2 and the XFX are built by Seasonic.

Of the three, I would get the Corsair. Disclaimer :
My 6 desktop systems are powered by 4 Corsair PS's and two Antecs.

 

[casualbuilder]

I agree with both the above posts, however, if the EarthWatt 500W is also a good buy for your system. If you are only using 340W total consumption now, you probably dont use a ton of gpu power, so buying that much wattage seems a waste of money. My opinion on the 30%-100% "buffer", a good 80+ Bronze or better is going to do just fine, and from a quality distributer like Corsair, XFX, Antec, or even OCZ and Power Cooling will give you a psu that can last under any load. Unless you overshoot this psu to say an HX750, HX850, upgrades in the future will be questionable at best with how fast technology is evolving. If you are on a budget, buy the smallest unit necessary, especiallyf you plan on totally upgrading or rebuilding this system within the next 3-5 years. If you plan on ONLY upgrading as needed, i recommend going with a larger PSU, like the HX series' i suggested. This truly depends on your buying tendencies.

 

[Raiddinn]

I tend to buy a couple years old hardware and play a couple years old games.

In any event, I would rather keep whatever PSU I was buying at its optimal load range and I have read that most of the time that is 40 - 60% of capacity, so a 650 is right about where I would prefer to be.

I prefer to upgrade as necessary and the next thing to go will probably be the Video Card (4870 --> 6870) so I don't mind a bit of extra juice.

That being said, I guess I will take the cheapest of the three if the consensus is that each as just as good as the others unless people start to favor one over the rest fairly soon.

 

[davcon]

All three are good units from reliable suppliers.
You could buy the cheapest unit(Antec) and be fine for years imo.
The XFX and Corsair feature an extra 2yrs on the warranty.
Hard to lose on any of the three.
A decent semi-modular unit in that price range is the OZC ModX 600.
I would say it's a notch below the units you've listed but very good price/performance wise.
I have two of them and hard to beat for under $60.

 

[delluser1]

Power supply calculator said 340w and you think you need 650w to be safe ?
Psst, 6870 uses about 3 amps less power than a 4870.

 

[casualbuilder]

Doesnt need it, but wants the 30%-100% headroom. Its not the worst request i've ever seen.

 

[Raiddinn]

I ended up taking the XFX.

 

[casualbuilder]

Good Luck Raiddinn! You will definately be satisfied with that unit!

 

[FinneousPJ]

The optimal PSU for your system would be in the 450W range. The 650W only makes sense if you're planning on adding a second GPU.

 

[casualbuilder]

650W will give him a lot more options in the future, and quite frankly, its only another $20 now, instead of another $65 later. It makes sense. I don't recommend any PSU under 500W for that reason.

 

[Raiddinn]

The XFX optimal efficiency (85%+) is right at the power I expect to draw from it (50% - 60% load). If I got a 450 that would be operating more at 80%+ consistently it probably would be more like 82% efficiency instead of 86% which does make a difference in terms of heat generated and stuff, possibly longevity as well.

In any event, I spent about a whole RL day researching this stuff and I am happy with the choice.

 

[casualbuilder]

85% is not what you get out of it...that is what percentage of pull from the wall you get. So, if the psu is rated for 650W, it is actually pulling 765W from the wall, that is if it's a quality psu like the ones that are listed.

 

[FinneousPJ]

Except that no system is at maximum power consistently - if ever - unless all you do is run benchmarks all day long. Surfing the net and watching videos, listening to music and all that kind of stuff will be pretty much idle consumption - that's less than 100W on most systems. For your system an educated guess would be idle in the 60-80 W range. What is the efficiency of that 650W unit at 10% load?

 

[FinneousPJ]

85% is not what you get out of it...that is what percentage of pull from the wall you get. So, if the psu is rated for 650W, it is actually pulling 765W from the wall, that is if it's a quality psu like the ones that are listed.

