Can you help me choose a new power supply please?

[Tommy_38]

hello,

let me first start by giving you my PC specs,

it is a acer m5910 with upgrades made by myself.

CPU=Intel core I7 870@293Ghz
memory=16 GB, 4x4 gig Corsair CMX4GX3M1A1333C9 XMS3 ( acer says this model will only take 8GB of Ram but this is false. I have tested my system b4 installing 16 GB and after and Everast/PC Wizard and other software including windows recognizes the memory and what the mother board supports.
GPU=ATI HD5770 DDR5 1 GB Dual DVI and display port.
Seagate 500 GB HD ( with O/S on )
Western Digital 500 GB HD
Power supply is a 500watt standard psu that came with system.
Mother board is standard aswell.

I am quite prepared to get a good quality PSU and believe I should increase to maybe a 650 or 700 watt psu.

I would like to have crossfire/sli for future proofing if I choose to go down that route in future.

But I do not know what psu to go for, thew problem is not finding good psu's but knowing whether they will work in my system with my parts and on my motherboard or not.

So I dont know if I have to match certain specs of the current psu to the new one, for example: the rails/voltages etc etc.

I fear just getting one and "trying" as my mobo is an acer part and I fear I will do damage to it.

You might ask why I bothered getting this system in the 1st place as I have changed/upgraded so much of it. Well I payed nothing for the system so am working with what I have.
I will eventually change the case and mobo but for now I think the psu is next.
I am finding ways of keeping the system cool also but am in no real danger yet and monitor temps regular.

Forgive me if I sound like a complete noob.

So if I could be pointed to a good psu and maybe also explained how to go about looking for one that will work in my system, that way I might learn some thing new aswell as being shown what psu will work.

Thankyou very much.

Tom

 

[amuffin]

You won't be able to sli/crossfire on an acer board. So there is no need to replace your power supply.

 

[Tommy_38]

Thankyou,

yes I did realize this.

as I said I will be changing the motherboard in the future.

So do you think considering all of the hardware I currently have that the psu is powerful enough to cope?
I have used some psu calculators online and it is always close. Although I know these calculators calculate taking into consideration the parts working at max.

So if I wanted to change what would I go fro and why please?

And if I am OK for now would you say I would be better off changing my PSU when I decide to change motherboards?

Thanks.
Tom.

 

[amuffin]

If you change your mobo, you will also need to change your case. Then you can get a corsair 650tx. It is a great power supply and will power your 2 6770's easily.

 

[Tommy_38]

Yes I am fully prepared to change case.

I have bookmarked the psu you have said.

So can a motherboard or other parts be powered by a single rail psu or do you need to follow a guideline on this. I think at the moment my psu has at least 2 rails, so would this mean if I just wanted a psu for this mobo would I need to get another dual rail psu? in other words does or can a motherboard dictate whether you need dual or single rail psu, or another part dictate this infact?

I hope that made sense, I really wanna get my head round this as best as I can.

Thanks for your help so far,

Tom

 

[amuffin]

Yes it can.

 

[Tommy_38]

haha, was hopeing you wouldnt say that.

So could you tell me the best way to determine how nay rails a psu is running on?

I am guessing that if I had two rails on my current psu then the new psu would therefore have to have 2 rails, but as the new psu would be more powerful would the rails therefore allocate more power per rail?

This is where I get stuck.

Im thinking maybe I should just leave psu as is for moment and when ready to get new mobo then match a psu to the new mobo and other parts I have.
In that case ( and I will ask the question in another topic if needed ) can you or any one else suggest a good motherboard for these parts and also a good psu ( 650 - 750 watt ) that would match the motherboard suggested and parts I have listed please?
I obviously know I will need to change case for this to happen.

I would like a motherboard with crossfire/sli be sata 6.0 Gb/s and usb 3. It would have to be socket 1156 for my cpu to fit it.

