OCZ Announces 850 Watt PSU

Mike Howes 2 Nov, 2006 at 12:54am ET Article published in Tech

The imminent launch of OCZ Technology’s GameXStream 850 watt power supply arrives just in time NVIDIA’s G80 GeForce 8800GTX and 8800GTS product launches next week.

The new PSU delivers 850 watts of SLI-Ready power to high end systems. Equipped with a single 120MM fan to keep heat and noise down to a minimum, the GameXStream 850 watt power supply claims to be virtually silent.

Although pricing and availability is unknown for now, going by their present pricing structure, expect to pay around $200 or more for the GameXStream 850 watt.

To justify the need for an 850 watt power supply, OCZ Technology claims:

A new generation of gaming systems is emerging with the lion share of the power being drawn by the graphics system,” commented Dr. Michael Schuette, VP of Technology Development at OCZ Technology. “Quad SLI and high-end CrossFire™ solutions are pushing up to 500W of power consumption which exceeds the capabilities of any conventional high-end power supply. Moreover, by the end of the year we will see PC games specifically developed for quad core CPUs. OCZ’s answer is the new GameXStream top model with 850W output to make sure that even the most hungry systems get the power they need under the most demanding conditions.

Source: Daily Tech

Comments

2 Nov 2006 ~ 1:54am Nosferatu I think instead of making more powerful power supplies the industry should be focused on making components use power more efficiently.
2 Nov 2006 ~ 1:56am Thrax I think it's two-fold. No matter how hard the industry attempts to use power more efficiently, we are constantly adding more stuff to our PC which, for a large part, negates the advances made.

Primarily, though, I do think the video card industry needs to get its **** together and stop producing this 90nm rubbish.
2 Nov 2006 ~ 2:01am Leonardo I think right now ATI-AMD and Nvidia are just very glad that there is not yet a lot of attention to how power hungry their high end GPUs are. I also find it amusing how those who were so vocal about the terrible power requirements and waste heat of the Intel Prescotts and Smithfields seem to be giving the GPU makers a pass? What's up with that? I don't care what systems people run, or even if they have to have a second power main installed at their house. I just find it amusing the noise over CPUs contrasted with the near silence over video.
2 Nov 2006 ~ 9:57am Garg I know I've thought about CPU power consumption. I've noticed how well some of the Pentium D's overclock, and how cheap they can be had now, but I don't want to submit myself to one of those thing's power draw. I also won't buy into this multiple video card business. Spend craploads of money on two cards (and their power draw, and a new PSU), only to have them outdated at the same time? I still don't think SLI/Crossfire will ever be mainstream.
2 Nov 2006 ~ 12:49pm Sledgehammer70 SLI is becoming pretty main stream these days already. Most new Motherboards have SLI based layouts

I do agree 240Wats for a 8800GTX SLI setup is getting pretty crazy, and I would hate to see what power draw it has under full load OC'ed ... 350+? that’s like a stands dell PSU to power your GPU’s good god! Must have one……

I might have to install some Solar Panels to compensate for power draw. Or get my very own one fo these:
2 Nov 2006 ~ 1:20pm Garg SLI ability in motherboards marketed for DIY customers isn't surprising, but it's anything but commonplace with the OEMs. I still think SLI is a good idea, and I hope nVidia continues to support it with all their future products, I just don't think it's for everybody. I would probably buy an SLI-capable board to leave the option open, but I highly doubt I'd buy two cards at once. For me, I probably wouldn't add a second card until people were selling theirs at the DD&TP to upgrade to the latest DirectX version-capable cards. That'd be a cheap way of extending the graphics ability of the system without buying a newest card.

In certain applications, SLI makes sense. But if they start making games expecting people to have SLI, I think a lot of (majority of) consumers will be left behind.
2 Nov 2006 ~ 2:44pm Leonardo SLI-capable and RAID-capable motherboards are certainly commonplace, in that RAID and SLI is available on after market motherboards. So yes, SLI is common for people like us, what, less than 5% of the PC using public? 90% of motherboards are not aftermarket, but are OEM, installed by the millions in branded boxes. I really, really doubt SLI will ever be more than a novelty, something for the 1% that enjoys the extra performance. If dual GPU will ever be any significant part of the user base, it will be through dual core GPU modules onboard, or dual GPU chips on video cards. In other words, it would be like the advent and mainline acceptance of dual core CPUs. The way it is now, it's just too expensive and cumbersome to become popular in the mainstream. And besides, is there any practical use at all for SLI/Crossfire other than very intensive gaming? (not belittling it here, just trying to be realistic)
3 Nov 2006 ~ 12:59am Winga I think SLI and RAID-capable boards will become commonplace, but not by design. It should happen purely by default.
As new advances are made in technology and the industry moves on from SLI and Crossfire to the latest and greatest...whatever that may be in the future, the present high end technology will become very cheap and the standard entry level stuff will be obsolete.

Socket A's and SDR RAM are just two such examples. They still around but the retailers just don't stock them anymore. As Leo says the OEM's will probably push this technology out as onboard.
With the release of Vista and other CPU/GPU hungry software, the OEM's will have to produce boxes that are capable of handling these and other media hungry applications.
Lastly the R&D and all the money spent will have to eventually be recouped.

So back to PSU's... I don't think we've seen the ceiling at 850watt. They are managing to put a lot more power into the same space/size box and do it more effectively. It's going to be interesting to see how PSU's integrate with the changing technology in the future.
3 Nov 2006 ~ 2:19am Thrax They already have 1kw PSUs.
3 Nov 2006 ~ 11:11am RADA Just look at it this way:

You loop the heat output from your 1Kw PS/Quad-Core AMD or Intel CPU/Quad SLI Nvdia or ATi Video cards- System into your home heating system...

..might save yourself a few bucks on home heating...

...gonna need it to pay the mondo electricity bill.:Pwned:
5 Nov 2006 ~ 3:54pm mmonnin

Thrax wrote:

They already have 1kw PSUs.

My first thought when I saw this news item.
6 Nov 2006 ~ 4:17pm jradmin

RADA wrote:

Just look at it this way:

You loop the heat output from your 1Kw PS/Quad-Core AMD or Intel CPU/Quad SLI Nvdia or ATi Video cards- System into your home heating system...

..might save yourself a few bucks on home heating...

...gonna need it to pay the mondo electricity bill.:Pwned:

I actually don't have to turn the heat on in my office during the winter. Still stays around 70 degrees when it's 15 outside.