PSU Upgrade Suggestions Please

[conlan]

Recently upgraded to a 7950 from a 6870....My beloved ol' Corsair HX 520 (one of the originals)...is getting old like me . I would like to find an equivalent quality PSU in the 750W - 850W Range that's fully Modular. First my system specs: (which will be upgraded soon)

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
Intel Core2 Quad overclocked to 3.2 gHz
4 X 2 GSkill DDR2 PC 1066
6870 > 7950
Crucial M500 240GB SSD
WD 1TB Black
Seagate 320GB
Asus Xonar DX
Intel PCI-E NIC
DVDRW
5 X 120mm fans

Price is only a factor if i'm grossly overpaying....this is an investment.
Since my Corsair was awesome for so long, i'm partial to Corsair, BUT remain open minded...
TIA for any and all suggestions

 

[MongGrel]

Anything in that range made by Seasonic and modular and on sale is usually very good, I tend to stick to Antecs.

But most Antecs are Seasonic or Delta made to begin with.

http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/psu_manufacturers

Bit dated, but I think are links to newer.

 

[Arcanedeath]

I'd suggest an EVGA G2 750 watt unit, I semi recently bought one to replace my dead PSU and it's been solid since I got it. Johnny Guru gave it 9.8 so it's pretty solid.

 

[lehtv]

Why in the 750-850W range? Are you upgrading to a SLI/Crossfire setup?

EVGA 750W G2 is a great unit, but hard to justify for a single GPU rig.

 

[conlan]

Why in the 750-850W range? Are you upgrading to a SLI/Crossfire setup?

EVGA 750W G2 is a great unit, but hard to justify for a single GPU rig.

Ty...I want to leave room for whatever, not to mention the 20-25% cushion between used and max wattage..

 

[conlan]

The EVGA G2 is looking like a better buy than the Corsair HXi @ this point....might bite on this

 

[lehtv]

Ty...I want to leave room for whatever, not to mention the 20-25% cushion between used and max wattage..

For a PC with Intel CPU and a one 7950 or similar ~200W card, even a 500W unit leaves enough of a cushion. But I understand the want to be prepared for future upgrades

 

[conlan]

For a PC with Intel CPU and a one 7950 or similar ~200W card, even a 500W unit leaves enough of a cushion. But I understand the want to be prepared for future upgrades

Completely agree, however, we're talking about a 9 year-old unit, it's been a great workhorse, I just don't want to stress it. Time to move it over to the HTPC

 

[lehtv]

Completely agree, however, we're talking about a 9 year-old unit, it's been a great workhorse, I just don't want to stress it. Time to move it over to the HTPC

I wasn't talking about your old unit, I was talking about the new unit's capacity. I mean, you've been content with a 520W for the last 9 years. Therefore, it seems the probability of needing more than that is pretty low, so why not replace it with another 500W unit?

 

[VirtualLarry]

For a PC with Intel CPU and a one 7950 or similar ~200W card, even a 500W unit leaves enough of a cushion. But I understand the want to be prepared for future upgrades

This. 500W is enough, 650W if you really want to be safe.

Completely agree, however, we're talking about a 9 year-old unit, it's been a great workhorse, I just don't want to stress it. Time to move it over to the HTPC

9 years old? New high-powered video card? Good call on replacing it, it's time.

Don't think you need 850W, unless you plan to CF. Just get a decent-quality PSU, with the appropriate PCI-E power connectors.

 

[TemjinGold]

OP: You will be grossly overpaying if you buy a 750-850 unit not only because of the price of the unit but also because during the time that your PC is idle (i.e. most of the time), you will be using more power than if you got a right-sized unit due to efficiency. As someone who used the 6870 and upgraded to a 7950, you aren't someone who is likely to get 2 cards going forward. With only one card, a 500w unit has more than what you need.

 

[conlan]

OP: You will be grossly overpaying if you buy a 750-850 unit not only because of the price of the unit but also because during the time that your PC is idle (i.e. most of the time), you will be using more power than if you got a right-sized unit due to efficiency. As someone who used the 6870 and upgraded to a 7950, you aren't someone who is likely to get 2 cards going forward. With only one card, a 500w unit has more than what you need.

Thanks for the reply...actually, what I stated was, "or for whatever". CF is an option, not to mention I am upgrading my platform soon...

 

[BonzaiDuck]

If you're confident of the wattage you need, you might want to look into XFX "Black Pro" BEF- models. I've discovered that the 750W unit is a rebadged Seasonic, and I think the implication was that all "black" BEFX models are rebadged Seasonics.

I'm about to post a thread using a review of the XFX 750W model as an example.

 

[TemjinGold]

Thanks for the reply...actually, what I stated was, "or for whatever". CF is an option, not to mention I am upgrading my platform soon...

1) Unless you are going AMD for cpu, your upgraded platform will use LESS power, not more.

2) Believe me, CF is NOT an option you will ever pursue. Why? Because if you want more performance, it is far smarter for you to sell that 7950 and get a much stronger single card. Better performance, less power draw/heat, and no CF headaches. 99% of people who do not start out with SLI/CF will never go that route.

You're buying the huge wattage because it makes you feel better about having a huge unit even though you will never use it to its potential. There's nothing wrong with "feeling safe" if that's your thing, just know that mathematically you are wasting money both from shelling out way more than you need to initially and drawing more power on a daily basis at idle than you would need to.

 

[RaistlinZ]

I also think 750W is overkill. It's even overkill for the rig I'm currently using in my sig.

What do you think about this XFX 650W Gold Full Modular for $79.99? It even has a perfect 100% rating on Newegg.

 

[RainStryke]

*EDIT*
I'd recommend also looking at EVGA G2 power supplies. Their 850 G2 is an excellent PSU. But that system only needs about 600w that is at least silver certified to run at comfortable ranges.

 

[Valantar]

*EDIT*
I'd recommend also looking at EVGA G2 power supplies. Their 850 G2 is an excellent PSU. But that system only needs about 600w that is at least silver certified to run at comfortable ranges.

600W is still overkill for that system. The 7950 has a 200W TDP. His CPU, if heavily overclocked, uses perhaps ~120W under full load. The rest of the system adds maybe 60-70W. In total, around 400W as a worst case scenario load (i.e. nothing that will ever happen in real life). A 500W PSU thus adds up to a nice 25% buffer on top, more than enough even if you overclock the GPU.

Believe me, CF is NOT an option you will ever pursue. Why? Because if you want more performance, it is far smarter for you to sell that 7950 and get a much stronger single card. Better performance, less power draw/heat, and no CF headaches. 99% of people who do not start out with SLI/CF will never go that route.

This. Once upon a time, I decided that going for a dual Radeon 4850 setup would be better value than a single 4870, which was roughly the same price at the time. I've never regretted a purchase more than that. The setup caused me nothing but trouble. CF makes sense in fringe cases where a high-end single GPU that meets your needs either does not exist, or is completely out of the question budget-wise.

You're buying the huge wattage because it makes you feel better about having a huge unit even though you will never use it to its potential. There's nothing wrong with "feeling safe" if that's your thing, just know that mathematically you are wasting money both from shelling out way more than you need to initially and drawing more power on a daily basis at idle than you would need to.

You'll be perfectly fine with a 500W unit. Better off, efficiency-wise, than with a 750-850w unit, even. Not to mention you could either get a higher rated one, or save quite a bit of money.