psu PSU for overclocking a 7700k

[Hunter259]

47 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Desktop hard drives are about the only thing I would say that isn't GPU or CPU hardware that I'd consider to be non-negligible. 4 HDDs can use a pretty serious amount of power, especially at boot when they all have to spin up. SSDs, laptop HDDs, LEDs, USB peripherals, RAM, etc, are negligible. 

 

But if the PSU would work fine and then some (a 550W G2 with a 7-10 year warranty depending on when you bought yours) and costs less, why spend more money? Any PSU worth its salt won't struggle at the occasional 80% load for the span of its warranty and OP's PSU should outlast its warranty pretty comfortably. Efficiency is also a non-issue. The only definitives with regards to efficiency are the ones at 20%, 50%, and 100% load. For all we know a 550G2 at 80% load is more efficient than a 650G2 at 67% load. And even then, the savings on your power bill are unnoticeable. 

 

I guess I'm not one to OC my system to 1.35V since my old 4670K died before I got a chance to test it on a board that would run at voltage that high, but that's what your manufacturer recommends not going above. Once you get to 1.4V there's silicon degradation over time that's fairly noticeable on the likes of a 7700K and that's a very irritating thing because it takes some troubleshooting to figure out why your OC of 3 years has been stable and now your system's apps are crashing occasionally.

 

Sure, a good cooler won't let the card get super hot but running a 580 at voltage that high without really, really good airflow in a non- test-bench system is likely to yield temperatures that high. My 970 consumes a similar amount of power to the 580 and if I push the voltage as high as my fairly solid OCing card will go in my NZXT S340 with 2 front fans and an exhaust fan (2 very pricey Noctua fans, mind you) it will hit 80C with the GPU fans at 50% which is about where my noise tolerance ends for EVGA's ACX cooler. 

 

The question is - why not? You're not running your PSU at that load constantly, I highly doubt your room is hitting 50C, and the PSU, if it's decent, has tolerances it achieves in a hot room under max load that don't even begin to touch what the average person playing video games on their PC will be demanding, which is much less stressful. Would you not trust an EVGA 1000P2 with three GTX 980sin SLI with a 6850K? It'll shut off if it begins to be too much and 1000W is enough for that hardware, hitting around 900W under some hefty OC. EVGA offers a 10 year warranty on said PSU.

 

 

 

1. The graphs for efficiency are on every spec sheet for PSU's and since these are in the same family which makes them both 80+ Gold that makes the 650 more efficient at this operating wattage. PSU's are their most efficient at 50% load. I like having a little breathing room is all. Getting a bigger one now also gives you more upgrade room without having to worry about getting another PSU later on down the line. 

 

2. Technically the limit for all Intel cpu's based on what they say is a max is 1.52V and has been since the first Core I series chips. 1.4V has just been considered the safe limit for the majority of people. Anything above stock voltage and clockrate will decrease it's life span. 

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/core/7th-gen-core-family-desktop-s-processor-lines-datasheet-vol-1.html

 

3. S340 has awful airflow and has been known for that for some time. That Asus card would have no issue running a high voltage and being quiet in virtually all reasonable cases, including the S340. http://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/2709-nzxt-s340-elite-review-temperature-noise-cable-management/page-3

 

I never said I didn't trust it to deliver that kind of power. It's just what I would want is more breathing room which has been my point this entire time. I ran 2 980ti's with a 1.4V 2600k on a HX850i. I pushed the PSU to it's limit but I trust that it can do it. The warranty is nice thing to say how much they trust it but running a PSU at edge or above maybe 70% for hours will decrease it's lifespan and increase the chance of using that warranty. A PSU warranty is something I really would like not to use in the first place. Again. I do trust it but I just like having extra breathing room is all.

[STRMfrmXMN]

6 minutes ago, Hunter259 said:

1. The graphs for efficiency are on every spec sheet for PSU's and since these are in the same family which makes them both 80+ Gold that makes the 650 more efficient at this operating wattage. PSU's are their most efficient at 50% load. I like having a little breathing room is all. Getting a bigger one now also gives you more upgrade room without having to worry about getting another PSU later on down the line. 

