PSU's & finding the right one

[wassefkamal]

Hey guys,

I need help. I currently have a gaming rig with 2x xfx r7950 DD graphics cards with a cooler master silent pro m 1000w. I am thinking of addind a third xfx r7950 DD and wanted to know if my current PSU is enough. If not what do you recommend.

Here are my rig specs:

FAN and WATER COOLING:

• Ostrog "Enermax" GT ECA3280A-BR Black / Red Steel (Mid Tower)

• 2X 140mm Corsair AF (RED LED) fans -- Front

• 2X 120mm Corsair SP High Performance Edition (for the radiator)

• 1X 120mm Corsair AF High Performance Edition (Rear exhaust)

• Dual SD RAM Corsair "Air Flow" fan

• CoolerMaster --Seidon 240M Liquid CPU Water Cooling RL-S240-24PK-R1

HARDWARE:

• CPU -- AMD FX-8320, could be overclocked to 4.5 GHz (Stable) this can be achieved via Asus software (easy to do).

• 2X G.Skill SD RAM -- 8GB total -- F3-12800CL9-4GBXL

• 2X Radeon R7950 DD, FX-795A-TDKC

• Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z Mother Board

• CoolerMaster Silent Pro M 1000W PSU

• DVD RW / Lightscribe

• RED LED's

[joenewbie]

Hey guys,

I need help. I currently have a gaming rig with 2x xfx r7950 DD graphics cards with a cooler master silent pro m 1000w. I am thinking of addind a third xfx r7950 DD and wanted to know if my current PSU is enough. If not what do you recommend.

Here are my rig specs:

FAN and WATER COOLING:

• Ostrog "Enermax" GT ECA3280A-BR Black / Red Steel (Mid Tower)

• 2X 140mm Corsair AF (RED LED) fans -- Front

• 2X 120mm Corsair SP High Performance Edition (for the radiator)

• 1X 120mm Corsair AF High Performance Edition (Rear exhaust)

• Dual SD RAM Corsair "Air Flow" fan

• CoolerMaster --Seidon 240M Liquid CPU Water Cooling RL-S240-24PK-R1

HARDWARE:

• CPU -- AMD FX-8320, could be overclocked to 4.5 GHz (Stable) this can be achieved via Asus software (easy to do).

• 2X G.Skill SD RAM -- 8GB total -- F3-12800CL9-4GBXL

• 2X Radeon R7950 DD, FX-795A-TDKC

• Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z Mother Board

• CoolerMaster Silent Pro M 1000W PSU

• DVD RW / Lightscribe

• RED LED's

You need about 800W for what you have, plus a 3rd card.  So your 1000w PSU should be fine, but if you did want more headroom you could go to any branded 1200W PSU, I'm partial to Corsair, but most other brands have good warranties.  What kind of hard drives do you have?  A mechanical drive makes a bigger difference than SSD. But still you should be ok. 

 

[wassefkamal]

I have a 5400 rpm mechanical hard drive but I'm planning on switching to 1TB SSD. Honestly all I am planning on getting is another 7950 GPU, a 1TB SSD and maybe an FX 9590.  If thats all I plan to get will I be ok with the 1000W PSU?

[joenewbie]

I just did it again to remember the exact numbers, but, I ran Furmark alongside Prime95 at the same time, then had my UPS software running to see how much juice was getting pulled out of the wall.  That's monitor, everything.  Now granted I only have a single GPU, but I also was only pulling 256 Watts at max burn-in.   It's amazing how little electricity it actually pulls.  I bought a 750 watt PSU which I knew was overkill but didn't realize until later just how much overkill it was.  

You can do essentially the same thing with your current rig without the UPS, just pick up something like this... http://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ and plug your surge protector into it.  Run the stress tests like I did or OCCT or something like that especially for the graphics cards to see just how much they actually draw.   And then decide from that before putting in the 3rd card.  If you feel you need more than 1000watts, then step up, but I suspect you're using less than you think you are. 

Like I said if you estimate from what you listed I get about 800 watts.  Then again I don't know your whole set up.  If you plug in your information at PC Part Picker, the links to my rig below will take you there.  It gives you a wattage for shopping for a PSU.  Look up each of your components and see what they recommend.  I'm betting it's less than you think.  

