Power Supply? For new build

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Rilla927

Posts: 149   +1
Hi all,

This question is in regards of what wattage PSU I should use for this build. I don't do lan gaming but I do like games. I want to play Crysis.

Case: Lian Li V2000B, ThermalTake Armor, CM Stacker T-01
Processor: E6700 Conroe
Mobo: Don't know yet
Video Card: Nvidia 8800GTX or new release
HD's: 3 or 4 500gig Seagates Sata2
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2ZS Platinum Pro or newer
HSF: Thermalright X1-14 when released
Floppy
Card Reader
Two DVD- Burners

I will go to water cooling from Swiftech probably a year or so down the road.

My current system has a PC Power & Cooling Turbo- Cooled 510 ATX-PFC Deluxe and it has done me right. My PC was on one night and I was sleeping, a storm hit and I awoke to a burning smell that morning. My PSU was fried but it didn't take any of the components with it. That smell stayed in the house for three weeks.

I was personally thinking of a 850 watt PSU but if I'm off base here let me know. I looked around at PC Power & Cooling site and didn't see that size.

Open for advice, thanks.
 
You can get 1000watt psu's now, they arent hard to find, check thermaltake, silverstone, I know they have good ones. 850 would probably be minimal for that thing you're running.
 
Anything over 400 watts... the more the better. But quality is critical. A 450 watt Antec, PC Power and Cooling, Sparkle, Cooler Master, CoolMax, Thermaltake, Enermax, FSP, Fortron, Seasonic, is better than a 600 or 700 watt cheapy noname brand. Also take note that OCZ, Corsair, Rosewill, and other highly marketed brands are just cheap Chinese brands with a fancy name and label.
You can find good reviews on this forum, at www.TomsHardware.com, or www.anandtech.com. Also, there is a superb article at the site of PC Power and Cooling... the only power supply still made in the US.
A 1000 watt power supply doesn't buy you anything unless their warranty is good, and you know where to find them for tech support. Other than PC Power and Cooling, I have yet to see a power supply worth its cost.
Be careful of what you buy, as the new models have different configurations than older models of even less than a year ago.
If a new board, get one that is documented to be SLI and Crossfire ready.
 
well definitely you don't want overkill- that's just wasted energy and heat. Use a PSU calculator (google it) and add 30% for cushion. That's what you need to do!
 
Most power supply calculators are just another way to get registered for more spam. Some push amperage as important. But they don't measure quality.
You need both constant voltage and amperage in the 12 volt rails, but it is the +5v line that fails most frequently.
Some power supply calculators provide recommended total Power Supply Wattage only, which gives you a general idea on what to look for in Power Supply... and that is where most damage to video graphics cards occur. But as critical as wattage is total Amperage Available on the +12V Rail(s). The problem is that most power supply labels and ads inflate both values. The power supply calculators have no way to tell you the quality of the power supply... but if you do get one, be sure it has wattage, amperage, and overload protection limits. PSU's shut down when amp overload occurs. PSU's fail must often when the +5V burns out... and you cannot calculate that... it is the quality of the components.
What counts most is your CPU needs, and video card requirements. But what counts most in the power supply is the ability to provide constant wattage AND amperage. Still, if it doesn't have high quality circuitry for +5V, your power supply can die.
There are many, many lousy power supplies that will look fine on a power supply calculator.
It still boils down to reputation and experience, so read the reviews as well.
Power supplies are put together mostly by machine. They are made to sell in bulk in china for less than $7.00... then inflated to as high as $140 in the free world. Even the best brands fail sometimes for no known reason.

Power supplies are now one of the highest profit items in the parts-components industry.

You want one with a long warranty, and you need one that will not destroy your motherboard, cpu, or video card when it fails.
If you don't buy quality units from a company that stands behind them, you can easily get a unit that will pass the power supply calculator tests, and fail or cause damage in use.
Still they are quite helpful as long as you don't buy a no-name unit based on their results.
 
Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your replies. I have done so much reading on this stuff since my first post my eyeballs are gonna fall out.

Yes, I have been too the sites mentioned in post#4.

I have used the PSU calculator also. The results are a bit confusing at most.

Honestly, in my opinion PC Power & Cooling makes the best PSU out there, but that's just me, so I'm going to go with my gut instinct and get the 1KW. If they still made the 850W I would get that but they don't. I think it's best to have more than enough, than not enough. I love their warranty.

That's good to know that they are made in the U.S.A.

As you can see from my first post I have owned a PC Power & Cooling for the last three years and it has protected my valuable components from burning up.

I don't know why, but where I live is the only place I have ever seen that has constant power outages and once it goes out it's like they are flipping a switch to constantly restart over and over, on, off, on, off etc. That's how my first PSU blew.

The only other PSU I would consider is the Corsair, but they only go up to 620w as far as I can see. Don't get me wrong it's not that there arent other good PSU's but that's the specific order I would put them in, IMO.

Thank you all for your valuable advice. Every time I come to this forum I always leave knowing more than what I came with and I think that's priceless.
 
I agree. There simply is not a better product that the PC Power and Cooling power supplies... but they make a large number of them... no need to overspend.
 
You are right! I really don't want to over spend but yet I don't want to be under powered (possibly) either. What is your honest opinion from the specs I have in my first post?

Right now I have a Athlon FX-53 with a 6800 Ultra, Creative Sound Blaster Platinum Pro, (2) DVD Burners, A8V-Deluxe Mobo, floppy, card reader, 2 Terabyte of HD's that consist of 4 drives, Koolance Liquid Cooling and a PC Power & Cooling Turbo- Cooled 510 ATX-PFC Deluxe with max 650w. I was comparing these specs to what I have and 750w seemed a bit low, who knows I may be wrong.

Also, I was thinking in terms of when I decide to go water cooling that I won't have to buy another PSU if I buy the 1KW. Correct me if I'm thinking on the wrong track with what I said here.

I only seen a 750w and the next size up is the 1KW from PC Power & Cooling unless I missed something.
 
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