Need a suggestion on a 900W Modular PSU

[Rowlii]

Hey people of THW,

I built a PC not too long ago and I now need to change the current power supply as I intend to overclock, get watercooling, add some DVD drives, etc.

My current setup is the following:

Intel i5-3450
XFX Black Edition Radeon HD 7970
2x Corsair Vengeance Blue 4gb ram
128gb Crucial M4 SSD
2tb Western Caviar Green HDD
Corsair 500r case with all the fans connected.

Edit: I have around 5 USB devices attatched to the system at all times too.

I plan to add the following:

Corsair h100i
2 more sticks of Corsair Vengeance Blue 4gb ram
and some form of Blu Ray drive + an SD card reader


According to this, the estimated wattage at 100% load is 830W, so I am going to assume a 900W one will last me for the next year or so.

If I could have some suggestions on a 900W (or so) PSU that's either modular or hybrid modular, I would be very grateful, thanks!

 

[Gam3r01]

Well you can get a corsair 850 watt model: http://www.corsair.com/us/hx-series-hx850-power-supply-850-watt-80-plus-gold-certified-modular-psu.html
Or if you want more power the next one up is a corsair 1050 watt model: http://www.corsair.com/us/power-supply-units/hx-series-power-supply-units/hx-series-hx1050-power-supply-1050-watt-80-plus-gold-certified-modular-psu.html
There really isnt much in the way of 900 watt only up to 850 and over 1000

 

[yasserBasha]

If you live in USA here is a good PSU :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151108&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

That's the NO.1 brand in the world (industry's best), and it will suffice ALL your power needs without question.

BEST LUCK

 

[TenPc]

"I have around 5 USB devices attached to the system at all times too." Don't have external flash memory, hdd's, camera, iphone etc attached prior to booting, the PSU may actually cause them issues on boot up. A PSU draws in the total peak power and devices and hardware are boosted to their own indiviual peak power during that split second. Anything with memory will be prone to power surge and will have issues more sooner than later. Not all USB ports can handle all of them being occupied, some of them revert to a lower usb version unless otherwise stated by the manufacturer.

An internal SD cardreader createas x amount of drive letters for each of the slots, you are adding more time to your boot up and performance, better to use an external one and only attach it when necessary.

You have not mentioned the motherboard, you would need one with the latest chipsets, and options for multiple use of usb ports, also PCI Express 3.0 x16 for the video card.

What OS version do you intend? Multi-boot?
SSD does require tweaking and some models don't behave well for earlier Oses, even Windows 8 has its own set of issues.

128gb SSD might seem reasonable "just for the OS'" but eventhough you install your apps, programs, games to the WD hdd, there are still files installed to the OS SSD that are required by the apps. When yuo browse the internet, tempfiles for web pages are stored on the SSD. When you watch a movie, part of the SSD will be used in conjuction with the video card.

Never set the PC to hibernate, it reserves 10% of the total volume of the SSD for itself, sleep mode also uses more than 3gb of reserved space.

As for PSU, what Gam3r01 suggested.

Basically, 128gb is not really good enough, you will get performance issues, SSD is basically for simple system with minimum hardware for specific purposes. Although a corvette goes from 0 to 100mph in 0.5 seconds, it uses a lot of fuel.

 

[yasserBasha]

The HX & AX edition of Corsair are actually made by Seasonic .. and both are Tier 2 class
The seasonic PSU listed here is cheaper than corsair

 

[yasserBasha]

Just a few notes :
Your GPU under load consumes 349w :

/xfx_radeon_hd_7970_black_edition_review]http://www.maximumpc.com/article/[primary-term]/xfx_radeon_hd_7970_black_edition_review

and when you OC it it doesn't surpass 485w :

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/01/24/xfx_r7970_black_edition_video_card_review/8#.UZgCrLWl66N

Quote : "when we overclocked the XFX R7970 Black Edition, peak power draw increased to 484W."

Moving away from the card, the rest of you build including the 16gb RAM, Corsair H100i,Blu-ray writer and i5-3450 totally consumes 220-250w (with usb drives, case fans and card reader)
So adding this to that :
250+485= 735w

I don't know where did u got the 830w rate, but it's not accurate estimation.

So according to actual calculations a 750w - 850w PSU is more than enough for your system to feed on (that is unless you plan to CFX and OC the corssfired cards).

So I recommend getting a 850w to be on the safe side.

BEST LUCK

 

[Rowlii]

Well you can get a corsair 850 watt model: http://www.corsair.com/us/hx-series-hx850-power-supply-850-watt-80-plus-gold-certified-modular-psu.html
Or if you want more power the next one up is a corsair 1050 watt model: http://www.corsair.com/us/power-supply-units/hx-series-power-supply-units/hx-series-hx1050-power-supply-1050-watt-80-plus-gold-certified-modular-psu.html
There really isnt much in the way of 900 watt only up to 850 and over 1000

Alright, thanks.

"I have around 5 USB devices attached to the system at all times too." Don't have external flash memory, hdd's, camera, iphone etc attached prior to booting, the PSU may actually cause them issues on boot up. A PSU draws in the total peak power and devices and hardware are boosted to their own indiviual peak power during that split second. Anything with memory will be prone to power surge and will have issues more sooner than later. Not all USB ports can handle all of them being occupied, some of them revert to a lower usb version unless otherwise stated by the manufacturer.

An internal SD cardreader createas x amount of drive letters for each of the slots, you are adding more time to your boot up and performance, better to use an external one and only attach it when necessary.

You have not mentioned the motherboard, you would need one with the latest chipsets, and options for multiple use of usb ports, also PCI Express 3.0 x16 for the video card.

