Power supply recommendation

[Atreus21]

Mobo: DFI LanParty UT CFX3200-DR
CPU: AMD Athlon FX-60
Heatsink: Zalman CNPS9500
VidCard: ATI Radeon HD3870X2
Ram: 2 gigs corsair
Soundcard: X-Fi XtremeMusic
Two WD 7200 rpm SATA hard drives
DVDRW and floppy drive
Two 120 mm case fans, 3 80 mm case fans

I haven't yet gotten the 3870X2, and with my current 550w power supply, I suspect I'll need to upgrade.

Thanks.

 

[HOOfan 1]

what brand and model is your 550W power supply. If it is of decent quality there is no need to upgrade

 

[Atreus21]

Originally posted by: HOOfan 1
what brand and model is your 550W power supply. If it is of decent quality there is no need to upgrade

It's probably nothing special, because I got it cheap, and I don't think it had a recognizeable brand name.

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: Atreus21
Mobo: DFI LanParty UT CFX3200-DR
CPU: AMD Athlon FX-60
Heatsink: Zalman CNPS9500
VidCard: ATI Radeon HD3870X2
Ram: 2 gigs corsair
Soundcard: X-Fi XtremeMusic
Two WD 7200 rpm SATA hard drives
DVDRW and floppy drive
Two 120 mm case fans, 3 80 mm case fans

I haven't yet gotten the 3870X2, and with my current 550w power supply, I suspect I'll need to upgrade.

Thanks.

With that Vid Card you are looking at 24 - 25 Amps @ 12 v just in the card by it's self.

FSP, Silverstone, Corsair, and Seasonic all make Excellent supplies...

You will need a ATX 2.2/EPS with a very stout single rail.. 55 - 60 amps on the +12v Rail.

 

[brassbin]

55 - 60 amps? really? is it the FX chip that draws that much power?

 

[MarcVenice]

That's MAJOR overkill, the HD3870 X2 has been shown to draw a little under 350 watts of power with a pretty hefty rig, during PEAKS, not continous, with his rig, a 520hx will do just fine.

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: Mr Fox

Originally posted by: Atreus21
Mobo: DFI LanParty UT CFX3200-DR
CPU: AMD Athlon FX-60
Heatsink: Zalman CNPS9500
VidCard: ATI Radeon HD3870X2
Ram: 2 gigs corsair
Soundcard: X-Fi XtremeMusic
Two WD 7200 rpm SATA hard drives
DVDRW and floppy drive
Two 120 mm case fans, 3 80 mm case fans

I haven't yet gotten the 3870X2, and with my current 550w power supply, I suspect I'll need to upgrade.

Thanks.

With that Vid Card you are looking at 24 - 25 Amps @ 12 v just in the card by it's self.

FSP, Silverstone, Corsair, and Seasonic all make Excellent supplies...

You will need a ATX 2.2/EPS with a very stout single rail.. 55 - 60 amps on the +12v Rail.

I don't think so. 25Amps @ 12V would be roughly 300W for the card alone.

Anandtech's recent review found a total power consumption of 300W for the entire system under load. Idle, it was less than 150W.

 

[ghelli]

Hey guys, this is my first build and I had a similar question (see specs below). I just ordered a Visiontek HD 3850 512mb OC'd PCIe card from newegg, should be here in a few days. Will my Antec earthwatts 500W be enough power for this system?

Notes: Visiontek's webpage only lists a 450W minimum (for the 256mb), but AMD/ATI's site listing tested/certified psu' for this card doesn't show any below 550W for Antec?
http://www.visiontek.com/produ...ail/3850_256_PCIe.html
http://ati.amd.com/products/ce...ied/powersupplies.html

 

[DSF]

It'll be more than enough. That Antec is a pretty good power supply.

 

[ghelli]

Thanks DSF. I'm still a newb, don't want to burn a card or anything. Really excited about my first build though, and looking forward to this Forum!

 

[Atreus21]

Thanks for the help fellas.

I was gonna buy the 3870 X2, but then I looked at my credit card debt, and decided to put that $450 against that instead. Not easy being responsible. For the time being I'll stick to my trusty x1900gt.

Thanks again.

 

[MegaWorks]

Get the OCZ StealthXStream OCZ600SXS

For that price it's a good deal! I mean lots of power on the 12v rails, 600 watts, 3 years warranty. I'm going to get attacked now for selecting this psu for you because it's a FSP forton. :laugh:

If you want something lets say with "better quality" components get the SILVERSTONE OP650. The Olympia is one of the best power supply series out there.

But if I where you I'll get the OCZ. :evil:

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: DSF

Originally posted by: Mr Fox

Originally posted by: Atreus21
Mobo: DFI LanParty UT CFX3200-DR
CPU: AMD Athlon FX-60
Heatsink: Zalman CNPS9500
VidCard: ATI Radeon HD3870X2
Ram: 2 gigs corsair
Soundcard: X-Fi XtremeMusic
Two WD 7200 rpm SATA hard drives
DVDRW and floppy drive
Two 120 mm case fans, 3 80 mm case fans

I haven't yet gotten the 3870X2, and with my current 550w power supply, I suspect I'll need to upgrade.

Thanks.

With that Vid Card you are looking at 24 - 25 Amps @ 12 v just in the card by it's self.

FSP, Silverstone, Corsair, and Seasonic all make Excellent supplies...

You will need a ATX 2.2/EPS with a very stout single rail.. 55 - 60 amps on the +12v Rail.

I don't think so. 25Amps @ 12V would be roughly 300W for the card alone.

Anandtech's recent review found a total power consumption of 300W for the entire system under load. Idle, it was less than 150W.

Yes that was a Typo ... 45 - 50 amps was what it should have read... My Bad

But AT did not factor in overclocking everything was stock.