Remember it's in the PSU companies interest to keep us upgrading to higher wattages.  WIth the new stuff coming soon which are more power efficient might be seeing more variety in lower wattage PSU's.  I mean DDR4 boards will be more efficient.  Then again with more ram/mobo efficency it will open up the GPU people to produce more power sucking devices.  And we're off to the races again.  But in the end there will be a cap, more power = more heat.  So they'll have to get more efficient and deliver better performance for less wattage.  That's my prediction anyway.

If/when you test your system I'd be curious how much juice it's actually pulling.  

[wassefkamal]

Thanks again for all your help and advice.  I will be purchasing the Electricity Usage Monitor today and I’ll keep you posted on what the outcome is.  

[Chlippry]

Hey everyone, First time poster here. 

I'm looking to add a second EVGA GTX780Ti Superclocked GPU to my system towards the end of the year. Current system specs are:

 

Mobo - AsRock Z87 Extreme6

CPU - i7-4770k (no overclock, but would like to at some stage)

CPU Cooler - Corsair H100i with 4x120mm fans push/pull

RAM - G.Skill 2x4gig 1600

GPU - 1 x EVGA GTX780Ti Superclocked (no overclock and probably wont be)

HDD - 1 x WD Black 1tb

SSD - 1 x OCZ vertex 3 120gig & 1 x Sandisk Extreme 240gig

Case fans - 4x230mm fans & 1x140mm fan

PSU - Cooler Master Silent Pro M850watt 80+ Bronze (Based in Australia with 240volts running through the wall sockets I'm pretty sure)

 

I've ran through numerous different Power wattage calculators and keep coming up around the 670-750watt range and the calculator in the first page of this thread has provided an estimation of 690watts at 90% and 761watts at 100%. I'm pretty sure I will need to upgrade my PSU when adding a second card but would love if I could get confirmation if that will be required or if my current Cooler Master will be sufficient. If I do upgrade I am deciding between the EVGA P2 1000watt Platinum or the Corsair AX1200i Platinum which I believe both to be exceptional pieces. If someone can shed some light on this subject I would greatly appreciate it! 

 

 

[bunae8289]

Hi there, my pc specs:

 

cpu, i5-4670K
mobo,Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5
ram, Kinston Hyper-X fury 2x4gb DDR3 1866Mhz
hdd, WDC Blue 1TB
odd, samsung DVDRW
gpu, Sapphire R9-280X Vapor-X TRI-X OC 3GB
hsf, Cooler Master Seidon 120XL

psu, Corsair RM Series™ RM750 — 750 Watt 80 PLUS® Gold Certified Fully Modular PSU

about 3-4 fans

 

my question is

 

if this psu is enough? either stock or i go OC.

 

if in the future i upgrade and go crossfire add same gpu, do i have to upgrade the psu or this one is enough?

 

what UPS (VA/watt) good fort this psu?

 

 

[joenewbie]

Hey everyone, First time poster here. 

I'm looking to add a second EVGA GTX780Ti Superclocked GPU to my system towards the end of the year. Current system specs are:

 

Mobo - AsRock Z87 Extreme6

CPU - i7-4770k (no overclock, but would like to at some stage)

CPU Cooler - Corsair H100i with 4x120mm fans push/pull

RAM - G.Skill 2x4gig 1600

GPU - 1 x EVGA GTX780Ti Superclocked (no overclock and probably wont be)

HDD - 1 x WD Black 1tb

SSD - 1 x OCZ vertex 3 120gig & 1 x Sandisk Extreme 240gig

Case fans - 4x230mm fans & 1x140mm fan

PSU - Cooler Master Silent Pro M850watt 80+ Bronze (Based in Australia with 240volts running through the wall sockets I'm pretty sure)

 

I've ran through numerous different Power wattage calculators and keep coming up around the 670-750watt range and the calculator in the first page of this thread has provided an estimation of 690watts at 90% and 761watts at 100%. I'm pretty sure I will need to upgrade my PSU when adding a second card but would love if I could get confirmation if that will be required or if my current Cooler Master will be sufficient. If I do upgrade I am deciding between the EVGA P2 1000watt Platinum or the Corsair AX1200i Platinum which I believe both to be exceptional pieces. If someone can shed some light on this subject I would greatly appreciate it! 

Try plugging all your parts into PC Part Picker and see what it recommends, I find the wattage estimate on that to be more accurate than the typical one recommended/endorsed/sponsored by those who produce PSU's.   

