what psu for a8n-sli deluxe is everyone using?

[mlc]

.... yeah... gotta admit... if i had read through this monster post prior to purchase.. I would've have probably opted for the TRUE550 or something else with the 1 larger rail... who would've thunk it ?

In any case.. I still have some doubts on this being a concern... so I have to research a little further... Obviously the single card will NOT be an issue.. if it is for some.. then its just a poor or faulty PSU ... Asus states the recommendation on the 12v rail for a dual 6600GT setup.. running with multiple drives, etc.. and the Neo looked like it met the requirements..

On a positive note.. I did read on some other forums that of folks running dual 6600GT's with the Neo.. and some heavy overclocking going on as well.. with no issues.... so I think I'll be ok if I go that route in the future.. The thing is my other system is an A7N8X DLX .. and there were all sorts of overclocking issues with that board (especially its 1st revision) due to its inability to deliver proper voltage levels to some of the chipsets.. So I am not totally convinced where the problem lies... Perhaps a future bios will assist as well..... Seems like most of the issue I've read with the dual rail users.. are the ones without the true 24 pin connector...
time will tell.

 

[Interitus]

Originally posted by: clifak

Originally posted by: Interitus
Don't know about the 550 for SLI, but I do have a Taurus 400w. It's super quiet and has been a good PSU for me given it only runs an OC'd nforce2/mobile setup.

Only thing I think it's missing is PFC. The 12v line fluctuates a tad but not much. Under really heavy load I get 11.73, but most of the time I run 11.86. 5v runs at 4.97 regardless of load, 3.3 holds steady at 3.06 regardless of load. I'm pretty sure these are Fortron based as well.


As far as the dual rail PSU's go, I think the one thing to consider is what the extra 4 pins in the 24-pin connector are for. They're for powering the PCI-E bus. If you've got 2 cards that run on external powered plugs (i.e. not running directly from the bus itself) I don't think you'll see a problem. I believe the PCI-E bus is set to power 75 watts through the extra 4 pins. So basically if you have a GT or Ultra card, it's going to draw power from a seperate rail than the 24-pin connector. If this is correct, then it looks like the 6600GT's would be the only cards posing a problem since most of them if any exception at all, are powered by the PCI-E bus. I'm sure if one could find out the amp draw from a 6600GT you'd be able to find out if this poses a problem for you. Otherwise your CPU and board will be powered independently on a different rail from your vidcards. This would also explain why the extra 4 pins aren't completely necessary for those that get by with the 20-pin connector.

I could be wrong here, but this is how I understand it to work based on what I've read and user experience.

Your remarks seem quite logical. I thought about this myself regarding the issue of my NeoPower not juicing up my system enough. There is one thing though, I tried using the EZplug even with only one card installed in hope that it could use the 2nd rail to supply the card with power. I didn't work and I had the same result as without....a system that runs as if there isn't enough power and under load reboots. What are you thoughts on this?

As mlc stated, I almost wonder if it isn't the way the Asus board handles voltages and power feeds. I haven't heard near as many issues from those who use the Gigabyte SLI board as far as power issues are concerned, which leads me to believe it's more of a board issue than the dual rail issue. It's hard to really narrow it down at this point. Hopefully future revisions will clear this up and maybe the release of a few more SLI boards will help figure this out.

If you look back upon past hardware power requirements though, it's just ridiculous to try and think that you really need that much power to run just the board and one card. I don't know exact numbers, but I can't see 2 6800GT's in SLI needing 24a on the 12v line to run. My current Nforce2 Mobile setup runs OC'd like mad with 2 HDD's, 2 opticals, a 9800 Pro -> XT and 4 fans running on a PSU with only 12a on the 12v line. How adding a 2nd card and a slightly improved motherboard can double the needs of my PSU just doesn't register with me. If dual rail PSU's are indeed the problem, you would think the PSU manufacturers would have said something by now about the new ATX12v Spec.

All in all I'm pretty decided on the fact that the A8N-SLI itself is the issue here rather than power insufficiencies. If not, then maybe they need to seriously reconsider the new ATX Spec and how these SLI boards handle power input.

 

[bneiderman]

Good point there on the PSU manufacturers. I too have a Neopower and a 6800GT and I want to SLI later on. But I do agree, if dual rail was an issue, companies like Enermax and OCZ would not be releasing dual rail high output PSUs in this day and age with SLI as a known reality. In fact Enermax advertises a dual rail SLI PSU. The Neopower has 18A and 15A while those others are 18A and 18A. Perhaps I should call Antec and find out, but I only have 2 HDs and 2 DVD drives in my system with 1 sound card. I think another 6800GT could be handled by this PSU.