I took into account the new build that he was considering, and then inflated the actual power consumption numbers to account for extra overhead if he overclocked his processor, and/or his Video Card. or adds more hard drives etc....

Then I also took into consideration 30 % Capacitor degradation over time.
While a non overclocked version of of the single GPU card uses 80-90 watts the power consumption goes up quickly as it is scaled.

That Card by itself will consume 220-250 watts at 12v with an overclock put on the card.....

I also inflated that slightly to factor in peaks .

If he Overclocks the CPU that will also quickly add substantial amperage to the load.

While he might be able to run on that HX.... it would burn out fairly quickly.

The other Option is to buy a Supplemental PSU that will handle that kind of draw.

Thermaltake, FSP and ePower all make a decent unit that fit in a 5.5" Drive Bay.

 

[MarcVenice]

The 520hx is rated at 50c continous. If the reviews showed 300w usage, and 350w during PEAKS, then the 520hx will have no trouble with it whatsoever.

 

[rich168]

Originally posted by: HOOfan 1
what brand and model is your 550W power supply. If it is of decent quality there is no need to upgrade

would the PC Power & Cooling 510w do the job?

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
The 520hx is rated at 50c continous. If the reviews showed 300w usage, and 350w during PEAKS, then the 520hx will have no trouble with it whatsoever.

Tis a moot point at this point....

but the HX is a 40 Amp 480 watts @ +12v balanced on three rail unit..each rail loses 5 amps in the PFC circuitry if you do the math each rail is truly only capable of 13.3 amps. due to load balance losses... (480/12=40/3=13.3) One of the reasons I recommended a single Rail PSU...

It (the HX) could handle the load for a short time... but long term the power would not be clean, noise and ripple would become evident, and the PSU would decline quicker than if it is sized correctly..

 

[MarcVenice]

Well you are ill informed, the HX series ARE single rail units. Go look around a little, but a Corsair rep said they were designed as multirail units, but since the ATX 12v spec changed during manufacturing they ended up making it a single rail unit, but all the packaging and manuals still claim it to be a multirail unit. And even if it WERE to be a multirail unit, then please explain why each rail would lose 5 amps?

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Well you are ill informed, the HX series ARE single rail units. Go look around a little, but a Corsair rep said they were designed as multirail units, but since the ATX 12v spec changed during manufacturing they ended up making it a single rail unit, but all the packaging and manuals still claim it to be a multirail unit. And even if it WERE to be a multirail unit, then please explain why each rail would lose 5 amps?

Any mis- information only comes from the information that is made available by the manufacturer..... they control that information, and until they change the Cert. Sticker...that is what info can be used, anything else becomes a rectal extraction.... !

The Spec.Sticker on the side of the unit shows 3 x 18 amp +12v rails combined total 480 watts.... 480 watts = 40 amps @ +12v 40 amps is then divided across the three rails.. 40/3 = 13.333 amps.

When the PFC circuitry was in place it would load balance up to 18 amps per rail... but the combined total draw would not exceed 480 watts at 12v

If it could actually deliver 18 amps on each rail it would be 54 amps x 12 v = 648 watts combined...


Even if it is in fact single 12v rail it does not change the equation 480 watts / 12v = 40 amps.

 

[MarcVenice]

Ah yeah, I understand that much. You are contradicting yourself hence I didn't quite understand. How are you contradicting yourself? Well, Each 12v rail can supply 18a, so if one rail is supplying only 10a to the CPU/MOBO * through the 4 pin connector * the other 12v rails can pick up some of the amps that would normaly be lost, that's why they make 12v rails like that, and I know you can't simply add them up. The 40/3 = 13.33a and the rails being able to supply 18a, and then 5a being lost is incorrect. But it HAS become moot, because the 520hx is a single 12v rail unit.

 

[HOOfan 1]

If you think the HX520 can't handle a 512MB 8800GTS for the long run then you are kidding yourself. As MarcVenice said ....the HX520 is a single rail PSU..broken down from their into multiple rails and despite the fact that the sticker shows those rails lmited to 18A...it has been foud there is no OCP on the rails so they can pull as much as they want.

Read Jonnyguru's review it is explained on the first page

Jonnyguru's HX520 review

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: HOOfan 1
If you think the HX520 can't handle a 512MB 8800GTS for the long run then you are kidding yourself. As MarcVenice said ....the HX520 is a single rail PSU..broken down from their into multiple rails and despite the fact that the sticker shows those rails lmited to 18A...it has been foud there is no OCP on the rails so they can pull as much as they want.

Read Jonnyguru's review it is explained on the first page

Jonnyguru's HX520 review

You should read this thread in which Jon (states 50% of Capacity), and Yellowbeard (Corsair Rep.)states 65%. Then do the math... you need to also factor 20% - 30% for capacitor degradation.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2146770&enterthread=y

 

[HOOfan 1]

Originally posted by: Mr Fox

You should read this thread in which Jon (states 50% of Capacity), and Yellowbeard (Corsair Rep.)states 65%. Then do the math... you need to also factor 20% - 30% for capacitor degradation.

]

obviously I have read the thread...I have participated in it...I don't see anywhere where Jonnyguru suggested only running at 50% capacity of the PSU

His rig would probably use ~340 watts at most..that is 65% of the HX520.

did you also see where Jonnyguru said that the Earthwatts 430 Watt PSU was more than enough for that rig also? The HX520 is a better PSU than the Earthwatts.

 

[OddJensen]

It's indeed enough, been running an 8800GTX with an E6600 @ 3.2 GHz off a HX520W for over 1 year. There are no split rails either, it is a single rail design. The 18A rails are just on paper and that's it. I have no idea why anyone would say it couldn't handle it, I know Corsair themselves certainly wouldn't.