Which PSU should I buy..

[GN]

Hello all.... I am looking for a reliable, good looking, stable in the volts when under load power supply. I would like a Modular PSU but I dont mind if its not. Would also like one with a 120mm+ fan on the bottom.

The hardware that I will need to run is the following:

Asus Maximus Formula[/*:m:28u9e09s]
CoolerMaster Stacker STC-T01 + 4x120mm, 3x80mm fans.[/*:m:28u9e09s]
Thermalright Ultra 120 extreme + 120mm fan.[/*:m:28u9e09s]
Core2Duo Q6600 OC @ 3.2 GHz[/*:m:28u9e09s]
Two ATI HD 3870 Crossfire cards in CF mode.[/*:m:28u9e09s]
4GB or 8GB RAM... dont know what to get yet for this..[/*:m:28u9e09s]
2 x WD 78GB Raptors RAID-0 -OS / or / 4 x WD 78GB Raptors RAID-0 -OS /[/*:m:28u9e09s]
4 x WD 250GB RAID-5 -Data / or / 2 x WD 500GB RAID-1 -Data[/*:m:28u9e09s]
TWO OPTICAL DRIVES!!![/*:m:28u9e09s]
TV card in the future..[/*:m:28u9e09s]
Will need to be able to power WC if needed and future proof. Must not exseed £160.

So far I have got it down to these 5.


Corsair TX 750W - Fixed wires = £87.54 Inc VAT

[/*:m:28u9e09s]
SilverStone Decathlon 750W - Modular = £117.49 Inc VAT

[/*:m:28u9e09s]
Thermaltake Toughpower 850W - Modular = £93.00 / £98.99 @ Ebuyer.com
http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Powe ... /w0131.asp (http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Power/ToughPower/W0131/w0131.asp)

[/*:m:28u9e09s]
Coolermaster 850W Modular Quad - Modular = £110.45
http://www.coolermaster.com/products/pr ... tail&id=35 (http://www.coolermaster.com/products/product.php?act=detail&id=35)

[/*:m:28u9e09s]
ENERMAX GALAXY EGX850EWL 850W - Modular = £120.35[/*:m:28u9e09s]

What you lot think? (Dont care if its modular anymore)

Also, this will be at the bottom of my case, not the top, so the 120mm fan will be suking in cold air from the bottom of the case instead of blowing in hot air from the top like most do. (think its silly doing that)

[PeteA]

Thermaltake Toughpower 850W is a very good powersupply. I have one, nice modular design. Very stable. I have tested the volts and current with a volt meter and it's extremely stable

[GN]

What about the Coolermaster 850W Modular Quad??

[PeteA]

Can't really comment much about it because I've never been in contact with it. Just looking at the specs it should be ok. The MTBF is 20,000 hours lower than the thermaltake one which means a shorter life.
It also seems to less efficient. They both have the same safety features like overvoltage etc

[GN]

Can't really comment much about it because I've never been in contact with it. Just looking at the specs it should be ok. The MTBF is 20,000 hours lower than the thermaltake one which means a shorter life.
It also seems to less efficient. They both have the same safety features like overvoltage etc


MTBF????


Also some one were I work found this for me... http://ati.amd.com/technology/crossfire ... rown2.html (http://ati.amd.com/technology/crossfire/buildyourown2.html)

[PeteA]

MTBF = Mean Time Before Failure
Which isn't accurate anyway as that's taken at an average room temperature rather than what the powersupply really gets to.

When choosing a powersupply you really need to take into account what the power consumption is going to be. Average HDD uses 25w on initial spin up. Optical media usually you count as the same but really not used at all. Motherboard, CPU and Graphics card and then add 50w for high peaks.

For most things 700w powersuppy will do unless your going SLI or Crossfire with lots of HDD's

[GN]

yer, I am going crossfire... amd useing 6 hard disk.. 4 of which might be at 10k RPM...

[PeteA]

850W should do you then.

I'd still suggest the thermaltake one as its modular and has a really good design. Modular is good for the fact that you don't get that tangled mess coming out of the hole in the powersupply.

I'll take some pictures as best I can for you although I'm not taking it out of the case, took me long enough to get the sod in there :P. Minimal clearance is all I can say :)

[GN]

ok, looking at a http://www.enermax.com.tw/english/produ ... sp?PrID=69 (http://www.enermax.com.tw/english/product_Display1.asp?PrID=69)

[PeteA]

Seems to be the same as the Thermaltake one apart from it apperently has 4x (3xSata Connectors) . Which is good although still 2% down on efficiency.

They're lying on their data sheet :o "WORLD's FIRST FIVE 12V rails" er that was done ages ago with PC power supplies but no one uses them except for storage servers.

"RAM POWER CABLE:
WORLD's FIRST PSU with a dedicated RAM power cable to support next-generation 32-64GB RAM systems."
Not sure what they're on about there. 32GB of ram is pushing it for servers these days so I don't know what they're on about

Other than that seems like a good powersupply. But never really used Enermax.

You already have my suggestion :)

[GN]

Seems to be the same as the Thermaltake one apart from it apperently has 4x (3xSata Connectors) . Which is good although still 2% down on efficiency.

They're lying on their data sheet :o "WORLD's FIRST FIVE 12V rails" er that was done ages ago with PC power supplies but no one uses them except for storage servers.