[D'Guy21]

Hellow guys, i need a little help.

 

I recently got a GTX 680 and am running on

an:

i5-4670(Fan cooled)

2pcs of 4GB ddr3 1333 RAM

1 HDD

6usb slots

4 120mm fans (3 with LED and 1 w/o)

silverstone strider 500w 80+

*i don't do any overclocking on anything*  

 

So i have been testing out multiple PSU requirement calculators but the results vary, ranging from 450w-650w. Although my system is running fine now, i'm worried it MIGHT fail because of my PSU not providing enough power because a friend told me i need at least a 600w PSU, then someone told me a 450w is ok. now i'm confused. 

 

so my question is. is my PSU good for the specs i have? will i be able to run it safely without risking any parts of my PC? because i plan on playing games like Crysis 3 and Assassin's Creed 4.

 

 

( Sorry for the noob question ) 

[joenewbie]

Hellow guys, i need a little help.

 

I recently got a GTX 680 and am running on

an:

i5-4670(Fan cooled)

2pcs of 4GB ddr3 1333 RAM

1 HDD

6usb slots

4 120mm fans (3 with LED and 1 w/o)

silverstone strider 500w 80+

*i don't do any overclocking on anything*

 

So i have been testing out multiple PSU requirement calculators but the results vary, ranging from 450w-650w. Although my system is running fine now, i'm worried it MIGHT fail because of my PSU not providing enough power because a friend told me i need at least a 600w PSU, then someone told me a 450w is ok. now i'm confused. 

 

so my question is. is my PSU good for the specs i have? will i be able to run it safely without risking any parts of my PC? because i plan on playing games like Crysis 3 and Assassin's Creed 4.

 

 

( Sorry for the noob question ) 

Plenty good.  Only way you might need more power is if you SLI graphics cards or if you add 5 mechanical drives or something like that. 

[D'Guy21]

@joenewbie 

 

Thanks for the quick reply greatly appreciated 

[joenewbie]

@joenewbie 

 

Thanks for the quick reply greatly appreciated 

Well according to GeForce the GTX 680 should have a minimum of 550w.   But if you want to test it, run Furmark for a bit of burn in, something everyone should do on a new card anyway.  If the card does fine in that test, you'll be fine.    They say max power draw from the card is 195w, so the 550w recommendation is less about the card and more about making sure there is enough headroom to run your other components.  

[D'Guy21]

Well according to GeForce the GTX 680 should have a minimum of 550w.   But if you want to test it, run Furmark for a bit of burn in, something everyone should do on a new card anyway.  If the card does fine in that test, you'll be fine.    They say max power draw from the card is 195w, so the 550w recommendation is less about the card and more about making sure there is enough headroom to run your other components.  

Thanks. I'll run the test when i get back home. I hope i won't need to buy another PSU

 

thanks for all the help

[TheTiger]

I need some help over here. I'm searching for a 80 Plus Gold PSU with a max. depth of 140mm. Currently I'm looking @ a XFX 750W one. But are there other brands?

My build will feature a 5790K OC, a 780 OC as well as 1 HDD, 1 SSD (maybe 2) an AIO cooler and 2 sticks of DRR3 RAM, @ the final point.

[Dekade]

According to the PSU Calculator 600W barely should be enough for Two-Way-SLI GTX 570, but according to many other people 600W is recommended for a single GTX 570.

 

Is it ok to trust the calculator and add annother card or should i upgrade before i add the second video card?

[Hansell]

Hello there

 

I need lil help here..

these are my list :

 

AMD Kaveri A10-7850K

Gskill DDR3 PC19200 8GB GTX Dual Channel F3-2400C10D-8GTX

WDC 1TB SATA3 64MB - Caviar Blue - WD10EZEX

MOBO : MSI A55M-E33

Radeon R9 270X

 

newegg calcucator said i will need above 700watt, should I go for 700watt or above it?

 

 

Regards

[maxximillian]

I want to buy a psu that can easily power up this rig :

CPU: I5-4670K

GPU: 2xGTX 680 4g each

COOLER: Cooler Master Nepton 280l or Corsair H100

Motherboard: MSI Z87-GD65

RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8GB DDR3

SSD:  Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB SATA-III

HDD: WD 2TB green

RAM COOLER: Corsair AirFlow Pro

And what case do you recommend that fits nicely i thought that the Lanboy Air would be perfect but in that case you should create positive pressure and it has 15 fans that would increase the psu watts??