 

[Muhadib]

Originally posted by: bneiderman
Good point there on the PSU manufacturers. I too have a Neopower and a 6800GT and I want to SLI later on. But I do agree, if dual rail was an issue, companies like Enermax and OCZ would not be releasing dual rail high output PSUs in this day and age with SLI as a known reality. In fact Enermax advertises a dual rail SLI PSU. The Neopower has 18A and 15A while those others are 18A and 18A. Perhaps I should call Antec and find out, but I only have 2 HDs and 2 DVD drives in my system with 1 sound card. I think another 6800GT could be handled by this PSU.

Yea, there is some guy running around here with a Fortran Blue Storm 500 (dual rail 15a/15a) and two 6600 GTs without any issues so, I'm betting the amount of juice required by 2 x 6800's won't be a quantum leap so... <shrug>

I plan on using a blue storm as well but can't bring myself to spend the cash on 2 x 6800 GT when every game I run works just fine with 1 x 6600 GT.

Voltage from a 1003 bios report 12.096 - 12.160- dipping to 11.968 when I run 3DMark05, I've tried a Seasonic 25 amp single rail power supply with the same results. I'm going to bet that dual rail supplies work just dandy and I guess I?ll find out eventually.

 

[eva2000]

580W Topower Adjustable rail PSU
http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/...product_info.php?input
35A rated single 12V rail

psu is OCZ Powerstream's design

 

[plqsvaja]

This is the one for me
http://www.northq.dk/products/...supply/nq4775-500.html
24 pin
pci-e
silent

 

[plqsvaja]

NQ4775-500WATT Ultra Silent PSU

The NQ-4775 is the brand new series of Ultra Silent PSU products with the NorthQ name on the side.

The NQ-4775 is the first model with a huge and ultra silent 140mm crystal clear fan installed. The fan is produced with the well know ceramic ball bearing, that gives 300.000 hours of lifetime.

The 140mm crystal clear fan gives massive airflow with very low rotation speed and noise level between 12 ? 17dB.

The new and huge fan is one of more special features of the new NorthQ PSU. ATX 2.0 is the next feature of the model, that gives a powerful and extreme stabile 12v lines for the products because 2 x 12v rails is working together with a higher output as result.

NQ-4775-500 have Active PFC control for the 500Watt use.

NQ-4775-500 gives a total of 34Amp on the 12V1 and 12V2 combined, together with high power on the +3.3V and +5.0V system.

The ATX 2.0 system utilizes the new 24pin ATX connection, which is standard on the latest generation of motherboards. Also included is a 24-20pin converter to ensure that the PSU is compatible with regular ATX motherboards.

NQ-4775 is also equipped with the new 75Watt PCI-Express line for the top line of PCI-Express graphic cards on the marked.

All the cables on the NQ-4775 is equipped with black cable sleeving, and with total of 4 x S-ATA plugs, 7 x Molex plugs ,2 x Molex for floppy, PCI-Express, P4 Extension and finally the 24 pin ATX for motherboard.

All the cables have been extended with 10cm to a total length of 60cm from the base of PSU to the last plug on the longest rail. The P4 extension is only 40cm long.

The new NQ-4775 gives a combination of extreme power and stability combined with the essence of pure silence in low and medium load.

Specifications :
Voltage : 230Vac(180-264)
Frequency : 47Hz-63Hz
Current : 4.0A(MAX.) At 230Vac
Inrush Current : <70A at 230Vac cold start at 25°
Efficiency : 65%MIN.at Full load - 55%MIN.at 30W load

Voltage +3.3V +5V +12V1 +12V2 -5V -12V +5Vsb
Max Load 35A 40A 16A* 18A* 0.5A 0.5A 2.0A
Min Load 0.5A 2.0A 0.5A 0.5A 0A 0A 0A


* Combined output on +12V1 and +12V2 : 34A

Output Watts : 500W - +5v. +3.3v. : 180W
Over Voltage : +5V:6.8V,+3.3V:4.5V,+12V:15.6V
Short Circuit : All output to GND

This is the one for me
http://www.northq.dk/products/...supply/nq4775-500.html
24 pin
pci-e
sillent


Key info :

Standard ATX 500Watt PSU
ATX 2.0 standard
Active PFC
24-pin ATX extension
140mm crystal clear fan installed
Fan speed control function inside
Noise : 12 - 17db noise level.
Full cable sleeving
4 * S-ATA lines
75Watt PCI-Express line
Cables extended with 10cm to full 60cm and 40cm for the P4 extension
20-24pin converter for new motherboards.
Titanium coated

Lifetime : 50,000 hours at 25°
Dimension:175*86*140mm(W*H*L)

 

[cryzpene]

Originally posted by: DB27
Antec Smartpower 350 watt PSU that came with my Antec BQE case. (I'm running a single 6600GT only, not SLI)

The PSU isn't 24 pin, but I simply left the 4 extra pins open and had zero problems. No converter necessary.