"RAM POWER CABLE:
WORLD's FIRST PSU with a dedicated RAM power cable to support next-generation 32-64GB RAM systems."
Not sure what they're on about there. 32GB of ram is pushing it for servers these days so I don't know what they're on about

Other than that seems like a good powersupply. But never really used Enermax.

You already have my suggestion :)

You say that..... be prepared to what I say next as im not lieing as I have one in front of me now. We have a Sun Microsystems server here that can use 128GB of DDR2 Ram. No jok!!! O and this is on one blade... there are loads after this...

Also, they might have been the first when they came out... depends on when they lanched the product compared to everyone else out there...

[PeteA]

Yeah forgot about sun servers and ofc not forgetting the super computers. I know some of the sun system's can have over 6TB of Ram
I take that back, 32GB of ram is pushing it for user PC's, unless you want to shove the whole of directory into ram, but there again I thought that was what solid state hard drives were for

Yeah it does depend when they came out but I doubt that that PSU is 7-10 years old.

Most servers I deal with are web servers and games servers so I keep forgetting about the exception to the rule.

I didn't say they were lieing about that 32gb of ram only the rails bit.
As far as the rails probably the Worlds first (like the rest say it) to have 12v rails in ATX form factor PSU's.

[GN]

I dont know why but the people on DIY-Street forums dont like the Coolermaster 850W Modular Quad and ENERMAX GALAXY EGX850EWL 850W... :?

Any idea why???

[PeteA]

It always happens one person likes it and the rest seem to as well especially if its some one of authority.

It shouldn't be a bad PSU. I just like my thermaltake

And sorry mines the 750w but should be the same anyway.

[GN]

Iv used the 520W Corsair at work and I like it, Iv also used the Thermaltake Toughpower for my dads, i think its a 600 or 700W one, cant remember... And that was very very nice. But I want something thats industory based as well, a bit like the galaxy.. so...

[PeteA]

Yeah the thermaltake probably isn't the best thing for industry based. Your probably looking for an eATX PSU then with the ridiculous amount of connectors that they have. Also longer than average I believe (like the galaxy, which does have more connectors)

[GN]

Well, talking to two people in the industory they both say that the Galaxy DXX 850W is the one to get... So thats final...



ignore this: its just for me later on, refrance ;)
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=start&lng=en

[da2ca]

ENERMAX GALAXY EGX850EWL 850W - Modular = £120.35


I know this thread is a couple of months old now but where did you see the Galaxy at this price and are they still at this price as the best i can find it at is just over £140?
Thanks,
Dave.

[matz]

i will contact GN about that for ya when hes on msn

[Jonny2Bad]

Why would you want to spend £140 on a psu anyway only god knows there are many cheaper versions about that are just as good, and would you really need 850w? I dont think so :roll: Well maybe if your running a heater off it also maybe lol

[djgandy]

Why would you want to spend £140 on a psu anyway only god knows there are many cheaper versions about that are just as good, and would you really need 850w? I dont think so :roll: Well maybe if your running a heater off it also maybe lol

Can't really add anything to that.

[da2ca]

Thanks Guys, but i have now purchased one. Now i can keep warm while on the PC :D Should have gone for 1Kw i could have 2 bars on then.

[Jonny2Bad]

Lol hilarious.

[matz]

my 600W TT is cold but i have a little switch on the back ;) 3bar heating for the price of £60

[da2ca]

my 600W TT is cold but i have a little switch on the back ;) 3bar heating for the price of £60
:lol:

[matz]

imagine that.. but i except i think watercoolings can give good heat resource? please tell me if im right or wrong ;)

[GN]

I cant remember were I got it at that price. I think it might have been with out vat, though unsure. I highly recommend the galaxy PSU and nothing else is anywere near as good as this. The heat coming out of the PSU is more like cold air to me..... though Im only pulling like 4/500W MAX at the moment which is well within the green zone. You never ever ever want to have your PSU peeking or near the end wattage otherwise your system will get unstable, hot, and cook. From the research which I have obtained over the past months, you want at least 20% more on top of the total max wattage of your system. So for example, if your max pulling is 400W, you then use a 600W PSU in order to keep things in the green zone. This way, you will save power, save over heating PSU components, and also it will keep the entire system stable. This will prolong your system for many years to come. (Im just going to show off now) My CPU runs 22'c, nb@41'c, sb, more less the same. Hard disks are at 26'c on load and the system temp is about when under load 35'c. This is all with fan cooling and its silent :P Eat that you water cooling monkeys. (silicon and copper works best between 25'c and 35'c so anything cooling below 20'c for your cpu is just a wast of time as your not doing anything any favours)

[Jonny2Bad]

So you actually got the rig up and runnning the GN why you been so quiet about it? Thought you would have let us know how you got on. So did you get everything in your sig or still bits to get?

[GN]

I have it al up and runnning though I skiped on the GFX cards for the time being, though I do have a good one in there at the mo.

I have 4GB of 800MHZ G.Skill D9 RAM. and 6 WD 250GB RE disks in a raid 5.

[matz]

GOOD that you skipped coz theres been alot lately =) other than the 3870s

still think the psu is abit over kill but who gives a **** if your gonna upgrade again =)

[GN]

I was looking to getting 2 x 4870 X2's. And my PSU is not over kill for when I install the 2 GFX cards. Also I have 9 fans running too...

[Jonny2Bad]

Nice, so your back at work now then buddy, last time we spoke you'd stopped working and were looking for a new job.

[GN]

Iv always been in work mate. Just not been bothered to log into the forum :D