Doing this upgrade thinger, PSU (and maybe other) questions
midga
"There's so much hot dog in Rome" ~digi(> ^.(> O_o)> Icrontian
So, I'm still picking stuff out for an upgrade, and I feel kinda silly having to ask some of this stuff, but here goes...
Gonna get a geforce GTX 660Ti (it has a GT 430 atm), add a Vortex 4 SSD, and it already has a Core i3 in it. I'm running it with an Antec 500W at the moment. I'm wondering if, first, I should pursue a larger power supply before I stick the new stuff in it (I'm thinking yes cause I run a decent number of peripherals). If so, I have other questions...
One, I know current consumer-level power supplies run the whole gamut of wattages, both constant and peak, anywhere from 200 to 1200 watts and beyond. How do you make sure you're not going way overkill or just barely limboing by(without knowing all your exact power requirements/rail usages)?
Two, if I do go overkill, will a larger power supply only draw what's being utilized (plus wasted to heat and whatnot), or will you do better for power-consumption (ie, power bills) by getting something smaller? I do realize a power supply will draw more if the stuff it's supplying demands more (up to its peak, and for as long as that will last), but I mean when it's sitting idle will a smaller supply draw significantly (significantly as in enough amps to make a real power bill impact) less current than a larger supply?
Three, if I'm looking at two supplies (I haven't done a whole lot of research yet, though), one that is a 750W continuous and one that is a 1000W continuous, basically identical otherwise, and the 1000W is only $20 more, would you go for it?
Four, any recommendations as far as brand/size/getthispowersupplyrightherebecausethisdealisawesomeforanamazingsupply/etc?
Five, am I totally missing or overlooking anything I should be asking/thinking about?
Like I said, I feel kinda silly for asking some of these, especially considering I work with electrical systems professionally, but I'm second-guessing the crap outta myself so there you go. =/
Gonna get a geforce GTX 660Ti (it has a GT 430 atm), add a Vortex 4 SSD, and it already has a Core i3 in it. I'm running it with an Antec 500W at the moment. I'm wondering if, first, I should pursue a larger power supply before I stick the new stuff in it (I'm thinking yes cause I run a decent number of peripherals). If so, I have other questions...
One, I know current consumer-level power supplies run the whole gamut of wattages, both constant and peak, anywhere from 200 to 1200 watts and beyond. How do you make sure you're not going way overkill or just barely limboing by(without knowing all your exact power requirements/rail usages)?
Two, if I do go overkill, will a larger power supply only draw what's being utilized (plus wasted to heat and whatnot), or will you do better for power-consumption (ie, power bills) by getting something smaller? I do realize a power supply will draw more if the stuff it's supplying demands more (up to its peak, and for as long as that will last), but I mean when it's sitting idle will a smaller supply draw significantly (significantly as in enough amps to make a real power bill impact) less current than a larger supply?
Three, if I'm looking at two supplies (I haven't done a whole lot of research yet, though), one that is a 750W continuous and one that is a 1000W continuous, basically identical otherwise, and the 1000W is only $20 more, would you go for it?
Four, any recommendations as far as brand/size/getthispowersupplyrightherebecausethisdealisawesomeforanamazingsupply/etc?
Five, am I totally missing or overlooking anything I should be asking/thinking about?
Like I said, I feel kinda silly for asking some of these, especially considering I work with electrical systems professionally, but I'm second-guessing the crap outta myself so there you go. =/
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Comments
Your PSU should be in the 700-800W range to accommodate future upgrades. This will handle dual GPUs if you ever want to try your hand at that. Your PSU's rating only specifies what it is capable of providing, not what it will draw when the system is in operation--only your components can determine that. But you can improve the power bill of the draw being placed on your PSU by looking for a SILVER or GOLD-rated PSU, which are better at converting power from the wall into useful DC current for your components.
The Corsair TX series should be your one-stop shop for ridiculously good power supplies. They may only be bronze rated, but they actually perform in the silver class and are some of the best PSUs on the market, especially considering their price.
I would be terrified of any 1000W PSU that's only $20 more than a 700W unit.
RE bronze\silver\gold\platinum: it should be noted that the best conversion occurs when your load is withing 10-15% of the max for that PSU. I can source that if needed or retract like a fool if that isn't true.
And speaking of, thanks for the info. I seem to remember hearing about those now, but my brain could be making that up. I think I'll snag that 850W so I don't have to replace it forever. Most of the other PSUs I've seen have multiple 12V rails, though, and those only have one. Any idea as to why?
And for the record, the 750W/1000W PSUs I was looking at were Rosewill. No idea what that might mean for PSUs, but they made a good impression on me with a fan I picked up years ago.
@Tushon, while F@H might be awesome and I'll very likely start doing it again soonish, it's not really going to factor into reasons I get a video card. At least not in my primary gaming rig. If you have other arguments in the Radeon/GeForce debate, though, I'd love to hear them. Right now, $60 less for essentially the same graphics performance (I know it says faster, but that's by a not-huge margin) sounds like a good deal.
Rosewill is newegg house brand and is to be shunned. Corsair, Seasonic, PCP&C and Silverstone are all excellent brands, even more so when you shell out a little extra for the higher efficiency.
linky (those brands + 80+ bronze and up, sorted by rating, 750-850W)
Thank you! I'm pulling the trigger now
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6168/rosewill-fortress-platinum-450w
These guys have tested a bunch of PSUs and have good data.
In reality you want your idle (not sleep) load to be about 15-20% of the rating and your full load about 60-80%.
This gets you the best eff. (and therefore cooler and quieter).
Going a little big doesn't hurt, but if your system actually draws 350W don't buy a 750W PSU.
I have a semi-modular cable set up and like it. Power cables are permanent and aux cables are modular.
Well, I guess now I can play around with RAID and not be worried about all the extra drives drawing too much power XD
Of course a hella overclocked 660 Ti (Galaxy 660) is going to compete with a 7950, for the same reasons a hella overclocked 7870 also competes with a 7950.
So far the performance is good. I haven't tried anything to push it and see what it can really do, but I did bump settings to see if what would lag on my previous card would no longer lag. That was pleasant.
I went ahead and installed the Corsair cause it was shiny and there and I wanted to. It's a power supply. I have nothing really to say about it other than it's pretty quiet.
I haven't installed the SSD yet. I was really surprised how small the box for it is when I saw it, though.
Also, I gotta say I'm really surprised how well this system is performing. It's actually an older model IdeaCentre than I thought (a K320) though there doesn't seem to be much different from the K410 I had assumed it was. It's still a Core i3, it's running 6GB of ram at a speed I'd have to look at (not on the system atm), but because of that fairly awesome Radeon and the SSD it's maxing settings on Borderlands 2 and a Crisis 3 engine game I'm playing without a touch of lag.
It's good stuff
I went through 3 GPUs on my C2D E7200, and only replaced it when my normal applications and some less-than-GPU intensive games started slowing down.