What OS version do you intend? Multi-boot?
SSD does require tweaking and some models don't behave well for earlier Oses, even Windows 8 has its own set of issues.

128gb SSD might seem reasonable "just for the OS'" but eventhough you install your apps, programs, games to the WD hdd, there are still files installed to the OS SSD that are required by the apps. When yuo browse the internet, tempfiles for web pages are stored on the SSD. When you watch a movie, part of the SSD will be used in conjuction with the video card.

Never set the PC to hibernate, it reserves 10% of the total volume of the SSD for itself, sleep mode also uses more than 3gb of reserved space.

As for PSU, what Gam3r01 suggested.

Basically, 128gb is not really good enough, you will get performance issues, SSD is basically for simple system with minimum hardware for specific purposes. Although a corvette goes from 0 to 100mph in 0.5 seconds, it uses a lot of fuel.

At the first section, the 5 devices are: G930 Dongle/charger dock - Roccat Isku keyboard, Madcat MMO 7 Mouse - Xbox 360 Controller - Xperia S phone, but alright. I'll take that onboard.

At the second section, I'd just like it there for convenience.

My motherboard is an MSI ZH77A-G43, but it sounds like you are suggesting options as if I am about to build a pc, I have already built it, I am currently trying to upgrade individual parts of it, slow but surely.

I currently run Windows 7, I plan to move up to 8.1 when it is released though.

I use my 128gb SSD for OS and League of Legends at the moment, as that's the only online game I play. The rest I don't really mind about loading times so they're on my HDD. I currently have around 80gb space on my SSD free, so I'm fine for the moment.

Thanks for your help, HX850 is looking very likely.

Just a few notes :
Your GPU under load consumes 349w :

/xfx_radeon_hd_7970_black_edition_review]http://www.maximumpc.com/article/[primary-term]/xfx_radeon_hd_7970_black_edition_review

and when you OC it it doesn't surpass 485w :

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/01/24/xfx_r7970_black_edition_video_card_review/8#.UZgCrLWl66N

Quote : "when we overclocked the XFX R7970 Black Edition, peak power draw increased to 484W."

Moving away from the card, the rest of you build including the 16gb RAM, Corsair H100i,Blu-ray writer and i5-3450 totally consumes 220-250w (with usb drives, case fans and card reader)
So adding this to that :
250+485= 735w

I don't know where did u got the 830w rate, but it's not accurate estimation.

So according to actual calculations a 750w - 850w PSU is more than enough for your system to feed on (that is unless you plan to CFX and OC the corssfired cards).

So I recommend getting a 850w to be on the safe side.

BEST LUCK

No, I currently don't plan on Crossfiring. I just entered the values I thought were correct on the thermaltake estimator, maybe it's way off. HX850 is what I'm going to side with. Thanks for your help guys

 

[yasserBasha]

You're welcome ... Just consider the SeaSonic M12II 850w, it's cheaper than HX and also like I said : HX is really a Seasonic re-branded at its core.

BEST LUCK

 

[TenPc]

Leguer of Legends might be playing well now, but it won't work with Windows 8 at all, not even compatibility mode.

Windows 8 full version is no longer available (retail) as an OS, you need an existing OS to instal it. You can do a clean install but you will need to iniate the OS disk from the desktop.

You may need to consider having a multi-boot system with Windows 7 installed on a separate hdd for Leage of Legends and any other softare that is not compatible with Windows 8 versions. Windows 8.1 will not support anything that is 32 bit including games, programs, drivers, system files, office Applications etc... and Microsoft have insisted that it will never do it. Windows 8.1 will be an upgrade from windows 8 which is then an upgrade from a previous version of Windows. I expect lots of issues in the coming years lol

http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2013/05/14/windows-keeps-getting-better.aspx

As for the PSU, YasserBasha comes in with flying colours, beating Gam3r01 by a nose.

 

[Rowlii]

Well you can get a corsair 850 watt model: http://www.corsair.com/us/hx-series-hx850-power-supply-850-watt-80-plus-gold-certified-modular-psu.html
Or if you want more power the next one up is a corsair 1050 watt model: http://www.corsair.com/us/power-supply-units/hx-series-power-supply-units/hx-series-hx1050-power-supply-1050-watt-80-plus-gold-certified-modular-psu.html
There really isnt much in the way of 900 watt only up to 850 and over 1000

Leguer of Legends might be playing well now, but it won't work with Windows 8 at all, not even compatibility mode.

Windows 8 full version is no longer available (retail) as an OS, you need an existing OS to instal it. You can do a clean install but you will need to iniate the OS disk from the desktop.

You may need to consider having a multi-boot system with Windows 7 installed on a separate hdd for Leage of Legends and any other softare that is not compatible with Windows 8 versions. Windows 8.1 will not support anything that is 32 bit including games, programs, drivers, system files, office Applications etc... and Microsoft have insisted that it will never do it. Windows 8.1 will be an upgrade from windows 8 which is then an upgrade from a previous version of Windows. I expect lots of issues in the coming years lol

http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2013/05/14/windows-keeps-getting-better.aspx

As for the PSU, YasserBasha comes in with flying colours, beating Gam3r01 by a nose.

I used to use Windows 8 on this pc... And League worked fine. So did Far Cry 3, Just Cause 2, Saints Row 3, and many other games I have on Steam. I have a Win8 disk laying around and I still have my activation code. I am going to assume that still works.

As for Yasser, the Seasonic comes out to £13 less, thanks dude

 

[yasserBasha]

You're welcome