 

2. Technically the limit for all Intel cpu's based on what they say is a max is 1.52V and has been since the first Core I series chips. 1.4V has just been considered the safe limit for the majority of people. Anything above stock voltage and clockrate will decrease it's life span. 

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/core/7th-gen-core-family-desktop-s-processor-lines-datasheet-vol-1.html

 

3. S340 has awful airflow and has been known for that for some time. That Asus card would have no issue running a high voltage and being quiet in virtually all reasonable cases, including the S340. http://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/2709-nzxt-s340-elite-review-temperature-noise-cable-management/page-3

 

I never said I didn't trust it to deliver that kind of power. It's just what I would want is more breathing room which has been my point this entire time. I ran 2 980ti's with a 1.4V 2600k on a HX850i. I pushed the PSU to it's limit but I trust that it can do it. The warranty is nice thing to say how much they trust it but running a PSU at edge or above maybe 70% for hours will decrease it's lifespan and increase the chance of using that warranty. A PSU warranty is something I really would like not to use in the first place. Again. I do trust it but I just like having extra breathing room is all.

Most PSUs don't actually offer any sort of spec sheet that label their efficiency AFAIK. From my quick Googling of the 550G2 there's nothing in the manual or any review that goes over the efficiency throughout the entire load curve.

 

Usually the silicon degrades at voltage that high, not talking about lifespan, but I guess that is technically lifespan.

 

My S340 has significantly better airflow than the Nanoxia DS4 I had before and I'm not really sure how he came to that conclusion in the review. I can feel the air being moved around if I place my hand gently over the intake. It's probably not as good as something like a 450D but it's very solid.

 

Thing is, a decent PSU's lifespan wouldn't be decreased in any meaningful way by that load, and that's my point. OP would already have a ton of breathing room with a 550W, that was my original point.

 

 

[Hunter259]

34 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Most PSUs don't actually offer any sort of spec sheet that label their efficiency AFAIK. From my quick Googling of the 550G2 there's nothing in the manual or any review that goes over the efficiency throughout the entire load curve.

 

Usually the silicon degrades at voltage that high, not talking about lifespan, but I guess that is technically lifespan.

 

My S340 has significantly better airflow than the Nanoxia DS4 I had before and I'm not really sure how he came to that conclusion in the review. I can feel the air being moved around if I place my hand gently over the intake. It's probably not as good as something like a 450D but it's very solid.

 

Thing is, a decent PSU's lifespan wouldn't be decreased in any meaningful way by that load, and that's my point. OP would already have a ton of breathing room with a 550W, that was my original point.

 

 

Huh. IDK why EVGA doesn't show it but all PSU's are best a mid voltage. I can't think of a single one that isn't.

 

There are people that are still running 1.45V 2600k's with no issues what so ever. It really is luck of the draw past 1.4ish.

 

The problem is air can't get out of the box very quickly and the front isn't very easy to get air in the first place.

 

I was meaning it like if he wanted to run dual 580s. A 550 would be running maxed while a 650 would still have a little left in the tank. Again. Just my personal preference. 

[STRMfrmXMN]

1 hour ago, Hunter259 said:

Huh. IDK why EVGA doesn't show it but all PSU's are best a mid voltage. I can't think of a single one that isn't.

 

There are people that are still running 1.45V 2600k's with no issues what so ever. It really is luck of the draw past 1.4ish.

 

The problem is air can't get out of the box very quickly and the front isn't very easy to get air in the first place.

 

I was meaning it like if he wanted to run dual 580s. A 550 would be running maxed while a 650 would still have a little left in the tank. Again. Just my personal preference. 

Some PSUs don't work that way though interestingly enough. I want to say it's the Rosewill Quark that advertises a lower rated wattage than it can actually achieve because it can hit Platinum efficiency at it's lower loads but hits Gold when in higher loads, IE at max load. 

 

That hurts me a little but I guess that's what people will do with their hardware. I've never had luck of the draw with any silicon bar my GPU though. My 4670K struggled past 4.0GHz...

 

I find that my system doesn't get tremendously hot if I keep fans spinning fast enough but eh, it's probably not amazing.

 

I get what you mean there but future Crossfire/SLI of midrange GPUs should definitely not be a plan IMO. I'd just recommend getting what would work for your system now unless you plan to SLI/Xfire.