I am using the same power supply but it won't boot for the first time. All it does is turn on the fans and does nothing after that. I am running a singalre 6600 gt as well. The selector is set to single.

 

[mofrack]

Originally posted by: eva2000
580W Topower Adjustable rail PSU
http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/...product_info.php?input
35A rated single 12V rail

psu is OCZ Powerstream's design

Heh, not to be nitpicky here, but it's actually Topower that makes OCZ's PSUs for them, OCZ just customizes them a bit afterwards. If you crack open a Powerstream and look at any of the PCBs, they will say Topower on them.

 

[F4810]

OK, lets sort this argument out once and for all.

I have a Neopower 480 and a mildly overclocked A8N-SLI. It wont go over 2350mhz Prime stable. Now most people say its the PSU's fault. I must say that I do get some problems on a cold start which points to the PSU.

The Neopower is different to some Dual Rail designs as 1x 15amp rail powers the CPU only via the 4 pin connector. And the other 18amp rail powers everything else. There are some PSU's where the CPU (15amp) rail also powers other devices which makes a better balance.

Now I can get a voltmeter. Can someone tell me how I can measure the amp draw on the main 18amp rail? Now I want someone who knows what they are doing coz I dont want to toast my system.

Thanks

 

[Plasmah7]

Antec 480 True Blue 20 pin on a Asus A8n-Sli

 

[ColSpr]

To end the speculations, I contacted Asus tech support. Here's what I was told....'the 24 pin connector was used for a reason....if you you a 20 pin or a 20-24 adaptor you need at least 550watts' The stability and performance may degrade 'over time'. I'm not sure what that meant. He specifically recommended the NeoPower. Anyways, I have a TrueControl 550 now and a NeoPower coming in a few days.....which one should I keep? Price difference not a factor here.

 

[mlc]

I contacted Asus tech support. Here's what I was told....'the 24 pin connector was used for a reason....if you you a 20 pin or a 20-24 adaptor you need at least 550watts' The stability and performance may degrade 'over time'. I'm not sure what that meant. He specifically recommended the NeoPower. Anyways, I have a TrueControl 550 now and a NeoPower coming in a few days.....which one should I keep? Price difference not a factor here

Interesting.. that response makes one believe that their Neo480's 24 pin connector makes use of both of their 12v rails, with the bottom 4 pins drawing from a different rail than the other 20 pins... Is that correct? Whereas supplies using a 20 to 24 pin converter would be forced to draw their power all from the same rail handling the 20pins regardless of it being single or dual design... which may explain their recommending a 550W or more supply if not using the native 24pin connector ...

Can someone clarify for me the following:
1) Is the boards 4 pin (black/gold) connector on the top to the left of the cpu fan header a 12v feed, and is that strictly used to feeding the CPU only ?
2) What do the bottom 4 pins of the boards 24 pin connector feed? (as opposed to the top 20pins ?)
3) Are 12v lines really the only issue here with respect to the board and CPU, or do other feeds come into play here ? (e.g. 3v/5v) ...which is maybe why Asus said 550W or more rather than specifying a 12v amp rating instead?

 

[Regulator07]

i got a neopower 480 and has been running rock solid for 2 week now, passes all prime tests and there is little volt fluctuation, stays around 11.84 through prime and heavy gaming, havent overclocked yet but doesnt seem like there would be a problem, i would definitely reccomend it, cold starts or not, not a problem at all.

 

[mikepro]

I have the neo power and a dual 6600GT setup - no problems. Also running 2 Maxtor SATA dirves, one IDE drive, Plextor 716 DVD+-RW, Liteon DVD-ROM. 2x512 Corsair XMS memory. 3200+ proc.

 

[induveca]

**NOTE TO ALL PROPSECTIVE PC POWER AND COOLING SLI BUYERS**
*****IMPORTANT**

I have the PC Power & Cooling 510 SLI. Great power.......one problem.

The thing is LOUD, seriously LOUD. I mean it's so loud it will drive you nuts.