[joenewbie]

Hello there

 

I need lil help here..

these are my list :

 

AMD Kaveri A10-7850K

Gskill DDR3 PC19200 8GB GTX Dual Channel F3-2400C10D-8GTX

WDC 1TB SATA3 64MB - Caviar Blue - WD10EZEX

MOBO : MSI A55M-E33

Radeon R9 270X

 

newegg calcucator said i will need above 700watt, should I go for 700watt or above it?

 

 

Regards

Depends on your intentions, I mean personally I like having a bit of headroom, so if I need 600 I want 800, but it's not really necessary.  The flip side of that is if you upgrade your video card or want to add a second one you do have that room to do so.  Depends on if you plan on expanding it later or if you'll just rebuild from scratch.  The warranty's on some PSU's is 10 years, others 3, take that into consideration as well, that's not to say a 3 year warranty'd PSU won't last 10 years, just be ready to replace it out of pocket after any warranty expires. 

So one way to look at it is to say, in 3 years I'll want a new mobo/ram/video card anyway, so plan the cost of a PSU in that ahead of time, alternately buy one way bigger than you need with a 10 year warranty and keep it for future builds without worry.  It's a matter of how you view it really.  

[daemonowner]

@Windspeed36 You should edit this thread to tell people to make their own threads rather than asking questions here. Loads of people are asking and only one person is responding.

[NickatNite]

What PowerSupply / Watt would you guys recommend with this build, along with a ASUS 24X DVD Burner and NZXT Source 210 S210-001 Black SECC Steel, ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower

 

I use this http://coolermaster.outervision.com/ and it said 312w. Also called a local Computer store and technician said at least 650. 

 

[rhwerkman]

Hello everyone,

 

I want to get a second MSI R9 290x gaming

I take it my current psu won't be pull the load.

I also plan to thrown in water cooling at some point.

 

What would you recommend?

Should the AX860 be enough or should I go for an HX1000i

 

Current Specs are:

 

Msi z97 Gaming 7

Intel Core I7 4790K

MSI R9 290x Gaming

Samsung 840pro 512GB

Corsair Vengeance Pro 32GB

Corsair AX760

WD Green 2tb

Corsair H100i

LG blu ray drive

 

Thnx in advance

[rGhost]

Guys, I want to buy the following build :

 

G3258

R9 270 OC Sapphire 2GB 

ASRock Z97 Extreme 3

Zeppelin 4GB DDR3

WD 500GB SATA 3

 

And for the PSU I was looking at the Seasonic S12 430W, would it be enough ? 

[joenewbie]

Guys, I want to buy the following build :

 

G3258

R9 270 OC Sapphire 2GB 

ASRock Z97 Extreme 3

Zeppelin 4GB DDR3

WD 500GB SATA 3

 

And for the PSU I was looking at the Seasonic S12 430W, would it be enough ? 

Need to go 500w or more with that, if only because it's the minimum for the graphics card.  I'm curious why you're putting a dual core chip in that build.  More and more games are getting improved framerates with quad core. 

[joenewbie]

Hello everyone,

 

I want to get a second MSI R9 290x gaming

I take it my current psu won't be pull the load.

I also plan to thrown in water cooling at some point.

 

What would you recommend?

Should the AX860 be enough or should I go for an HX1000i

 

Current Specs are:

 

Msi z97 Gaming 7

Intel Core I7 4790K

MSI R9 290x Gaming

Samsung 840pro 512GB

Corsair Vengeance Pro 32GB

Corsair AX760

WD Green 2tb

Corsair H100i

LG blu ray drive

 

Thnx in advance

I would go for EVGA if only for the fact that it has a 10 year warranty.  

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CGYCNG2/

If you can find it cheaper elsewhere do that or if you can afford more wattage, I'd seek the same EVGA G2 series PSU. 

 

[rhwerkman]

I would go for EVGA if only for the fact that it has a 10 year warranty.  

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CGYCNG2/

If you can find it cheaper elsewhere do that or if you can afford more wattage, I'd seek the same EVGA G2 series PSU. 

 

Yeah, but the corsair is shorter, has overheating protection,  is 80+platinum and has more connectors.

And by the time the warranty will have expired I'll have upgraded my pc again so I'm not worried about that.

 

But since you recommended 1000 watts, I'll go with that.