I have listed my parts specs but here they are in morew detail;

CPU: Intel Core i7 870@293Ghz HERE

Ram: 4xcorsair 4 GB ( 16 GB ) HERE

Seagate Barracuda ( internal with O/S on it ) HERE

Western Digital 500 GB internal HD, HERE ( used for extra data- no raid set up )

I also have a seagate momentous 500 GB external Hard drive that I use for back up only.

GPU:XFX Radeon HD 5770 1Gb DDR5 HERE I chose the lower profile one as I wont be setting up eye finity and I did read that this was quite a good card and runs and near same specs as the more performance model. Also said to be good in a crossfire set up due to its smaller size and better cooling in crossfire, but I cant speak from experience on that but can say this is a very decent card.

I htink that is basically every thing.

I will be getting some much better cooling when I get a better/larger case than I have.

So just to remind;

I will wait and get a new mobo and psu together rather than struggling getting one for what I have now as amuffin as said I should be fine for now ( I believe ya said that ).
And I need a motherboard that has crossfire/sli is sata 6.0 and also supports usb 3.
I would need a psu that works well with that board and them parts listed above.

So any more help would be greatly appreciated and thanks to amuffin for the help so far.

Tom

 

[maxinexus]

You don't need to change case just dismantle the case wiring and add regular heads

 

[Deleted member 217926]

haha, was hopeing you wouldnt say that.

So could you tell me the best way to determine how nay rails a psu is running on?

I am guessing that if I had two rails on my current psu then the new psu would therefore have to have 2 rails, but as the new psu would be more powerful would the rails therefore allocate more power per rail?

This is where I get stuck.

Im thinking maybe I should just leave psu as is for moment and when ready to get new mobo then match a psu to the new mobo and other parts I have.
In that case ( and I will ask the question in another topic if needed ) can you or any one else suggest a good motherboard for these parts and also a good psu ( 650 - 750 watt ) that would match the motherboard suggested and parts I have listed please?
I obviously know I will need to change case for this to happen.

I would like a motherboard with crossfire/sli be sata 6.0 Gb/s and usb 3. It would have to be socket 1156 for my cpu to fit it.

I have listed my parts specs but here they are in morew detail;

CPU: Intel Core i7 870@293Ghz HERE

Ram: 4xcorsair 4 GB ( 16 GB ) HERE

Seagate Barracuda ( internal with O/S on it ) HERE

Western Digital 500 GB internal HD, HERE ( used for extra data- no raid set up )

I also have a seagate momentous 500 GB external Hard drive that I use for back up only.

GPU:XFX Radeon HD 5770 1Gb DDR5 HERE I chose the lower profile one as I wont be setting up eye finity and I did read that this was quite a good card and runs and near same specs as the more performance model. Also said to be good in a crossfire set up due to its smaller size and better cooling in crossfire, but I cant speak from experience on that but can say this is a very decent card.

I htink that is basically every thing.

I will be getting some much better cooling when I get a better/larger case than I have.

So just to remind;

I will wait and get a new mobo and psu together rather than struggling getting one for what I have now as amuffin as said I should be fine for now ( I believe ya said that ).
And I need a motherboard that has crossfire/sli is sata 6.0 and also supports usb 3.
I would need a psu that works well with that board and them parts listed above.

So any more help would be greatly appreciated and thanks to amuffin for the help so far.

Tom

There is no need to worry about how many rails a power supply has. A single rail power supply will simply distribute the power as needed. In fact many consider a single more powerful rail to be better than a multiple rail configuration.

For what you have now a good quality 400w power supply would be fine. If you plan on adding a second HD5770 and overclocking your CPU then 600-650 watts is what you should look for.

Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power and Cooling, XFX, Silverstone, Enermax, OCZ and Antec are all good brands.

 

[Tommy_38]

OK cool,

well I have a 500 watt any way so as said I will leave it for now and change the psu when I change the mobo and case.

Thanks very much for your help.

Tom