Yes. If you have a 650W PSU, that means its maximum capacity is 650W. If your 650W PSU has 85% efficiency (at full load), that means it draws 650W/0.85 = 765W from the wall (what he said). To emphasize, it does not mean its maximum load is 85% of 650W. If you look at enthusiast review sites (like hardwaresecrets), you'll learn a good PSU can supply more wattage than their rating suggests. On the other hand, some low grade PSUs fail to deliver even their rated wattage.

 

[Raiddinn]

What I meant was that it is 85% efficient at the load my parts will put on it (mid to high 300s). See Below

Raiddinn: "The XFX optimal efficiency (85%+) is right at the power I expect to draw from it (50% - 60% load)."

Which is true according to this :

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/XFX-PRO-650-W-Power-Supply-Review/1165/7

As for what juice I am using at idle, its more like 150 just for my Video Card. That is already higher than 20% load on a 650, combined with the other parts I would be idling at about 40% of the 650 which would give me an idling efficiency of about 85.4% according to the same chart.

Exactly what was it that I said that sounded like "I only get 85% of 650w with the XFX" and "I get 85% efficiency at 100% load" and "I can't get more than 650w out of the XFX"?

 

[casualbuilder]

sorry, misread the post. I do agree with you though, the 650W is the way to go.

"650W will give him a lot more options in the future, and quite frankly, its only another $20 now, instead of another $65 later. It makes sense. I don't recommend any PSU under 500W for that reason."

 

[FinneousPJ]

What video card uses 150W at idle? How is that even possible if the maximum load for your system is 340W?

 

[casualbuilder]

i dont recall any...is he using a 6870? that only pulls 151W at MAX LOAD.

http://www.hwcompare.com/11005/geforce-gtx-560-vs-radeon-hd-6870/

 

[delluser1]

What I meant was that it is 85% efficient at the load my parts will put on it (mid to high 300s).

Where did you come up with that ?

Post your specs., let's see how you come up with 340 watts from the calculator and a "mid to high 300s" watt load on the psu.

 

[FinneousPJ]

Apparently the 6990 uses 150W at idle, but then again for it 340W at load isn't enough. I just don't see how that's possible.

 

[Raiddinn]

I used the little load calculator everyone says to use around here

eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Pro

1x cpu

motherboard = regular desktop

Maker = AMD

Socket = AM3

Processor = Phenom 2 x4 955 3200 mhz deneb.

Note, I only have an 840 3200 mhz deneb which uses 95 instead of 125 so at the end 30w will have to be taken off both sides of the final result.

RAM = 2 sticks of 2gb

Video 1 = Radeon HD 4870

HD = 2x 7200 SATAs

Wasn't sure if that counts as high (I would call this 10k) or regular (I would call this 5400). I just put 1 of each since that is 15k rpms for 2 drives vs 14400 in reality. If you pick 2 of either option it doesn't change the numbers much.

1 DVD+RW drive

USB Mouse and Keyboard = 2 devices

I tend to just pause games and walk away from my computer and it sounds like I am still playing when I get back and I intend the PSU to be putting in much more than 1 year of service so I can't feel honest with myself putting less than 20% aging.

Without selecting any fans and selecting ONLY 20% capacitor aging with the -30w off each side for the processor you are already in the mid to high 300s range that I said before.

Que comments about how I should turn off my computer at night and/or quit games when I am walking away from the computer for hours, etc.

 

[casualbuilder]

I never shut my pc off...EVER. i last ran an Athlon 64 processor with a "crappy" rosewill 500W PSU for 6 years straight. Only exceptions was power outtages, upgrade to the gpu, and updates.

 

[FinneousPJ]

Ah, an older gen GFX card might have a higher idle power consumption but I don't think it's going to be 150W for the GPU - as I said earlier that's 6990 territory. Your total idle power might be closer to that figure though, with an old GPU like that. That would have a 650W PSU at 20%+ load at idle, which is good. I was assuming current gen components, sorry