I'm not even a big noise freak, but this thing made me one. They put a delta fan in the back, and as everyone knows delta puts out SERIOUS RPMS/noise.

I found this interesting considering I have an older model non SLI 510 watt machine with a much quieter fan. That machine was just sitting around collecting dust after I built this machine, so I decided to swap out the fan in that PSU and put it in the SLI one.....as it was extremely quiet in comparison.

So for any of you guys out there wanting to buy an SLI PSU from PC Power and Cooling, DEMAND they put in the same fan they used in the non SLI 510W PSU. I've had ZERO lockups, issues and no noticeable air flow decrease from my PSU. If you have a well cooled system it simply won't be an issue.

I voided my warranty by doing this, but if they do it for you you won't have the same issue. Seriously, the PSU is great.......but the new fans they are putting in the 510 Watt PSUs are intolerable.

 

[coyrls]

I contacted Asus tech support. Here's what I was told....'the 24 pin connector was used for a reason....if you you a 20 pin or a 20-24 adaptor you need at least 550watts'

Stange that tech support should say this as it contradicts the FAQ on their Web site:

I found a 4-pin power connector near the PCI-Express x16 slot on A8N-SLI Deluxe. What is it for?

The connector is an ASUS patented feature called EZ Plug. It serves as a dedicated power source for PCI Express devices.
Benefits of the connector:

- Enhance system stability: Dedicated power support for the high power consumptions of the VGA cards.
- Flexibility: Users don't need to buy a 24-pin PSU when they setup a SLI system. A high-wattage 20-pin PSU will work just fine.
- Compatibility: The dedicated power support for PCIvExpress slots preserves the integrity of power signal, and upholds the compatibility of PCI Express and PCI devices.

 

[TrueRush]

Originally posted by: gobucks
if you're looking for a great sub-$100 PSU, i just got the Vantec Stealth VAN-520A PSU from newegg. It's $92 for a 520W 24-pin PSU with everything and the kitchen sink. It looks sharp, performs well, is quiet, has great cooling potential with the 3 fan design, and all sorts of connectors. I highly recommend it, but i've also heard great things about the other PSUs mentioned, so it's an issue of what brand you prefer and what your price range is. I personally think that the newegg price on the vantec is an absolute steal, considering it's $50 cheaper than most of the other ones mentioned, and is also about $60 below the vantec price from other vendors.

Whatever you do, you should probably get a 24-pin PSU. Have you noticed that PCIe boards from Intel and AMD are all starting to use 24-pin connectors? It's to add stability to the boards with the increased power draw of PCIe (much higher than an AGP/PCI combo). If you're gonna be investing in a 500+ Watt PSU, make sure it's well equipped for the future. Also, most SLI boards say that the only way you can use a 20-pin PSU is if you use something akin to EZ-Plug to add stability, and even then Asus recommends against anything higher than a 6600GT SLI setup. If you're looking into a dual 6800 setup, you NEED something better than a 20-pin PSU. Oh, and as for PCIe connectors, 6600GTs don't need them, but 6800 series cards do, so you'll need some adaptors for most PSUs. I don't know about the other PSUs mentioned, but i know the vantec has tons and tons of molex connectors, i had plenty left over after all my case fans and EZ-Plugs and what not, so if you spend a few bucks on some PCIe power adaptors, you should have adequate molex plugs to put them into.

i do not recommend the vantec 520a to anyone. i would invest in a more known psu company like antec, zippy, enermax, fortron, and especially pcp&c.

my vantec 520a i had for over 3yrs gave me nothing but trouble. first it was my p4 1.4b@2ghz then my p4 2.8c@3.4ghz. i use to get a lot of crashes and the like. freezing and sudden reboots were common place when i oc'd. i'm not sure if i got a bad batch or what but only recently i figured it was the psu.

i can run prime95 and memtest with no problems unlike before. however i did get one crash this morning while playing cs:s. after a nade explosion next to me it froze then after a couple of seconds it started making weird distorted noises. i'm thinking the ram might not like the 2-2-2-7 timing (2x512 corsair xms 3500; not matched). i was quite surpised. i guess i'll need to test somemore. this psu is about 2wks old. all and all i'm pretty happy with the purchase.

the rails to the vantec 520a was at acceptable range within spec (multimetered)
12v @ 11.60
5v @ 4.92
3.3v @ 3.35

with the pcp&c 510 sli
12v @ 12.08
5v @ 5.08
3.3v havent checked it

 

[Mesaeus]

Hi everyone,

I just built myself a nice system with

Winchester 3500+ A64 S939
2x512 Mb Acer PC3200 CL 2.5 memory
200 Mb Maxtor 8MB PATA hard disk (6Y200P0)
200 Mb Seagate 7200.7 SATA hard disk
one MSI 6800GT card
NEC 3500A DVD writer
Asus A8N SLI Deluxe
and one PCI card (Audigy 2 ZS) and a floppy.

