PSU recommendations

[Korvax]

Hey guys! I love Tom's and it is definitely the #1 place to get info. So I have a question.

I'm looking to replace my PSU. I didn't do enough research on this P.O.S. and I'm beginning to regret it. The 12V rails are failing and I can't play games like BF3 without my system TOTALLY SHUTTING DOWN! ARGH! It's very aggravating. So I'm looking to replace it. I know I need around 750-800W. I'm looking for a better brand of product. Any recommendations?

I hear Silverstone and Thermaltake are good. I'm looking to spend around $100, but I can go to $150 if I have to.

 

[rolli59]

Good brands are Seasonic, Corsair and Antec even XFX, OCZ and Silverstone but not Thermaltake.

 

[Raiddinn]

The people in this forum almost without exception will suggest you get one of these brands: Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, XFX.

I think most here wouldn't suggest the Silverstone and Thermaltake brands.

Both of those brands tend to go out of spec at high temperatures and the Thermaltake PSUs often can barely get half their stated wattage on the box whereas the first group I mentioned can usually go well past what is listed on the box even at high temperatures.

You will be able to get a PSU from one of the brands I suggested for $100, it shouldn't require stretching to $150 unless you want modular or semi-modular for cable management purposes.

 

[kajabla]

I've heard only good about Silverstone. I'd add it to the good group.
Specs? You may need less wattage than you think.

 

[Raiddinn]

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/SilverStone-Nightjar-500-W-Power-Supply-Review/1421

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/SilverStone-Strider-Plus-500-W-Power-Supply-Review/1369

Both showed the units going out of spec at high temperatures and loads to varying degrees, the latter less so than the former.

 

[ko888]

For a system running with two Radeon HD 4870 graphics cards in 2-way CrossFireX mode a power supply with a minimum 600 Watt or greater with a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 40 Amps or greater and with at least four 6-pin PCI-Express Supplementary Power Connectors is recommended.

If any overclocking of the CPU or GPU is planned or if you're the type that wants their system to be able to pass FurMark or OCCT GPU stress testing then the combined +12 Volt continuous current rating requirement will need to be raised to 48 Amps or greater.

The XFX Core Edition PRO650W (P1-650S-NLB9) for $89.99 ($59.99 after mail-in rebate card), with its +12 Volt continuous current rating of 53 Amps, two 6-pin and two 6+2 pin PCI-Express Supplementary Power Connectors has a lot of reserve capacity to handle anything that you can throw at it with your current system configuration.

Reviews for the XFX Core Edition PRO650W (P1-650S-NLB9) by reputable review sites are here:

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

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=216

http://hardocp.com/article/2011/01/31/xfx_pro_series_core_edition_power_supply_review/

 

[ko888]

I've heard only good about Silverstone. I'd add it to the good group.
Specs? You may need less wattage than you think.

There are only a few good models from SilverStone. The crappy models outnumber the good models by quite a wide margin.

You need to know which models are the good ones before you make a purchasing decision.

 

[Korvax]

Hey guys! You're totally awesome and are giving me great feedback. The following are my specs for my machine, as per kajabla's request:

Mainboard : Asus M3A79-T DELUXE
Chipset : AMD 790FX
Processor : AMD Phenom II X4 940 @ 3000MHz
Physical Memory : 4096MB (2 x 2048 DDR2-SDRAM )
Video Card : ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series (HD4870)
Hard Disk : Seagate ST3500320AS ATA Device (500GB)
Hard Disk : Toshiba External USB HDD (500GB)
DVD-Rom Drive : Toshiba-Samsung CD/DVDW SH-S182M
Network Card : Marvell Semiconductor (Was: Galileo Technology Yukon 88E8056 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Operating System : Windows 7 Ultimate Professional Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
DirectX : Version 11.00

I originally intended to have both vid cards that I bought installed, but obviously THAT isn't going to happen. I have two of the same. I hope this better helps you help me in recommendations. I'll be taking a look at some Corsairs and OCZs. I've never heard of XFX before, but I'll look at them too.

EDIT: Also, would it be better to work with just a single 12V rail, or multiple rails. I've been reading some debate on this and not sure which would better suit my needs.

Thanks guys!

 

[Raiddinn]

Multiple rails are both a blessing and a curse.

Single Rail
Positive = As long as it can deliver enough Amps, there are no configuration problems.
Negative = The built in shutdowns to prevent damage to parts are so high that they will never shut down and thus never protect your parts

Multiple Rail
Positive = Protection set low enough to actually save your parts from damage
Negative = Many rails that individually deliver less A, three devices that use 12a cant be connected in any configuration to two rails each providing 18a. This kind is the only kind that gives these sorts of headaches.
Negative = Very much easier for a power hungry part like a video card to cause a whole computer shutdown, especially as the PSU gets older.

 

[Korvax]

Multiple rails are both a blessing and a curse.

