Which PSU should I get?

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Makron666

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Jul 15, 2011
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I'm going to be building a new rig pretty soon, the basic specs I have chosen are:
2600K (OC: 3.4Ghz, 4.3Ghz Turbocore)
16GB Corsair Vengeance low profile
Asus GTX560 Ti DirectCU II Overclocked 1GB
Coolermaster Hyper 212+
1TB Hitachi deskstar
Haf X

I want to be able to grab another one of those cards later on and I'm wondering if a HX-850 would be enough, or I should just stick with HX-750, and grab something bigger like a HX-1050 or an AX-1200 later on?
 
the hx750 will be more then enough i'd only go 850 watts if you wanna go sli 480/580 or something along that line
 
Wow, really? I've seen power draws of over 300w from reference 560ti's, and about 200w from that CPU when OC'd, I'd think an 850 would be just scraping in. Ohh well, that why I came here. Thanks.
 
that 300w you saw from the 560ti was for the entire system and not the GPU. 300w for a gpu would be insane.
 
Ahh that would explain. I've decided to settle on the AX-850, because it's fully modular, and has better efficiency, which would be nicer on my power bill.
 
A tad bit nicer on your power bill, but a huge upfront cost out of pocket that would take decades to recover through savings on your power bill.

A good 500 watt would have been able to power that system.
 
Aye, the presumed long term savings don't justify the initial cost difference, besides the HX is a high end CWT DSG unit with 80+ Plus Gold efficiency also(check ECOS report), downgraded by Corsair for series differentiation..
 
The AX series psu's are quieter than the HX series. That alone is worth the cost.
 
E^vol said:
The AX series psu's are quieter than the HX series. That alone is worth the cost.
Click to expand...

How much quieter? Most of the time, in cases with good airflow, the fan in PSU's barely spin up above idle, even at full load, and most case fans are louder than the PSU fan. And while gaming, who's going to hear a PSU fan anyways? The only reasons you might have a loud fan in a PSU is that it is terribly inefficient and uses a 80mm fan design and/or produces a lot of heat, or you're using it in a very hot environment (not sure why you would, we're talking 45+ C here), or the fan is defective.

And for most people, a little bit quieter is not worth a $30+ increase in cost.
 
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E^vol said:
http://www.corsair.com/media//hx850-noise-chart.gif

http://www.corsair.com/media//ax850-noise.png


1: $30 isn't noticeable when you're building a whole rig (~$2k-$3k).
2: Having a quieter rig is easily worth $30. Most people spend a lot more than that on fans alone.
3: How much did you spend on your water cooling?
Click to expand...

1. What...? Those charts just showed us that the AX850 was louder (40 for the AX vs a tad bit over 34 for the HX) than the HX850 at 850 watt load.

2. Some people don't build rigs for quietness, they build it for performance.

3. about $300-400, but it is by no means quiet. It's performance oriented, and those Aerocool Silver Lightnings are louder than my PSU. In fact, I never hear my PSU at all, even if I shut all the fans off and load everything to full.

Edit: Just to add, you might build rigs that cost 2-3 thousand, but the majority of users do not build rigs that exceed $600-700 dollars. So yes, $30 becomes much more significant, especially when they want to put that money towards a larger hard drive, faster processor, or a faster graphics card. Fans? Most people buy cheap $5 fans, or they just use the regular stock fans that the case comes with. Do not assume most people are like you, in fact, most people are the exact opposite and are aware of every penny they spend.
 
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Tsumi said:
1. What...? Those charts just showed us that the AX850 was louder (40 for the AX vs a tad bit over 34 for the HX) than the HX850.
Click to expand...

At full load yes but ideally you run the psu at 50% load for maximum efficiency and at that load the AX is much quieter :)
 
Darth Bobo said:
At full load yes but ideally you run the psu at 50% load for maximum efficiency and at that load the AX is much quieter :)
Click to expand...

Okay, how about this. My Seasonic M12D 750 watt is similar to the HX platform (similar efficiency, performance, heat output), except it uses a 120mm fan while the HX uses a 140mm fan (quieter than a 120 fan for moving the same amount of air). While idling, I cannot hear the fan even if I put my ear next to it. Under load, I cannot hear it at all through my case. And who runs their computer at full load 24/7 unless they're folding or benchmarking all day? Therefore, it is better to buy a power supply a little bit above the theoretical maximum power draw of your computer, and while gaming, in most situations your computer draws between 50% and 80% of it's maximum draw, especially gaming situations.

The point is, quality designs that use 120mm fans or larger are hardly ever audible under most situations. Even Antec's newest design, the HCP1200 which uses a 80mm fan is hardly audible even under full load.
 
Tsumi said:
Okay, how about this. My Seasonic M12D 750 watt is similar to the HX platform (similar efficiency, performance, heat output), except it uses a 120mm fan while the HX uses a 140mm fan (quieter than a 120 fan for moving the same amount of air). While idling, I cannot hear the fan even if I put my ear next to it. Under load, I cannot hear it at all through my case. And who runs their computer at full load 24/7 unless they're folding or benchmarking all day? Therefore, it is better to buy a power supply a little bit above the theoretical maximum power draw of your computer, and while gaming, in most situations your computer draws between 50% and 80% of it's maximum draw, especially gaming situations.

The point is, quality designs that use 120mm fans or larger are hardly ever audible under most situations. Even Antec's newest design, the HCP1200 which uses a 80mm fan is hardly audible even under full load.
Click to expand...

I won't argue against that, i guess it depends on how you use your machine, personally I turn mine off if I'm not using it, so when it runs it's loaded. But if your pc is more on than off I agree, get a psu that loads around 70% when you "peak".
 
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