I put all of this in an Antec 3700BQE case, which came with an Antec SL350 SmartPower PSU (yes, a 350 watt PSU). Now that particular PSU's only got 17 A on the 12 V rail, but even with the above config (including the GT card) the rail only seems to go as low as 11.84V and seems very stable. I didn't have any problems except Max Payne 2 crashing once in a while(but that seems to be Audigy driver related, damn Creative). Doom 3 and every other game I tried runs perfectly. Now I'm pretty sure that whenever I want to add a second card I'll have to go for another PSU, still it seems a very good result for "only" a 350 watt PSU.

 

[pilryu]

I don't understand some of you...

Here is my quick guideline for PSU. I will use True 430 as guideline since I use it

True430 Specs: +5V at 36A; +12V at 26A; +3.3V at 28A
Max Watt output (for +V) = 410 W

Watt = Volt * Amp

so looking at above...

+5V has max 180W
+12V has max 312W
+3.3V has max 92.4W

quick tally of Watts? = 584.4W

doesn't seem to make sense, huh? I'll explain. Well, each line is capable of those watts, but the total watt your system can provide (stable-wise) is 410W.

So, in order to find out the best PSU for your system. you need to calculate all three lines.

How you ask?

For instance. I'm looking at my Maline Plus II 250GB SATA drive. On it it says..
+5V 670mA
+12 960mA

which means that this harddrive uses...
5V*.670A + 12V*.960A = 3.35W + 11.52W = 14.87W
at least according to Maxtor. But you can never trust them. So I'll always round those numbers up to about 20W.

So essentially, you need to find either mA or A information on your components for each +V line and calculate the total Watt each line uses...

This is hypothetical situation involving my out-of-the-head estimates on each components amp needs. In other words, it's not correct Amp info.

I'll write like so Component: Amp for +3.3V/Amp for +5V/Amp for +12

mobo: 5/5/1
3200+: 0/0/8
6600 GT: 8/3/5
Sata: 0/1/1
Optical: 0/1/1
Flop: 0/1/0
Fan: 0/0/1
Mem: 0/3/0

so we have total amp and watt need of
+3.3V = 13A == 42.9W
+5V = 14A == 70W
+12V = 17A == 204W (yikes!)

As you can see, the reason people are so concerned about 12V lines is that most powerhungry components in your system (cpu, gpu) uses it so damn much.

let's for instance, assume that we had 8 sata drives and 2 optical and 4 mems and Sli set up with Ultra and 3 fans and FX CPU

mobo: 5/5/1
CPU: 0/0/10
6800 U Sli: 16/8/14
Sata: 0/8/8
Optical: 0/2/2
Flop: 0/1/0
Fan: 0/0/3
Mem: 0/9/0

(btw, just to remention, these are not real world values, but my quick, short estimates, all rounded up very generously of their MAX LOAD VALUES)

3.3V = 21A == 69.3W
5V = 33A == 165W
12V = 38A = 456W

Of course, you won't be using all 8 sata drives while burning a dvd, playing Farcry, while you install something from floppy... so you won't need all that power, per se, but you'll be able to have a general idea of how much power you'll need.

Here is another consideration i forgot to mention. on many PSU, +3.3V and 5V lines are separated from 12V; meaning that they have separate max Watt output for 3+5 and 12V, so you need to take consideration into that as well.

And I didn't mention -V lines, since they do not constitute much help in determining your actually power needs.


So in conclusion, these are the things you should do when buying a PSU

1) find amp usage for all three lines for each of your components (call manufacturer if they do not provide it on web/manual)
2) add those up
3) mulitply those amps by each corresponding Volt line
4) figure out which PSU provides enough power for each line (you really only need to check 12V since they are the most important)
5) and buy PSU with 15/20% more power than what you need (or if you are thinking about the future more power)

But I urge you...
1) to think about WATT and money. I keep my comp running 24/7... costly
2) cheap PSU has very low 12V amp
3) consider max Watt for 12V line
4) don't just buy shiz, cause everyone buys it or Anandtech tested well on ONE item of it (good example = OCZ platinum rev 2 = you know who you are!!! and Leaktek Px6600 GT THD, yes you know WHO YOU ARE!)

Well, that's about it....