Single Rail
Positive = As long as it can deliver enough Amps, there are no configuration problems.
Negative = The built in shutdowns to prevent damage to parts are so high that they will never shut down and thus never protect your parts

Multiple Rail
Positive = Protection set low enough to actually save your parts from damage
Negative = Many rails that individually deliver less A, three devices that use 12a cant be connected in any configuration to two rails each providing 18a. This kind is the only kind that gives these sorts of headaches.
Negative = Very much easier for a power hungry part like a video card to cause a whole computer shutdown, especially as the PSU gets older.

That's probably my problem now. Ugh... The things you can avoid by being a little more educated and cautious about what you buy...

 

[rockxdude]

Check this:

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

 

[vitornob]

For a system running with two Radeon HD 4870 graphics cards in 2-way CrossFireX mode a power supply with a minimum 600 Watt or greater with a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 40 Amps or greater and with at least four 6-pin PCI-Express Supplementary Power Connectors is recommended.

If any overclocking of the CPU or GPU is planned or if you're the type that wants their system to be able to pass FurMark or OCCT GPU stress testing then the combined +12 Volt continuous current rating requirement will need to be raised to 48 Amps or greater.

The XFX Core Edition PRO650W (P1-650S-NLB9) for $89.99 ($59.99 after mail-in rebate card), with its +12 Volt continuous current rating of 53 Amps, two 6-pin and two 6+2 pin PCI-Express Supplementary Power Connectors has a lot of reserve capacity to handle anything that you can throw at it with your current system configuration.

Reviews for the XFX Core Edition PRO650W (P1-650S-NLB9) by reputable review sites are here:

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

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=216

http://hardocp.com/article/2011/01/31/xfx_pro_series_core_edition_power_supply_review/

Agree completely with this recommendation as he calculated the 12v rail demand
Also I'm a XFX PSU owner. I do recommend them.

+1

 

[Raiddinn]

I have the XFX 650W Core personally and it is quite good. Quite a lot of time was spent on making the decision to get that instead of competing Antec and Corsair products and I don't regret the choice at all.

 

[ko888]

... I originally intended to have both vid cards that I bought installed, but obviously THAT isn't going to happen. I have two of the same. ...

Why isn't it going to happen? If you purchase the appropriate power supply unit it can happen.

 

[Korvax]

... I originally intended to have both vid cards that I bought installed, but obviously THAT isn't going to happen. I have two of the same. ...

Why isn't it going to happen? If you purchase the appropriate power supply unit it can happen.

Well, what I meant was that it isn't going to happen AT THIS TIME due to the fact that I CURRENTLY don't have the appropriate PSU. It WILL happen once I replace the P.O.S. I now have. Part of the reason I started this thread.

And thank you to everyone for pitching in and giving me awesome ideas. I'm looking into the XFX stuff. What do you guys think of:

XFX Core Edition PRO750W

and

XFX PRO750W XXX Edition

Any thoughts?

 

[davcon]

You can order these np at these prices = have to wait until restocked
XFX 750W PRO750W XXX
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=62224&vpn=P1750BNLG9&manufacture=XFX
XFX 750W PRO750W Core Edition Single Rail = in stock
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=59617&vpn=P1750SNLB9&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1190
Great units Seasonic built.

 

[ko888]

Well, what I meant was that it isn't going to happen AT THIS TIME due to the fact that I CURRENTLY don't have the appropriate PSU. It WILL happen once I replace the P.O.S. I now have. Part of the reason I started this thread.

And thank you to everyone for pitching in and giving me awesome ideas. I'm looking into the XFX stuff. What do you guys think of:

XFX Core Edition PRO750W

and

XFX PRO750W XXX Edition

Any thoughts?

The semi-modular XFX PRO750W XXX Edition would be the one I would recommend.

 

[davcon]

^+1 i agree!

 

[Korvax]

Best answer selected by Korvax.
n
nHey guys! Thanks to everyone for their input. I'm going to go with the XFX PRO750 that ko888 recommends. I don't know if I need to start another thread or not, but since this is already getting good input, I'll ask here.
n
nIn future, I'm looking to put together another system. I've already selected some parts and was wondering if the XFX PRO850W XXX Edition would be a good fit. Here are the selected components (at least the ones I'm sure I won't be changing):
n
nMainboard : Asus Crosshair V Formula or Sabertooth 990FX (I'm debating between these two)
nChipset : AMD 990FX (of course)
nProcessor : AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 3.6 GHz
nCooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO
nPhysical Memory : G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB)
nVideo Card : ATI Radeon HD 6000 Series (Qty. x2) (I'm thinking a couple of 6870 cards, but not sure which)
nHard Disk (OS): OCZ Vertex Plus SSD 60GBs
nHard Disk (Storage): Seagate Barracuda 1TB Internal Hard Drive

 

[ko888]

For a system running with two Radeon HD 6870 graphics cards in 2-way CrossFireX mode a minimum of a 600 Watt or greater power supply with a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 40 Amps or greater and with at least four 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors is recommended.

Just get another XFX ProSeries 750W XXX Edition Semi-Modular (Silver) (P1-750B-NLG9). It'll be more than capable of handling that new build.

 

[Korvax]

Thanks ko888! You've been a great help here. Totally appreciate it. And thank you again to everyone for their input.